Soil science education: A multinational look at current perspectives

Abstract

Soil knowledge is essential to address modern global challenges. Soil science education began with soil survey and agricultural activities, with a focus on the traditional subdisciplines of soil chemistry, soil physics, pedology, soil mineralogy, and soil biology. Soil education has evolved to address the needs of an increasing variety of fields and increasingly complex issues, as seen through the move to teach soil content in programs such as biological and ecological sciences, environmental science, and geosciences. A wide range of approaches have been used to teach soil topics in the modern classroom, including not only traditional lecture and laboratory techniques but also soil judging, online tools, computer graphics, animations, and game‐based learning, mobile apps, industry partners, open‐access materials, and flipped classrooms. The modern soil curriculum needs to acknowledge the multifunctionality of soils and provide a suite of conduits that connect its traditional subdisciplines with other cognate areas. One way to accomplish this may be to shift from the traditional subdiscipline‐based approach to soil science education to a soil functions approach. Strategies to engage the public include incorporating soil topics into primary and secondary school curricula, engaging the public through museums and citizen science projects, and explaining the significance of soil to humanity. Soil education has many challenges and opportunities in the years ahead.

Boosting soil literacy in schools can help improve understanding of soil/human health linkages in Generation Z

“…Basically, if we can't communicate the importance of soil health at the educational level, governance is unlikely to succeed. Brevik et al (2022) have recently reviewed the soil literacy literature and concluded that there is a large potential to increase soil literacy, and that the onus lies on soil scientists to engage with educational initiatives more, with which we concur. However, like extension workers in sub-Saharan Africa, soil scientists are few and far between.…”

Refined teaching methods, systems thinking, and experiential approaches enhanced students learning through COVID‐19

“…As students do not possess the skills to elevate their learning (Burke & Fedorek, 2017), flipped classrooms are the most successful when independent activities are used for the learning of facts and classroom activities are used to connect and apply concepts (Bergmann & Sams, 2012; Brevik et al., 2022; Keck et al., 2021; O'Flaherty & Phillips, 2015; Sindelar et al., 2022). The course content was entirely online in 2021 with meetings used only for problem‐solving.…”

Desigualdades em saúde, desigualdades no território: desafios para os países de língua portuguesa em contexto de pós pandemia

“…Desta maneira, ao nos apresentar um panorama da Educação em Ciências do Solo em diversos países, Brevik et al (2022), aponta que a educação tem um papel importante ao difundir os conhecimentos sobre os solos para a sociedade em geral, alertando-a dos riscos à sua saúde e sua vulnerabilidade, para assim despertá-la para a necessidade de conservação dos solos e a recuperação de áreas contaminadas e degradadas pela ação antrópica.…”