|
|
A New Way to Look at Soil
|
|
Indiana soil types can vary greatly within the same field, not to mention in a county or region of the state. Purdue University agronomy faculty Darrell Schulze and Phillip Owens have found a way to teach students how to better understand soils and landscapes, as well as how to recognize geological features that indicate different soils.
 |
| Agronomy major Ben Atkinson studies a soil parent material map during a soils field trip to southern Indiana. A GPS unit on the tablet PC tracks the current location on the map. |
In 2005, the two began using geographic information systems (GIS) technology in their soil classification, genesis and survey course. “This class is great for students because almost all of the lab periods are spent out in the field,” Owens says. Students use GIS to observe geographic data. During a weekly lab, they travel to areas surrounding Purdue to study and classify the type of soil and the history behind it. They also take an all-day field trip to northern Indiana and another one to southern Indiana, using tablet PCs equipped with GPS receivers and GIS software to determine the soils, topography, land use and geology along the route.
“I think students come away from this class with a much better understanding of the world that they live in,” Schulze says. “They will never look at a hill in quite the same way as they did before they took this course.”
|
