Example Isn't Another Way to Teach, It Is the Only Way to Teach: Exercises in Soil Physics.

Arguably, the most effective teaching is accomplished by example. The common trend in soil physics is to teach from the top down, and to teach by telling.  This runs counter to the way students learn best. Example solving is the ability to identify and solve problems by applying appropriate skills methodically. Example solving is a procedure in which we use what we know to learn what we don't know. It involves prevailing difficulties by making hypotheses and assumptions, testing those forecasts, and arriving at acceptable results. Example solving is, and should be, a very important part of the curriculum. It assumes that students can take on some of the responsibility for their own learning and can take personal action to elucidate problems, discuss other options, and emphasize on thinking as a vital element of the syllabus. It provides students with chances to use their newly learned knowledge in important, real-life actions and assists them in working at higher levels of thinking. In this presentation, we will discuss our new book “Exercises in Soil Physics.” This book is designed to complement available soil physics and vadose zone hydrology texts by providing numerous practice exercises. Material is included for beginning level to graduate level students and may be studied either independently or in conjunction with formal classes. More than 200 problems are presented with detailed answers. The topics of soil physics are explored in nine categories: solid phase, soil water relations, saturated water flow, unsaturated flow, field water processes, chemical fate and transport, heat and energy transport, soil gases and transport, and soil variability. Experts in each of these topics were chosen to author one of the nine chapters, including the questions and the solutions. After the reader selects a problem of interest, we encourage him/her to first solve the problem independently and then to compare the results with the given detailed answer. Many questions require short answers, but some require a spreadsheet or program. Time will be the judge but our wish is that the book provides a valuable teaching tool in the direction suggested by Albert Einstein "Example isn't another way to teach, it is the only way to teach."