Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - 4:15 PM
133-4

Student Profiles and Soil Science Concepts: Their Relationship for Success in a Soil Science Course.

Andrew Manu, 100 Osborn Drive, Iowa State University, Iowa State University, 1126A Agronomy Hall, Ames, IA 50011, E. Hasselman, Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50010, Amy Norton, Apt. 306, Iowa State University, Iowa State University, 4511 Twain Circle, Ames, IA 50014-8057, Dan Nath, NRCS, Cedar City, UT 84720, and Amber Anderson, Iowa State Agronomy Club, 1337 Larch Cunningham, Ames, IA 50013.

The Student Oriented Individualized Learning of Soils (SOILS) is a student centered instructional approach adopted at Iowa State University. This method permits instruction of three parallel courses: introductory soils in fundamentals of soils science, soils for horticultural scientists, and soils for urban use. These courses cater to students of various majors and levels of classification. Course information in digitized audio visual format is place on the World Wide Web. Students can access course information from their personal computers or they can use the soils learning center on campus. This system allows students to work at their own pace and on their own time. Course information is organized into 28 units of soil concepts and students are tested over two units per week. Student ability to synthesize information is evaluated in four one hour examinations taken over the semester. Students also use the principles discussed in lectures to develop a site plan for a prospective client depending on their area of specialization. The purpose of this study is to access the relationship between student's profiles and their ability to grasp the different concepts discussed in the different units. The student attributes evaluated include gender, major, and classification. Other pertinent evaluation tools were the semester in which the student was enrolled in the course, the number of quizzes the students repeated, attendance at recitations, and their performance in laboratory components of the course. Data obtained for eleven semesters will be analyzed and results will be presented.