Surprising Facts about Soils, Students and Teachers! A Survey of Educational Research and Resources

Abstract

Soil is one of the key resources that sustain life on Earth, not just as the foundation for almost all our food supplies, as important as that is, but also in the way that it filters water, supports biodiversity, and perhaps even moderates global climate. Yet the world’s soils are under increased pressure on many fronts. They face unprecedented threats from erosion, deforestation, desertification, salinization, sealing (paving over), contamination, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. The importance of soil and the need to sustain it against these threats, however, have elicited little interest, not only by scientists and the general public, but also by the educational systems of most countries. While increasing attention has been paid to other important environmental topics, such as loss of biodiversity, climate change, deforestation, fresh water availability, and the world’s oceans, little attention has been placed on soil so far.