As global issues continue to place increasing demands on soil resources, the need to provide soil science education to the next generation of soil scientists and the general public is becoming more imminent. In many countries around the world, including Canada, soil is either not included in the high school curriculum or it is not covered in depth. To address this need for better integration of soil science into high school programs in Canada, a national collaborative program entitled Soil 4 Youth (soilweb.landfood.ubc.ca/youth/), was established in 2009. The goals of the Soil 4 Youth program are to: (1) promote the discipline of soil science to high school students and teachers, (2) create open access soil education resources that can be directly implemented in high school curricula in Canada, and (3) raise awareness about the importance of soil. During the initial 4 years of the Soil 4 Youth program, we developed a variety of soil education resources, struck collaboration with several provincial high school teachers’ associations and not‐for‐profit organizations focused on promotion of science, and focused our efforts toward reaching a broader group of high school teachers and students. Our initial efforts of building the Soil 4 Youth program indicate that it is a viable platform through which collaboration among Canadian soil scientists and high school teachers can take place to ensure that high school students are better informed about the importance of soil. Impact Statement The Canadian collaborative program, Soil 4 Youth, was established to promote the discipline of soil science to high school students and teachers. The program provides a platform for collaboration among soil scientists and high school teachers to ensure that high school students are better informed about the importance of soil. This article describes the development of the Soil 4 Youth program, offering insights into the challenges and potential solutions to advance soil science education for youth.
In an attempt to address declining enrollment in soil science programs and the changing learning needs of 21st century students, several North American universities have re‐organized their soil science curriculum and adopted innovative educational approaches and web‐based teaching resources. An interdisciplinary team set out to integrate teaching approaches to address this trend. The objective of this project was to develop a web‐based teaching tool, which combined a face‐to‐face problem‐based learning (PBL) case study with multimedia to illustrate the impacts of three land‐uses on soil transformation and quality. The Land Use Impacts (LUI) tool (http://soilweb.landfood.ubc.ca/luitool/; verified 4 Oct. 2011) was a collaborative and concentrated effort to maximize the advantages of two educational approaches—the web's adaptability and accessibility, and PBL's capability to foster an authentic learning environment, apply core concepts, and encourage group work. The design of the LUI case study was guided by Herrington's development principles for web‐based authentic learning. The LUI tool presented students with rich multimedia (streaming videos, text, data, photographs, maps, and weblinks) and real world tasks (site assessment and soil analysis) to encourage students to utilize knowledge of soil science in collaborative problem‐solving. Preliminary student feedback indicated that the LUI tool conveyed case study objectives and was appealing to students. The tool is intended primarily for students enrolled in an upper level undergraduate/graduate university course titled Sustainable Soil Management, but it is flexible enough to be adopted for other natural resource courses.
Since soil plays a crucial role in all aspects of global environmental change, it is essential that post‐secondary institutions provide students with a strong foundation in soil science concepts including soil classification. The onset of information technology (IT) and web‐based multimedia have opened new avenues to better incorporate traditional, static educational resources such as soil monoliths into post‐secondary teaching and learning. The objective of this study was to develop an open access, web‐based educational tool entitled “Virtual Soil Monoliths” (VSM) (http://soilweb.landfood.ubc.ca/monoliths/), based on a soil monolith collection at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada. With 197 monoliths, the UBC collection is the second largest of its nature in Canada, but due to poor storage and displays it has been underutilized in teaching. The VSM tool was developed by a team of scientists, instructional designers, IT specialists, and students and integrated into the Introduction to Soil Science course at UBC to support lectures and laboratory sections on parent material identification and soil classification. Student feedback indicated the VSM tool was helpful in facilitating student achievement of learning objectives related to basic soil classification and soil identification skills. Students used the VSM tool to complete assignments in the Introduction to Soil Science course, and students pointed out that the high‐resolution monolith photographs were the most useful feature of the tool. This study provides a framework for incorporating inventory‐type learning resources into an interactive teaching tool and a “living” educational resource that helps students grasp connections across disciplines.
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