Soil Genesis anD development: Views held by New Zealand Students

Happs, John C.

doi:10.1080/00221348408980498

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…weathered rock, sediments, and minerals). This finding is not consistent with the previous studies on soil formation, which report misconceptions of preservice teachers, university students, and soil scientists about soil formation (Happs, 1984;Hutchinson, 2002;and Dove, 1999). One incorrect understanding of an inservice teacher that was "soil is formed from the earth's ashes" was not found in the studies above.…”

Section: What Understanding Do Preservice and Inservice Teachers Havecontrasting

confidence: 56%

“…Also, the authors conclude that the misconceptions of preservice teachers were similar to those of college students taking introductory science classes, suggesting a lack of significant improvement through the undergraduate experience. Happs (1984) clinically interviewed New Zealand students at high school, teacher training college, and university level about the structure and formation of soil. A comparison between children, adolescents, and soil scientists showed that students held many nonscientific ideas concerning the nature, origin, age, and changes of soil.…”

Section: Reasons For the Windmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding of Earth and Space Science Concepts: Strategies for Concept‐Building in Elementary Teacher Preparation

Bulunuz

Jarrett

2009

School Sci & Mathematics

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This research is concerned with preservice teacher understanding of six earth and space science concepts that are often taught in elementary school: the reason for seasons, phases of the moon, why the wind blows, the rock cycle, soil formation, and earthquakes. Specifically, this study examines the effect of readings, hands‐on learning stations, and concept mapping in improving conceptual understanding. Undergraduates in two sections of a science methods course (N= 52) completed an open‐ended survey, giving explanations about the above concepts three times: as a pretest and twice as posttests after various instructional interventions. The answers, scored with a three point rubric, indicated that the preservice teachers initially had many misconceptions (alternative conceptions). A two way ANOVA with repeated measures analysis (pretest/posttest) demonstrated that readings and learning stations are both successful in building preservice teacher's understanding and that benefits from the hands‐on learning stations approached statistical significance. Concept mapping had an additive effect in building understanding, as evident on the second posttest. The findings suggest useful strategies for university science instructors to use in clarifying science concepts while modeling activities teachers can use in their own classrooms.

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Section: What Understanding Do Preservice and Inservice Teachers Havecontrasting

confidence: 56%

Section: Reasons For the Windmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding of Earth and Space Science Concepts: Strategies for Concept‐Building in Elementary Teacher Preparation

Bulunuz

Jarrett

2009

School Sci & Mathematics

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“…They have little idea of the origin, age or formation of soil, although many of them, especially middle school students, understand that soil is not that deep and is often sitting on top of rock (Happs 1984 ;Russell et al 1993 ) . Nevertheless, effective education programs can be mounted with students of all age groups, from pre-school to middle school.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…• They don't have any place in the diagram or in their mind for 'soil' 7-9 years: some drawings allow for space for soil, but this is not developed • 9-11 years: they already have an idea of how soil could look, its genetic pro-• cesses, and to some extent, it's physical properties Happs ( 1981Happs ( , 1984 interviewed 40 students in Waikato, New Zealand from Gr. 7 to university level.…”

Section: Initial Understandingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surprising Facts About Soils, Students and Teachers! A Survey of Educational Research and Resources

Hayhoe

2013

Sustainable Agriculture Reviews

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Soil is one of the key resources that sustain life on Earth, not just as the foundation for almost all our food supplies, as important as that is, but also in the way that it fi lters water, supports biodiversity, and perhaps even moderates global climate. Yet the world's soils are under increased pressure on many fronts. They face unprecedented threats from erosion, deforestation, deserti fi cation, salinization, sealing (paving over), contamination, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. The importance of soil and the need to sustain it against these threats, however, have elicited little interest, not only by scientists and the general public, but also by the educational systems of most countries. While increasing attention has been paid to other important environmental topics, such as loss of biodiversity, climate change, deforestation, fresh water availability, and the world's oceans, little attention has been placed on soil so far.

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“…10 For example, there was a STEM 2011 Symposium, reported on at learnquebec, a STEM 2014 Conference at the University of British Columbia, STEM Parent Conferences in the Toronto District School Board in 2015, and there is a www.stemalberta.com website. student understanding of soil science in different countries, both before and after instruction: New Zealand (Happs 1981(Happs , 1984, Britain (Russell et al 1993), Germany (Geyer et al 2003(Geyer et al , 2004Randler and Hulde 2007), Turkey (Gulay et al 2010), and the United States (Lippert 2006). Detailed reviews of those studies can be found in Hayhoe (2013).…”

Section: Survey Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil science education for Grades K–12 in Canada

2016

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Soil scientists who interact with K–12 students or teachers may benefit from knowing what the provincial curricula say, what a typical classroom teacher knows, and what resources, programs, and opportunities are available regarding soil education. Many provinces have a soil science unit at the Grade 2–4 level in their curriculum. In all provincial curricula, soil science concepts are found in units on living things, plants, and ecosystems, from Grades 1–12. Even in Kindergarten, hands-on soil programs effectively address many skills and attitudes’ expectations in the provincial curricula. What is the use of having soil science in the curriculum, however, if the teachers responsible for student learning do not understand the key concepts? Preliminary results using a 25-item soil questionnaire show that incoming preservice teachers do have some initial understanding of soil, scoring 50% on a pretest application, when a random score would be 25%. After engaging in several hours of hands-on learning, followed by a wait time of several months, they then scored at 68%, thus gaining one third of what was lacking in their understanding. This may encourage those involved with soil education outreach to teachers. Resources for teaching hands-on soil science to elementary students will be noted, including an integrated science-language method called “Soil Science through Stories”. At the secondary level, we have the national “Soil 4 Youth” program, which integrates soil science into school programs across Canada and is supported by the Canadian Society for Soil Science. New STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) approaches to education also offer opportunities for innovative teaching of soil science to Canadian students.

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Soil Genesis anD development: Views held by New Zealand Students

Cited by 19 publications

References 10 publications

Understanding of Earth and Space Science Concepts: Strategies for Concept‐Building in Elementary Teacher Preparation

Understanding of Earth and Space Science Concepts: Strategies for Concept‐Building in Elementary Teacher Preparation

Surprising Facts About Soils, Students and Teachers! A Survey of Educational Research and Resources

Soil science education for Grades K–12 in Canada

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