Beyond cognition: Exploring the affective dimensions of soil science education

Achieving soil conservation requires education that not only delivers factual knowledge but also sparks the personal commitment and care essential for lasting behavioral change. However, by emphasizing cognitive domains, current soil science curricula often neglect the affective dimensions that foster a deep connection to soil. This study explores how emotions and feelings influence soil-care attitudes among university agriculture students. The study participants were undergraduate students enrolled in the introductory soil science course (n = 28). The test design involved a survey, with a pre-test administered at the beginning of the semester and a post-test administered at the end of the semester. A confidential code was used to match the two tests of each respondent. Students with rural backgrounds demonstrated a stronger emotional connection to soil compared to their urban peers (p = 0.037). However, no significant effect of place of upbringing was observed on students’ attitude toward soil care. The course significantly improved students’ attitude toward soil care (p = 0.0049). Pre-test emotional connection to soil emerged as a strong predictor of post-test attitude toward soil care (r = 0.52, p = 0.004). In contrast, the predictive power of pre-test soil science knowledge on post-test attitude toward soil care was not statistically significant. The results of this study suggest that fostering a deeper emotional connection to soil can be a crucial strategy for promoting soil conservation among students. To achieve this, soil science education should incorporate more experiential and emotionally engaging learning activities.