Delivery and Student Perceptions of Drive-through Laboratory Sessions.

Fundamental concepts in soil chemistry, soil physics, soil microbiology and soil fertility are often difficult to understand and appreciate by students when taught in a purely lecture setting. These concepts are better taught with some hands-on activities. The course Land, Life and Environment is a freshman-level soil science course that does not have a laboratory session. In the two times that this course was taught, the class was composed of students from at least 27 different majors. Because most of the students do not have practical agriculture or environmental science background prior to signing-up for the course, we decided to infuse a hands-on class component. Students were required to attend four drive-through laboratory sessions - each focusing on a given set of soil processes, concepts or analytic methodologies. Drive-through labs are 25-minute activities wherein students go through various prepared set-ups in the laboratory for their observation and/or manipulation. Student survey reveal tremendous contribution of the drive-through activities to student learning and appreciation of key soil concepts. Students also did not mind that we decided to add a laboratory component to what was intended to be a lecture-only class.