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 - 2027
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).
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
- Academic Progression Policy and Procedure
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- 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 SUTE
Students reflected positively on teaching staff and commented that they learnt a lot of valuable skills and enjoyed the field trip/laboratory experience.
This comment reinforced the value of preparing thoroughly for the residential school to ensure all activities could be clearly explained and students could learn from them. Any staff teaching this unit in future should review the residential school handbook carefully to ensure activities and calculations are explained clearly to the students.
Feedback from Staff reflections
Assessment 3 (End of term online quiz) is open to students using generative AI to come up with answers.
Replace Assessment 3 with an alternative type of assessment that has lower risk of academic integrity breaches through use of GenAI.
Feedback from Staff reflections
Staff turnover in the unit coordinator role has been high and unit content has not been substantially reviewed and updated in the past 3 years.
Allocate unit coordinator role to a staff member who is likely to continue in the role and that staff member should review, and where relevant update, the unit content to reflect more recent trends and case study examples of soil conservation and management.