P1253296571YGWQa

1
Development and Assessment of e-Applications and
e-Principles Soil Science Lessons
M. Mamo1, T. Kettler1, J. Ippolito2, R. Reuter3,
D. McCallister1, P. Hain1 C. Geiss4, W. Zanner5,
and D. Husmann6. 1Dep. of Agronomy and
Horticulture, Univ. of Nebraska 2Dep. of Soil
and Crop Sciences, Colorado State Univ. 3Dep. of
Forest Resources, Oregon State Univ. 4Dep. of
Physics, Trinity College, Connecticut, 5Dep. of
Soil, Water, and Climate, Univ. of Minnesota,
6Dep. of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and
Communications, Univ. of Nebraska
(mmamo3_at_unl.edu)

• At UNL, only 34 of the participants were in
  agriculture related majors while the rest
  comprised of environmental sciences related
  major, horticulture, golf management, or
  landscape architecture. At CSU, 44 of
  participants were Agriculture related majors with
  the rest in wildlife biology, natural resources,
  rangeland ecology, geology, civil engineering,
  and forestry. At OSU, majors were 40 Outdoor
  recreation, 40 Natural Resources, and 20
  Liberal Arts.
• The class standing at UNL was 27 each Freshman
  and Junior, 24 Sophomore, 20 Senior, and 3
  post-graduate. At OSU class standing were 12
  Sophomore, 36 Junior, 44 Senior, and 8
  post-graduate.
• At both UNL and CSU, the dominant learning
  styles as defined by the Kolb Learning Style
  (KLSI) of participants were converger (the How
  learners), assimilator (the What learners), and
  accomodator (the What if learners)

Application Lesson 3 Ecology-Soils and Salts
ABSTRACT Application lessons or case-study based
teaching is expected to enhance students
learning by providing opportunities to apply
principles or concepts of soil science. Six sets
of web-based principle lessons, along with three
web-based applications lessons, were developed
for use by undergraduate earth science courses.
The web-based application lessons included case
studies that integrated agroecosystems, natural
systems, and environmental science. Lessons were
introduced in freshman and sophomore level soil
science courses at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, Colorado State University, and
Oregon State University, in the Fall of 2006. An
online based pre-test was administered prior to
introducing the lessons in the classroom. An
online post-test was administered after lesson
use by students. A survey was also completed by
students within few days days of lesson use.
Student test performance improved by 10 to 69.
Survey indicated that students at all three
institutions thought the lessons were useful and
helped their learning. Lessons were found to be
useful to all students and with good
implementation strategy, they would be valuable
resources to learners in a variety of contexts.
e-Application Lessons Template
Lists all Lessons
OBJECTIVE To evaluate applications-principles
model to teach Soil Genesis and Development with
context case studies in Agronomy, Environmental,
and Ecology situations.
Fig. 1- Scores of Pre-test and Posttest at UNL,
CSU, and OSU, Fall 2006
APPROACH
Table 2- Change in student correct responses from
pre-test to posttest.

• At UNL, the internal consistency as measured by
  the reliability score (KR-20) was 0.92 for the
  pre-test and 0.58 for the posttest. Generally, a
  KR-20 value of 0.70 or higher is considered to be
  a reliable measurement tool with good internal
  consistency (Sandall, 2005).
• The average pre-test score at UNL, CSU and OSU
  was 20.9, 28.6, and 25.8 respectively.
• Average posttest scores at UNL was 35.3, 31.4 at
  CSU, and 32.6 at OSU.
• Posttest scores at UNL and OSU improved
  significantly compared to pre-test scores (Fig.
  1). However, scores did not improve at CSU. The
  score distribution in Fig. 2 clearly shows the
  change in score distribution from pre-test to
  posttest at UNL. This was not generally evident
  at CSU.

• e-Application Lessons
• Introducing the situation with some background
  information
• Stating the problem
• Series of questions asked. HyperLinks made below
  each question to refer students to one or more of
  the appropriate principles lessons sections
• Learner highlights major concepts principles
• Learner articulate response to questions
• Learner checks responses to questions provided by
  lesson developers
• Learner makes recommendation to the problem

Fig. 2- Score distributions of Pre-test and
Posttest at UNL, Fall 2006

• The average change in percent correct response
  from posttest score was 23 but only 3 at CSU.
  Differences may be due to implementation strategy
  (Tables 1 2). At UNL, students completed
  lessons in class while at CSU lessons were
  assigned as homework. Thus, amount of lessons
  completed by students at CSU could have affected
  the posttest performance.
• Participant score performance at CSU was not
  different between control and experimental groups
  for both the pre-test and posttest (data not
  presented).
• Student performance among learning styles (how
  students learn) was not different for both
  pre-test and posttest (data not presented)
• Participants rated the affect of the lessons on
  their ability at an average of 2.71. Participants
  also indicated that the layout and navigation to
  Principles lessons and back to applications
  lessons were good (1.90 to 2.37) (Table 3).

ASSESSMENT EVALUATION
Table 1- Courses and implementation strategies of
e-lessons at UNL, CSU, and OSU.
UNL CSU OSU
Course Soil Resources 153 Introductory Soil Science 240 Current Issues in Natural Resources Conservation
N 97 28 Experimental 27 Control 25
50 Question Pre-test In Class Homework Homework
Three e-application lessons In Class Homework Homework
50 Question Posttest In Class Homework Homework
Descriptive Survey In Class Homework Homework
Total Hours 6 6 6
Table 3- Selected survey responses of students at
UNL completed after posttest. Scale 1 strongly
agree or excellent 5 strongly disagree or poor.
SUMMARY FUTURE ACTIVITIES

• The results showed that the framework of
  e-application-e-principles model has good
• promise. Gains in posttest score through both
  informal (Fall 2005, Spring 2006) and
• formal (Fall 2006) assessments have been
  statistically significant and positive.
• The database will need additional e-applications
  lessons to meet all learning
• objectives of e-principles lessons and to allow
  lessons use in a variety of appropriate
• contexts (disciplines).
• Additional creative strategies are needed to
  enhance student engagement in lessons,
• such as interactivity, and quizzes at the end of
  each e-application lesson.
• This proof-of-concept of e-application-e-principl
  es model will be used to build
• Soil Science e-lessons database if NSF funds are
  successfully obtained.

Experimental group completed online lessons
while control group completed topic with lecture
and traditional recitation. Same pre-test and
posttest were administered to both groups.