Emotional Connection to Soil Improves Attitudes Toward Soil Care: A Study of Chilean Agriculture Undergraduate Students

Achieving soil conservation requires education that not only delivers factual soil science knowledge but also encourages soil care. Nevertheless, current soil science curricula often neglect the affective dimension of education, which fosters an emotional connection to soil. This study explores how emotions and feelings influence soil-care attitudes in a population of agriculture undergraduate students (n = 57) enrolled in a soil science course. The test design involved a survey, with a pre-test at the beginning and a post-test at the end of the semester. Students from rural backgrounds demonstrated a stronger emotional connection to soil than their urban peers. Similarly, female students demonstrated a stronger emotional connection to soil and a greater commitment to soil care than their male peers. Post-test attitude toward soil care was correlated with pre-test soil science knowledge (r = 0.37, p < 0.05), post-test soil science knowledge (r = 0.58, p < 0.001) and pre-test emotional connection to soil (r = 0.33, p < 0.01). In other words, within the population under study, emotional connection appeared to be an important and promising dimension of soil science education.