Soil surveys in the classroom

Excerpt

SOIL surveys are not compiled county by county only to facilitate decisions about agricultural production. Farmers are important users of soil surveys, but there are many other users, including foresters, realtors, contractors, road builders, assessors, planners, engineers, sportsmen, and local government officials (2). None of these groups makes as effective use of soil surveys in decision-making as they could or should (1).

Educators also have not used the information in soil surveys to advantage. Most teachers have not brought soil surveys into the classroom to help students learn about land and its use. Soil surveys are appropriate for use in junior and senior high schools and at the collegiate level. Students exposed to soil surveys can learn about a county's cultural history and development as well as its climate, physiography, drainage systems, natural vegetation, and geology, in addition to soil characteristics (3, 7). All of these subjects are dealt with in geography, earth science, biology, social studies, or vocational agriculture curricula in most schools. Yet soil surveys are not often among the instructional tools used.

This may be the result of the format and content of soil survey reports. Reports have been packaged so they are helpful …