Unit Profile Correction added on 28-04-20
Exam is being replaced by an alternate assessment, a 90-minute open-book online quiz comprising of three parts: 10 short answer questions and 1 soil classification question in Part 1 (20 minutes); three soil biology questions in Part 2 (30 minutes): and 2 soil chemistry short answer and 2 soil chemistry worked problem questions (40 minutes) in Part 3. The students will complete the quiz during a specified 24-hour period during after Week 12. Questions for each part will be drawn from a question bank at random. Students will upload their worked chemistry problem via Moodle at the end of the examination or a clear photograph sent to a mobile phone from their mobile phone (students will be instructed they must have a digital camera and a means to upload the images to moodle from that camera before the quiz).
Overview
Soils are the physical and chemical foundation of terrestrial ecosystems and Australian soils are among the oldest and most fragile in the world. In this unit you will learn the origin of soils and how they are affected by geology, geography, climate, living organisms and time. You will develop soil classification and testing skills in the laboratory and in the field, and study the conservation, management and remediation of Australian soils.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Pre-requisites: CHEM11043 Atoms, Molecules and Matter or CHEM11041 Chemistry for the Life Sciences and BIOL11099 Living Systemsor BIOL11102 Life Science Laboratory
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2020
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student Feedback
Students in Geraldton requested a lecturer from CQUni attend their residential school.
I'll request to travel to Geraldton during Term 1 2020 to meet with students during the residential school or before. This travel will depend on student enrolments in Geraldton. This travel would also support student learning by ensuring the lecturer is familiar with the soils and equipment that students will be assessing and using, respectively, during their residential school.
Feedback from Student Feedback
Students commented positively about the tri-partate nature of the unit, the fairness of the exam, and the availability of the lecturers outside of lecture and residential school times.
We will continue these aspects of the unit.
Feedback from Lecturer feedback
There were no complaints about assessment weighting.
This suggests we now have the assessment weighting correct and we will maintain it as is.
Feedback from Student and lecturer feedback.
Late return of assessments was an issue.
The lecturer will be more attentive to assessment return deadlines.
- Describe the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of soil
- Describe and classify a range of soils
- Plan and conduct soil tests in the laboratory and field
- Discuss the major challenges for the sustainable management and remediation of Australian soils.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Practical and Written Assessment - 30% | ||||
| 2 - Presentation and Written Assessment - 40% | ||||
| 3 - Examination - 30% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Practical and Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Presentation and Written Assessment - 40% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Examination - 30% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Australian soils and landscapes: an illustrated compendium http://ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/login?url=http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/lib/cqu/detail.action?docID=714045
- Soil health, soil biology, soil born diseases and sustainable agriculture: a guide http://ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1194484&site=eds-live&scope=site
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
n.english@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Soil Development (pedogenesis) and soil chemistry
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 1 tab.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Physical properties of soils
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 2 tab.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Soil microbes, sampling and processing
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 3 tab.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Soil mineralogy and clays
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 4 tab.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Soil solutions and ion chemistry
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 5 tab.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Soil acidity and nutrients
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 6 tab.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Field Trip and Res School (no lectures this week), April 27 to 29, 2020.
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 7 tab.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Field trip and residential school (Compulsory). See Moodle for more details and scheduling updates.
Module/Topic
Guest Speakers
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 8 tab.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Soil microbial ecology, nutrient cycling, and transport
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 9 tab.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Pollutants and wastes in soils
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 10 tab.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Group Written Report must be submitted before 5PM AEST Wednesday, May 20, 2020.
Module/Topic
Soil conservation (biodegradation and bioremediation)
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 11 tab.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
In-class Group Oral Presentations, unit overview and exam preparations
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Group Oral Presentation slides must be submitted before 8AM AEST Monday, June 1, 2020. Presentation will be delivered online (Zoom) and the times will be advised on Moodle once Timetables are completed.
Self and Peer Assessments (SPA) must be submitted before 5PM AEST June 5, 2020.
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Practical and Written Assessment
For this assessment you will submit:
1. A scanned copy of your Field Workbook and worksheets completed on the field trip. The worksheets must include a legible soil characterisation for the site we visited. (10%)
2. A Summary of work completed at the residential school. This short report should include a brief description of the experiments carried out and their results, including relevant figures. It must be no more than 1500 words, excluding title page, references, table, figures and captions. Figures must be publication ready and generated using Excel, R or other suitable software. Resources will be available on the Moodle site to explain how to make publication ready figures in Excel. (20%)
This Residential School is compulsory for all students. You may not complete this activity using notes produced by another student.
Week 8 Friday (8 May 2020) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 10 Friday (22 May 2020)
The Field Workbook and worksheets will be marked on:
- Completeness and legibility of information in notebook;
- Completeness and legibility of information in worksheets.
The Summary will be marked on:
- Completeness (all observations, experiments and results presented);
- Clarity, grammar, punctuation and organisation;
- Figure presentation (figures should be publication ready);
- Accuracy of, and reasoning supporting, soil characterizations.
A complete rubric with weightings will be available on Moodle.
- Describe the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of soil
- Describe and classify a range of soils
- Plan and conduct soil tests in the laboratory and field
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
2 Presentation and Written Assessment
This assessment consists of:
- Group written report will be a maximum of 3000 words long (excluding title page, figure and picture captions, tables and references). (25%)
- Group Oral Presentation will consist of an 8-minute online (Zoom) presentation of the report with 2 minutes for questions. (10%)
- Mark from Self and Peer Assessment (SPA) tool, based on your contributions to the group work. It is in your best interests to participate fully and politely with your peers. There is a guide to Working in Groups on the Moodle page. (5%)
Both the written report and oral presentation should include:
- a description of the setting;
- a summary of the approach you would take to identify potential problems regarding soil at the site; and
- how you would assess, quantify and measure these issues.
A more detailed task description is available on Moodle
Group Written report must be submitted by 5PM AEST Wednesday, May 2, 2020. Group Oral Presentation slides must be submitted before 8AM AEST Monday, June 1, 2020. Presentation times will be advised on Moodle once Timetables are completed. Self and Peer Assessments (SPA) must be submitted before 5PM AEST June 5, 2020.
The Group Written Report, Group Oral Presentation & SPA will be graded in the following way:
Group Written Report:
- Completeness of scenario description;
- Approach and reasoning;
- Appropriateness of the methods selected to assess, quantify and measure the issues;
- Clarity, grammar, spelling, references, and contribution statement.
Group Oral Presentation:
- Presentation quality (including slides, on-time delivery, organization and focus);
- Audience targeting;
- Equal division of presentation time;
- Quality of answers to questions asked after the presentation.
Self and Peer Assessment (SPA):
- Each student's final mark for the SPA will be an average of their peers' assessment of their contribution to the group.
- Describe the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of soil
- Plan and conduct soil tests in the laboratory and field
- Discuss the major challenges for the sustainable management and remediation of Australian soils.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
Examination
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
