Land and Life: An Undergraduate General Education Soils Course.

Increasing public awareness of and appreciation for the importance of soil in everyday life requires numerous approaches in public education. One important educational approach is to develop and include a basic soil and related sciences course available in the curriculum to any college student as part of their required general education science credits.  Land and Life, an undergraduate general education course, was developed for this purpose. The course provides practical information on soils and their importance to world food security, sustainable agricultural production, water and air quality, and waste disposal. Throughout the course students learn practical applications of important soil biological, chemical, and physical properties and processes in everyday life. Students also discover how human activities impact soils and their function in natural and disturbed (constructed) environments. Student and peer evaluation of the course have been excellent. Over the last eight years annual enrollment has grown from 20 to 500 students.  Positive student response is primarily related to the course emphasis on practical connections between soils and human life on global, regional, and local scales. Students also appreciate the mastery learning approach utilized to evaluate student learning. Opportunities for students in higher education to learn and reinforce scientific principles through the study of soil will substantially enhance public understanding of the importance of soil to life and encourage conservation of an essential natural resource.