Using the State of the Practice to Teach Soil Physics.

Soil physics is an overarching discipline within the broader category of soil science that has traditionally struggled with teaching at the undergraduate level. Students many times shy away from the hard sciences with the perception that it will be too difficult, too much work, and provide little benefit to them in the long term. However when considering the careers students will seek after graduation, one must consider what employers are looking for and the application of soil physics to issues in today's environment. Employers are looking for candidates that understand the application of physics in a soil environment, which includes issues such as soil and groundwater contamination, soil degradation, carbon sequestration, ecosystem services, water resource applications, as well as agricultural applications. Educators need to better understand the needs in the job market as well as the application of soil physics to those issues that face society today and integrate those types of ideas and exercises into coursework. A tool exists that may be useful in facilitating a move in this direction. In the early 1990s the Soil Science Society of America formed a committee to define the practice of soil science. This committee developed the first set of Performance Objectives (POs). Today these POs constitute the state of the practice of soil science and are used to write the national licensing and certification exams for soil science. This paper suggests the use of these POs in the classroom as a means to close the gap between academia and the needs of practitioners thereby providing both basic principles to students and also introducing a sense of the importance of the application of soil physics to real world issues.