# Writing with soils: how we make meaning in soil science > Dr. Yamina Pressler > Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo > Presented at SSSA 2024 >[!summary] Abstract >Soils are complex, dynamic, integrated systems that require thinking across scales and evaluating many interdisciplinary ideas. Consequently, learning soil science presents a challenge to students at all levels. As educators, we must teach students how to use scientific tools that help us think through the complexity of soils. While writing is most often considered as a tool to communicate ideas to others, it is also a critical cognitive practice that helps us think, learn, and understand ideas. Writing-to-learn is an approach that creates space for students, researchers, and practitioners to make meaning of soil science concepts by connecting to personal experiences and prior knowledge. In this talk, I will explore how writing can be applied as a meaning-making tool for students studying soil science. I will describe how I use low-stakes writing assignments in my upper division soil morphology course. I will reflect on my core teaching principles of inclusivity, transparency, agency, and curiosity and describe how these guide my approach to integrating writing into teaching soil science. When we provide opportunities to write-to-learn, we can help students experience the power of writing to shape their relationship with soils. # Guiding question How can we facilitate meaning-making for students studying soil science? # My answer Through teaching writing as a practice (writing-to-learn) - writing is a process, not just an outcome - we can create a writing practice to facilitate our thinking, learning, and reflection about complex systems such as soils # Writing is a tool for learning and connecting to place - We often consider writing as a tool to communicate - Writing is also a process through which we learn and make meaning about our experiences - We can use writing as a tool to learn about our environment and strengthen our connection to place There is a lot of evidence that writing-to-learn has positive benefits for learning outcomes. Some examples: - [Elbow 2001](https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781410603968-21/high-stakes-low-stakes-assigning-responding-writing-peter-elbow) describes the concept of "low stakes writing" as a pedagogical tool - [Fry & Villagomez 2012](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/87567555.2012.697081) found that writing-to-learn helped college students make sense of course content and think through ideas - [Graham et al. 2020](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0034654320914744?casa_token=-8Vs9XGmthUAAAAA%3AUPKtL43Ci1LKvJn8iPqAyqJanb_mAvPMIghY5fjV_qqBsZ1Ae_bF493vPJmwuGNisEvS8iaK6rom5Q) found that writing is effective at increasing learning in K-12 students studying science, social studies, and mathematics - [Balgopal et al. 2018](https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/68/6/445/4990682) found that writing-to-learn is effective at increasing student performance in college biology course Writing-to-learn can be especially relevant in the context of environmental literacy where the problems and solutions are complex. - By using writing as a tool to connect news ideas with our personal experiences, we can improve our understanding and retention. - [Balgopal et al. 2011](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13504622.2011.576316) demonstrate that writing-to-learn prompts that ask students to make connections between ecological concepts and personal experiences can improve ecological literacy - [Seraphin 2012](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.5408/12-413.1) describes the benefits of place-based writing for students in the context of science classrooms # Writing can help us see that new knowledge builds upon our prior knowledge and experiences - I recommend [Small Teaching by Lang 2021](https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Small+Teaching:+Everyday+Lessons+from+the+Science+of+Learning,+2nd+Edition-p-9781119755548) for a great review of ways to conceptualize our learning process. Chapter 4 is about connections. See this chapter and references therein for more about how we build knowledge upon our prior knowledge and experiences. - I like to think of the process of learning like a crystal. Mineral crystals grow over time as the elements organize into a lattice structure. Ions and particles attach to the existing lattice structure, and the crystal grows over time. Our existing knowledge is like the beginning of the lattice. When we learn something new, we are growing the crystal by adding to the lattice. If we don't have anything to connect news ideas to, it is difficult to make meaning and see connections between ideas. # Writing can help us see that learning is iterative - Check out [Small Teaching by Lang 2021](https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Small+Teaching:+Everyday+Lessons+from+the+Science+of+Learning,+2nd+Edition-p-9781119755548) Chapter 3 about interleaving and Chapter 5 about practicing. Both speak to this idea of learning as iterative. - Another way to think about learning is as an iterative circle. Each time we learn a concept, we add bits to the circle. When we revisit a concept in a different context, we add more clarity to that circle, and the circle starts to fill in. Over time, we learn a concept in many different contexts that helps us build a more complete understanding of that idea. This process is iterative, but never really finished. > I first learned this analogy in a philosophy of science education research course taught by Dr. Susan Lynham when I was a graduate student at Colorado State University. I think about that class all the time. It had a really big impact on the way I see the research process and my pedagogical principles. # Why do we need writing-to-learn in soil science? - Soils are complex, dynamic systems that require an understanding of many sub-disciplines of science - Complexity has an architecture that can be understood with careful study - Writing can help us think through this complexity by helping us simplify so that we can create meaning and understanding - We also know that learning about nature helps us feel more connected to place and consequently engage in pro-environmental behaviors. Research supports these ideas: - [Mackay & Schmitt 2019](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494418308557?casa_token=bYt8Gz-uLv4AAAAA:8r0z30A7XmmQNiHgjzitI4H3GO4Z1B9WlPBPTDq0w_eHz9-pFx0dpft6c8fenqh-yvlEapcBvZE) conducted a meta-analysis that found a correlation between people's connection to nature and positive environmental behaviors - [Whitburn et al. 2019](https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.13381) found that connection to nature is associated with pro-environmental behavior and suggest that interventions designed to facilitate nature connections are needed - [Barragan-Jason et al. 2023](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320722003950?casa_token=JSTNm6NFMDIAAAAA:u7OW5_7tY5ELStYtCNf0UN3Uk7P8sIyzMs4DAmYg4itKDi52h4gN3eSUgVMOHJQ3pZ_FkOUuWHM) suggest that a connection to nature has benefits both for human health and for conservation - [Ardoin et al. 2020](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320719307116) completed a systematic review of 105 studies and found that environmental education at local level with meaningful collaborations can lead to positive outcomes for conservation # Practicing authentic communication is essential to soil conservation - Soil science courses may not seem like a place to incorporate writing, but soil conservation requires that we effectively communicate the importance of soil to diverse audiences. Teaching students how to communicate about soils in a way that is authentic to their lived experience is essential. > You may be interested in my recent article about strategies for communicating about soil biodiversity. > > **Pressler, Y.**, McClymonds, B. B., Balgopal, M. B., *(2024)*. Communicating about soil biodiversity: insights from science editorials and future recommendations. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedobi.2024.151003 # We apply writing-to-learn in my soil morphology course - The course is a field-based upper division course where students learn how soils develop and function over space and time. Students learn the principles of pedology and practices of soil classification. - Check out the [[SS321 Syllabus - website|syllabus]] for more detail **Writing-to-learn** - Each week, students complete a low-stakes writing assignment ([[SS 321 mini note assignment - website|mini notes]]) designed to facilitate writing-to-learn. Students explore an idea related to the course content and connect those ideas to something they already know. This could be something they learned in another class, from something they read, or a personal experience. - Students are encouraged to look for connections between their mini notes and link the notes together throughout the quarter **Writing-to-communicate** - At the end of the quarter, students are tasked with reviewing their mini notes for emergent ideas and creating an original piece of writing that makes an argument. This [[SS 321 Final Writing Assignment - website|final essay]] allows students to deepen their understanding of a topic of their interest. Students can choose any topic they are interested in, as long as the essay is related to soil formation in some way. - The assignment is scaffolded wherein students first write a draft and feedback memo, then revise the draft based on feedback for the final essay. # Students have explore diverse topics in their essays - Topics have included - climate change - life lessons learned from describing soil profiles - water and hydrology - serpentine soils and rare plants - paleosols - urban soils - fungi - earthworms - soils in agroecosystems # How can we increase intrinsic motivation for learning about soils? - The [[SS 321 mini note assignment - website|mini note assignment]] is just one example of how I work to help students build intrinsic motivation for learning about soils - I developed this assignment guided by my teaching principles: - Students and I co-create a positive, inclusive learning environment. - I prioritize **transparency** in all aspects of my teaching. - I design my classes to give students **agency** over your own learning. - I teach from a place from **curiosity** so that students can learn from a place of curiosity. - Here are three recommendations for how to design assignments to facilitate intrinsic motivation # Design assignments to give students agency over their learning - Give students flexibility in the topic area they choose to focus on and create a structure for them to connect their interests to the course content. # Be transparent about how the assignment builds knowledge and skills. - For writing-to-learn assignments, explain how writing is a tool for thinking and explain the importance of learning how to connect ideas and develop and argument for engaging in scholarly and scientific work. This will help you get "buy in" from students to put effort into the assignment. # Model curiosity by designing an assignment that you would also enjoy doing. - Even better - do the assignment alongside the students. For the [[SS 321 Final Writing Assignment - website|final writing assignment]], I show students personal essays about soil that I have written and shared on [[learn about soil|my website]]. - In my [[courses I teach|Introduction to Earth Science course]], I assign students a group project where they collect and analyze an observational dataset on a study subject of their choosing. I also complete the assignment and present my findings at the end of class. Ask yourself - if you wouldn't be excited about doing the assignment, why would you expect your students to be engaged and excited to complete it? # Thank you and questions Thank you for your interest in these ideas! If you are interested in talking more about how we can incorporate writing-to-learn in soil science, please [[contact me]]. **Acknowledgments:** - Dr. Meena Balgopal for many discussions on writing-to-learn and communicating about soils - Dr. Susan Lynham for inspiration for learning as an iterative, incomplete circle - Cal Poly Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology for insightful discussions that have informed my pedagogy