Saturday, 15 July 2006
171-7

Educating Future Soil Scientists: Using Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.

Rosalie T. Carpenter, Washington and Jeffeson College, 60 South Lincoln Street, Washington, PA 15301 and Stephen Carpenter, USDA Natural Resources Conservation, 75 High Street, Room 301, Morgantown, WV 26505.

This paper reviews one of the most critical needs of the 21st Century: Educating new soil scientists starting with school age children. Most elementary and secondary schools do not teach earth sciences and have a limited curriculum in the study of physical, biological, and environmental science as related to soil science. The purpose of this paper is to identify a gap in the education curriculum about soils in elementary and secondary education while using one of the most effective teaching methods in educating students: Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. By integrating multiple intelligences and soils in public school outreach, young future soil scientists can begin to build a foundation in earth science (to include soils) and be exposed to the many varied careers around the world associated with soil science. We provide a strategy for incorporating earth science into elementary and secondary curriculum and outline suggestions for higher education to maintain soil science program offerings.

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