Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Carrie Werkmeister

Statement of Teaching Philosophy

       Within the discipline of soil science, there are many sub-disciplines such as conservation, nutrient management, chemistry, pedology, salinity, etc. which creates an ever challenging job for an educator to instill overall knowledge needed to fully understand the field for each scholar. Within the last few years there has been a push to revive the younger generation to enter in the soil field. I adopt interactive teaching methods in courses to inspire students to consider soil science as a major field of study. People look at the ground and see dirt but I see an opportunity for classroom learning.

These days, less students have farm backgrounds so at the start of the semester, I will ask the students about their experience in the field of soil science and the reason why they chose soil science. I constantly ask the class for their inputs on course content through electronic service and modify the course depending on the backgrounds of the students.  This allows for clarification incase a key concept in the class was misunderstood. I believe this permits a warm and welcoming environment in and outside the classroom because students communicate through different means i.e. text, blogging, etc.

       I want the students to see how the classes can relate to real life situations and how classes will help them in their future careers. My major outcome of teaching is for each student to leave the classroom with a better understanding and comprehension of the content than when the student first entered the class. In addition, a key component is to develop teamwork skills through interactions during group activities which also help students develop good human relation skills that can aid in future job and/or graduate school. My values in teaching are deep rooted in hard work ethics. Only hard working teachers produce hard working learners.

       Within my classroom setting, I have lectures, classroom discussions, demonstrations of new software, field equipment, and use web soil survey. I typically have a group project because students learn by teaching others and also an individual project. The individual project involves solving a real life problem which includes critical thinking. Small projects make student take ownership in the class. For an example, the group project would be picking a section of land and doing a detailed description of soil analysis by a field trip which would include field sampling and then data compilation and analysis. A presentation by the students would be required. A second part of the project would be to study a ten year cropping system with best management practices to control disease, pests, weeds, and nutrients. For an individual project, I would give them a problem that occurs in real life, for example, iron chlorosis or a disease. The students would be required to make recommendations in a form of a written report on how they would go about managing the problem. I believe that selecting problems and examples with significant relevance will highlight the importance of the concept taught in the class.

By developing critical learning, student interactions, and problem solving skills as part of my teaching practice, I want to foster an interest in soil science to the next generation of soil scientist. In order for there to be success in academia it takes active participation of both student and the teacher.