Can Tacit Knowledge be Taught in a Classroom?.

Downsizing soil science programs within Universities, the MLRA reorganization of the NCSS, the NRCS focus on digital soil survey and the movement towards online and computer-based teaching have created situations that have reduced the numbers of field-experienced professional soil scientists and the conditions through which field experience traditionally has been acquired.  These factors pose serious challenges to teaching fundamentals of soil science and to the abilities of recent college graduates to acquire the tacit knowledge gained in the field.   Knowledge of soil functions and the processes that drive them requires understanding and integrating many related but distinct concepts from geology, geomorphology, soil genesis, hillslope hydrology, chemistry, mineralogy and the biological sciences.  Studying and managing soil systems requires that practitioners have conceptually sound working models of spatially and temporally variable soil systems and the skills to create accurate functional models of the landscapes within they will work. These problems are compounded by the growing preferences of administrators and young faculty who lack field experience to rely upon models, computers and textbooks while minimizing hands on soil laboratory and field experiences.  Some have gone so far as to suggest that soil science can be taught online.  This conundrum will examined in the context of the authors’ perspectives acquired through field mapping experience prior to obtaining the Ph.D. degree, and from decades of experiences teaching soil science from introductory courses through pedology in college classes and outreach teaching from grade schools through adult professionals having a variety of applied environmental backgrounds and jobs.