Building Soils, Building Minds: Evaluating Learning Gains Resulting From Community-Engaged Coursework.

Urban agriculture initiatives are on the rise, helping to provide accessible healthy food to marginalized populations. In parallel, an increasing number of students are completing university agriculture programs and obtaining extension related work where they must effectively communicate science to the public.  A service-learning program was designed to broaden student depth and breadth of soil science knowledge, impart teaching and outreach skills, and increase student knowledge of food insecurity in low-income communities. Students in two courses with required service-learning components developed soil science lessons and piloted them with economically-disadvantaged youth affiliated with community gardening projects. We used different assessment methods for each course, including an online survey tool to analyze pre- and post- responses as compared to a control course (one course), and pre- and post-service interviews coded to identify themes in student responses (both courses). Survey data were analyzed using t-tests and qualitative analysis of self-reported changes in teaching, outreach, leadership, subject knowledge, and interest in soil science. Interestingly, results showed that students rated their professional skills and course content knowledge lower following their service-learning experience.  However, qualitative responses showed students to have improved skills in teaching flexibility and confidence following the service experience, suggesting that pre-survey results may have reported initial student overconfidence in measured indicators, and that post-survey data may have been a more accurate measure.  Interviewed students indicated more learning to result from classroom discussions and readings than they expected, which served to tie together theory with practice. Further, while students documented significant learning gains from their community work, they also felt their own contributions towards meeting community needs were less than expected and hoped.  Our findings suggest that classroom-community partnerships can enhance student professional skills and perhaps better prepare them to enter the workforce following graduation.