Winogradsky columns were invented by Sergei Winogradsky in the 1880s and have commonly been used as a microbiology classroom learning tool in K-12 and collegiate education. However, they can be challenging to examine with microscopy. We scaled down Winogradsky columns into nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tubes and replaced the natural sediment…

The interactions of climate change and soils (ICCS) are scarcely examined in Climate Change Education (CCE). Analyzing the pre-conceptions of secondary school students (n = 421) reveals a high number of missing answers (48.2%), while residual participants responded with either medium (33.3%) or low (11.5%) complexity levels. The natural and the…

Current models of best practice in science education advocate for students to learn science by engaging in applied contexts that integrate the various science disciplines. Permaculture offers one such integrated context for elementary science. Although permaculture is relatively new in PK-12 education, the broader practice of school gardening has…

Continuous professional development is critical for Extension staff, and many agriculture-focused Extension employees are tasked with outreach related to a wide variety of natural resource topics. The purpose of this study is to help prioritize trainings needed by Kansas Extension agents and specialists based on their current level of knowledge…

Interactions between plants, soil, and herbivores can shape plant community dynamics and ecosystem processes. My research addresses gaps in understanding of plant-soil-herbivore interactions in urban woodlands and how to improve critical thinking and literacy about urban woodland ecology through community-engaged learning. I employed greenhouse…

Over the last two decades, there has been an increasing focus on spatial technologies in teaching and learning, revealing the potential to support new forms of youth sensemaking across varied settings and modalities. Recent scholarship has shown the possibilities of participatory digital mapping technologies, enabling young people to collect data…

In science education, there has been a sustained focus on supporting the emergence of science practices in K-12 and field-based settings. Recent work has elevated the integral role of emotion in sparking and sustaining such disciplinary practices, deepening the field's understanding of what is entailed in "doing" science. Yet even as we…

This commentary discusses SSIs in relation to environmental ethics. In their article, Augusto Macalalag Jr., Joseph Johnson and Michelle Lai note tensions between SSIs and environmental education and investigate educational experiences that address some of these tensions. The discourse associated with SSIs generally does not consider…

This manuscript is a published account of the 2019 Distinguished Lecture of the American Association of Agricultural Education (AAAE) Annual Meeting. The theme of this lecture is regenerative agriculture which the author considers to be one of the most important agricultural movements occurring today. The author speaks to fellow Agricultural…

Relevance of the studied problem is caused by the fact that stability of natural ecosystems strongly depends on functioning of their destructive block which closes a biological circulation. The organisms that ensure functioning of the destructive block are very different and numerous. All of them partly supplement, partly duplicate functions of…

Teachers play a role in promoting teaching and learning strategies to address the complexity of concepts. Systems thinking is a strategy for achieving meaningful learning. Doubt exists over the extent to which the latter has been converted into appropriate classroom practice at under-resourced rural schools in one province in South Africa. This…

The basis of cultivated lands consists of the interacting populations of annual and perennial weeds and updated annually cultural annual plants, which have very limited data on the aboveground net production, and even less information about the yield of their underground organs. The aim of the research is scientific and theoretical development of…

The global scale of climate change may seem beyond many high school students' comprehension. To complicate matters, climate change has emerged as a political issue that pits candidates, neighbors, and sometimes teachers and students against each other (Kahan 2015). The "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013) call on…

Since 1995, soil-ecological field courses across climatic zones in West Siberia have been organized by scientists from Russia and Germany to meet growing demands for better land use practices. They are focused on virgin landscapes and soils undisturbed by anthropogenic influences to facilitate the learning processes by excluding concealing changes…

Continued agricultural productivity hinges on understanding how to manage soil resources. A 2-week undergraduate introductory-level module: "A Growing Concern: Sustaining Soil Resources Through Local Decision Making" was collaboratively developed through the InTeGrate Project. InTeGrate modules and courses engage students in grand…