Karen Koy

Missouri Western State University

Undergraduate service course (non-majors gen ed), physical geology

The soil profile, factors controlling soil formation.

A single lab exercise, fits into a two-hour lab period.

• Formation of a soil catena
• Climate, weathering & soil development

• Translating data into a fence diagram
• Synthesis of material from separate course lectures with focused real world observations

• Presenting data in a spreadsheet, visually as a figure and as a written description
• Working in groups

Students will have been through lectures on weathering & erosion, sediments and soils. Students go to the field and pull soil cores across a hill. They describe & measure the horizons, determine soil texture and structure. Using the data, they create a fence diagram and verbally describe what they see. Then they relate the changes in the soil profile downhill to climate, weathering, and the local geology. Students get to learn how to express information in multiple ways & make connections between "different" lecture topics, creating a continuity in the class.

If the verbal description & fence diagram match their data & what would be expected. Does the evaluation of soil maturity reflect what they have learned in class.