Soil Science Education Practices Used in Canadian Postsecondary, K-12, and Informal Settings

This study explored practices that Canadian soil scientists use to educate postsecondary students, K–12 students, and the general public. The most commonly used type of educational activities described by survey respondents, regardless of the settings and the type of target audience, were field-based hands-on activities. The other two commonly used educational activities were lectures and laboratory activities; and they were predominantly implemented at the postsecondary institutions. Educational activities in K–12, outreach, and professional development settings were generally delivered through one-time events (e.g., workshops, school visits, field days), offering less opportunities for a greater variety of practices relative to the postsecondary settings. At postsecondary institutions, where soil science education is delivered in a more structured manner, there are more opportunities for educators to implement a range of educational practices (e.g., lectures, laboratory activities, games, case studies, quizzes). The learning objectives of the field-based hands-on activities and lectures were to describe specific soil properties or to describe and classify soils, whereas for laboratory activities, the learning objectives focused more on the application of those concepts. The insights offered by this study on educational practices used by Canadian soil scientists to encourage more students to study soil science and raise awareness about the importance of soil are valuable teaching resources for both new and seasoned educators within Canada and abroad. M. Krzic, Faculty of Forestry/Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada; J. Wilson, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada; P. Hazlett, Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 2E5, Canada; A. Diochon, Lakehead Univ., Dep. of Geology, Thunder Bay, ON P7B 5E1, Canada. *Corresponding author (maja.krzic@ubc.ca). Abbreviations: AQSSS, L’Association Québécoise de Spécialistes en Sciences du Sol (Association of Quebec Specialists and Scientists); CSSS, Canadian Society of Soil Science; PRSSS, Pacific Regional Society of Soil Science. Published in Nat. Sci. Educ. 48:190015 doi:10.4195/nse2019.09. 0015 Available freely online through the author-supported open access option Received 3 Sept. 2019 Accepted 30 Oct. 2019 © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada as represented by the Minister of Agriculture This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Core Ideas • The general public is not aware of soil’s importance. • Integration of soil science into K–12 curricula will help raise soil awareness. • Various activities can be used to educate students and the general public. • Field-based, hands-on activities are the most popular type of educational activity. Soil scientists recognize that soil is a non-renewable, dynamic ecosystem with numerous important functions, including the strengthening of our resilience under the threat of climate change. This understanding of soil’s importance is not, however, shared by the general public (Lobry de Bruyn et al., 2017). More than 80% of Canada’s population lives in urban areas, largely clustered along the Canada–United States border (Statistics Canada, 2014), and there is an increasing disconnect between the urban population and the land base on which it depends. Many city dwellers are not aware of the origin of the resources they depend on, such as food and fiber, nor the vast distances often traveled before reaching the consumer (Brown, 2009), and are generally unaware of the important ecosystem services that healthy soils provide (Adhikari and Hartemink, 2016). Soils in urban environments are not a central focus of city dwellers’ daily lives; they are hidden under roads, sidewalks, and grass lawns. People may not be aware of the impacts that their activities have on soil, and its associated beneficial functions. This disconnect is further exacerbated by the underrepresentation of soil science in the curricula of elementary, middle, and high school (also referred to as K–12) programs of many countries around the world, including Canada (Landa, 2004; Hayhoe, 2013). The integration of soil science into the K–12 curricula is an important part of addressing the lack of public knowledge about the importance of soils in local and global contexts, and in turn will enhance overall scientific literacy of the general public (Lobry de Bruyn et al., 2017). In addition, exposing students to soil science concepts during their K–12 education may also encourage increased enrollment in soil science courses at the postsecondary level, which historically have been low, not only in Canada but around the world (Baveye et al., 2006; Brevik et al., 2014). A review of Canadian and international elementary, middle, and high school programs revealed that soil science is explicitly mentioned in the high school curricula of several Canadian provinces, various states in the United States, and in South Africa, but not as frequently as other sciences such as geology and astronomy (Hayhoe, 2013). Some encouraging examples of integration of soil science into the high school curriculum in Canada are from Published November 22, 2019