Envirothon: A Platform for Indoctrinating High School Students and Teachers to the Importance of Soils and Soil Science.

Envirothon is an Olympic like high school team competition that focuses on forests, soils, wildlife, aquatic systems and human impacts on the environment. One unique aspect of Envirothon is that it is a practical, hands-on educational experience that teaches field techniques to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills. With regards to soils education, this approach exposes students to pits and profiles, and a broad array of experiential knowledge that cannot be taught in the classroom. A soil professional partnering with the Envirothon program has an excellent opportunity to influence students that are interested in environmental sciences but at a stage of uncertainty as to which specific discipline to pursue at college or university. In addition, high school teachers that participate in learning days prior to the competition often expand their future teaching to include soil science lessons and activities above and beyond the standard school curriculum.

The objective of this presentation is to describe a first-hand experience of involvement with the Ontario Envirothon sponsored by Forests Ontario, a charity dedicated to the renewal and stewardship of Ontario’s forests. It will outline the goals of partnering in terms of messages to impart and some of the techniques used to engage and excite students about soils in general, and about education and careers in soil science.