Cyber Shovels In High School: An Online Soil Science Resource for Educators.

Declining enrolment in soil science courses at post-secondary institutions in Canada and around the world tells us that fewer high school students are considering a career in this discipline than ever before.  This may be due to several reasons: soil science programs losing visibility as they are incorporated into other, larger programs; a lack of awareness of what opportunities exist for soil science professionals; or an inhibition of high school educators to use soil science scenarios as examples in their regular science curriculum.  In 2010, we initiated a three-year, collaborative, multi-institutional project aimed at introducing soil science concepts into high school curricula across Canada.  The goals of this project are to promote learning about the importance of soil as a natural resource, provide useful tools that high school educators can easily incorporate into their lesson plans, and encourage students to pursue soil science in their higher education. 

We have developed a prototype for this teaching tool which features five main themes: (1) descriptions of soil research projects currently undertaken by faculty at five universities across Canada; (2) links to age-appropriate soil related resources that provide exercises and examples teachers can easily incorporate into the curriculum; (3) profiles of soil scientists “at work” in a diverse range of careers to motivate future soil scientists; (4) examples of recent news stories about soil to highlight its relevance in our day to day lives; and (5) a soil forum for students and teachers to ask questions.  This tool will be further refined by incorporating feedback obtained from high school teachers, their students, and undergraduates.  Upon completion of the initial three years, we plan to expand the scope of the project by including additional examples of research projects and interviews with soil scientists from all Canadian provinces and territories.