Canadian Forest Service Publications
Soil 4 Youth: Charting new territory in Canadian high school soil science education. 2014. Krzic, M.; Wilson, J.; Basiliko, N.; Bedard-Haughn, A.; Humphreys, E.; Dyanathkar, S.; Hazlett, P.; Strivelli, R.; Crowley, C.; Dampier, L. Natural Sciences Education 43:73-80.
Year: 2014
Issued by: Great Lakes Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 35510
Language: English
Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)
Available from the Journal's Web site. †
DOI: 10.4195/nse2013.11.0034
† This site may require a fee
Abstract
As global issues continue to place increasing demands on soil resources, the need to provide soil science education to the next generation of soil scientists and the general public is becoming more imminent. In many countries around the world, including Canada, soil is either not included in the high school curriculum or it is not covered in depth. To address this need for better integration of soil science into high school programs in Canada, a national collaborative program entitled Soil 4 Youth (soilweb.landfood.ubc.ca/youth/), was established in 2009. The goals of the Soil 4 Youth program are to: (1) promote the discipline of soil science to high school students and teachers, (2) create open access soil education resources that can be directly implemented in high school curricula in Canada, and (3) raise awareness about the importance of soil. During the initial 4 years of the Soil 4 Youth program, we developed a variety of soil education resources, struck collaboration with several provincial high school teachers’ associations and not-for-profit organizations focused on promotion of science, and focused our efforts toward reaching a broader group of high school teachers and students. Our initial efforts of building the Soil 4 Youth program indicate that it is a viable platform through which collaboration among Canadian soil scientists and high school teachers can take place to ensure that high school students are better informed about the importance of soil.
Plain Language Summary
Soil 4 Youth is a collaborative program that was established to promote the discipline of soil science to high school students and teachers. It offers a range of activities and hands-on resources for teachers to incorporate the principles of scientific inquiry and soil science into the classroom. The soil science community has an important role to educate the next generation of soil scientists and increase public awareness about the importance of soil and soil management in the global environment.