Gary Varrella

Extension - Spokane County

Washington State University-Spokane

Dr. Gary F. Varrella received his bachelor’s, teaching credential and masters from UC-Davis, and his doctorate from the University of Iowa (1997). His areas of expertise are 4-H youth development, expertise in teaching, emphasis of STEM and science & society, formal and informal learning, evaluation, and agricultural education. He is an associate professor at WSU as an Extension 4-H Educator. Dr. Varrella has been a high school teacher, a state Ag Ed Curriculum Specialist, managed NSF projects, was a science teacher educator at Ohio University (Athens) and George Mason University (Fairfax), and worked in the developing nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan. He has co-edited/co-authored 10 international texts, written one monograph, five book chapters, and published five peer-reviewed journal articles.

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Website Content Contributions

Course Modules (5), Other Contribution (1)

Course Modules (5)

Unit 1: Introduction to Soils and Society part of Soils, Systems, and Society
In this unit, students engage in a scaffolded class discussion designed to encourage students to move from a broad focus on science relevancy to locally important societal issues relevant to soils. They then relate ...

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Unit 3: Soil Investigation and Classification part of Soils, Systems, and Society
In this unit, students work in small groups to collect and record data about soils using various soil testing and classification methods at a series of stations. The methods they use are relevant to the societal ...

Unit 2: Mapping Patterns part of Soils, Systems, and Society
In this unit, students work in small groups to examine and analyze spatial data relevant to soils to identify patterns. They use their analyses to add detail to their Earth systems concept maps and describe how ...

Unit 4: Soils, Systems and Society Kit Presentation part of Soils, Systems, and Society
In this unit, students construct and present a standards-based, K–8 Soils, Systems, and Society Kit that consists of lessons and supporting materials around a locally and broadly relevant societal issue that ...

Soils, Systems, and Society part of Soils, Systems, and Society
This inquiry based module is designed for use in a preservice K-8 science methods course, but Units 1-3 could easily be modified for other types of courses. The module promotes geoscientific and systems thinking ...

Other Contribution (1)

Assessment of Module Goals part of Soils, Systems, and Society
This webpage is an instructor resource page for the "Soils, Systems, and Society" module, detailing summative and formative assessment strategies, including the "Soils, Systems, and Society Kit" and presentation, with downloadable rubrics and alignment to interdisciplinary, standards-based geoscience education for pre-service K–8 teachers.

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