Joys and Constraints of Teaching Large Soil and Water Science Classes.

As the student populations at our colleges and universities continue to grow so does the enrollment in our courses.  It is almost becoming the norm to teach a large class.  For this paper a large class is defined as one in which more than 75 students are enrolled.  This paper will not address smaller classes nor super large classes which may have an enrollment of over 300 students, even though some of the joys and constraints reported within may hold true to these classes as well.

The specific classes we will use as examples will be the introductory soils course “Soils in the Environment” and "World of Water" taught at the University of Florida.  These courses are offered every semester.  The enrollment averages > 150 students for both courses.  Students who take the course do so either because it is required for their major, fulfills a university requirement of a Physical Science course, or take it for “fun” to complete their schedule.  The students come from the Colleges of Agricultural and Life Science, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Journalism and Mass Communication, Education, Business, Fine Arts, Health and Human Performance and as well the School of Natural Resources and the Environment and the School of Forest Resources and Conservation.  Therefore, the students’ major in Anthropology to Zoology.  Also, they range from first semester freshman to graduate students.