Soil Science teaching principles

Soil Science is a unique discipline concerning a complex material that is part of many natural and utilitarian systems. As such, the teaching of Soil Science requires principles that reflect the nature of soil and the practices of soil scientists. Because no discipline-specific teaching principles could be found for Soil Science in the literature, an iterative approach was used to develop them, which involved input from students, academics, employers, graduates in the workplace, as well as published generic teaching principles. The synthesis of these perspectives was achieved via a series of cycles that first involved student feedback on Soil Science teaching from five Australian universities, combined with academic reflections on learning and teaching. The outcome of this activity was subject to perspectives provided by employers of soil scientists and practising soil scientists in the workplace. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of these sources and published generic teaching materials were blended into a set of 11 teaching principles of Soil Science that reflect the unique nature of soil and the outcomes required of graduates who have majored in Soil Science.

► Teaching of soil science needs principles reflecting practices of soil scientists.
► Using an action learning approach 11 soil science teaching principles are proposed.
► These teaching principles reflect the unique nature of soil and its graduates.
► And, these teaching principles should promote discussion amongst the community.