Being a soil scientist is a fascinating and certainly diverse career, which can indeed involve working in a laboratory or diagnosing sick orange trees. However it often involves much, much more. In 2015, as part of the United Nations' "International Year of Soils," Soil Science Australia's (SSA) "Soils in Schools" program…

This study seeks to explore whether a combination of traditional teaching methods with project-based learning (PBL) activities can improve the student learning experience in an engineering course of soil mechanics. As an alternative to the traditional type of assignment that consisted of several textbook problems, a project-based assignment was…

In Australia, the impacts of urbanisation and human activity are evident in increased waste generation and the emissions of metals into the air, land or water. Metals that have accumulated in urban soils almost exclusively anthropogenically can persist for long periods in the environment. Anthropogenic waste emissions containing heavy metals are a…

Soil science, though relevant to a variety of subjects including science, geography, mathematics, social sciences and history, is typically perceived as a subgenre of agriculture. With a global need for soil scientists, and declining numbers in university soil courses, there's a growing gap between science needs and providers. One way to promote…

Purpose: There is inconsistency in the design, understanding, implementation and monitoring of soil health programmes. Despite mounting scientific evidence for the credibility of certain soil health indicators, an increase in the reporting of programme benefits, and progress in communicating these benefits, many farmers remain hesitant to…

Purpose: Many farmers remain hesitant to implement structured management plans and strategies tailored to address soil health, irrespective of mounting scientific evidence for the credibility of certain soil health indicators, an increase in the reporting of program benefits and progress in communicating these benefits. Hence, the purpose of this…

Science expositions at the Canning River Eco Education Centre (CREEC), Perth, Western Australia, have been conducted over the last five years (2009-2013) during National Science Week. These expos aimed to enhance science understanding in the community, foster partnerships for science and promote science careers by providing a scientific feast for…

In this paper, we apply a framework from Nikolas Rose to analyse the politics of "doing good" in food activist education, what we call food pedagogies. We argue that a detailed exploration of food pedagogies has been neglected in adult education and in the growing field of food studies, in spite of the rapidly proliferating forms and…

Soil science students are required to apply knowledge from a range of disciplines to unfamiliar scenarios to solve complex problems. To encourage deep learning (with student performance an indicator of learning), a formative assessment exercise was introduced to a second-year soil science subject. For the formative assessment exercise, students…

This paper reports on the social learning from a project aimed to increase the knowledge and capacity of a group of farmers in Tasmania, Australia, to reduce the impacts of intensive agriculture on soil health and waterways, and to optimise the efficient use of on-farm inputs. The plan-do-check-review cycle adopted in this project required the…

Participant observations, interviews, and questionnaires verified the success of a co-learning approach in which soil nitrogen workshops were developed cooperatively by extension agents, researchers, and farmers. Key factors were facilitation of group inquiry and tailoring of technical information to the socioeconomic context. (SK)

A computer program dealing with numerous aspects of soil degradation has a target audience of high school and university students (16-20 year olds), and is presented in a series of cards grouped together as stacks. Describes use of the software in Australia. (LZ)

Soil is a natural resource of inestimable value. It is classified as a renewable resource, but because it may take from a few hundred years to a few thousand years to be renewed, it is more accurately termed an exhaustible resource. The emphasis of this teaching unit is the importance of soil and the need and means to conserve it. The constraining…

Knowledge of the physiographic evolution of the Tasmanian landscape is still very far from complete; however, all aspects of the landscape are governed by definable processes acting on the rock medley which is the heritage of Tasmania's geological history. This book explains Tasmania's landforms and geology in terms of geologic processes. Chapters…