3 EC
Semester 1, period 1
5132PLSP3Y
Soils are essential for agriculture: they are the medium that plants grow in and supply the nutrients that plants require. In addition, soils have important functions in regulating and purifying water supplies, recycling waste and raw materials, modifying the composition of the atmosphere, serving as a habitat for soil organisms that initiate litter decomposition. During the course Plant-soil Interactions you will learn about soil formation, the chemical processes that take place in soils and, and the properties of soils and how these can impact the different functions and services that soils provide. You will also cover the profound impact of these processes on the yield of crops. This course aims to compliment this by introducing to practical techniques and approaches by which you can measure both soil properties and their subsequent effects on plants.
R (R studio)
During the laboratory practicals and excursion you will gather data to analyse in write up in your groups. Lectures and workshops will support this process to guide you through the scientific cycle.
Activity | Hours | |
Excursie | 32 | |
Hoorcollege | 6 | |
Practicum | 9 | |
Vragenuur | 2 | |
Werkcollege | 8 | |
Self study | 27 | |
Total | 84 | (3 EC x 28 uur) |
Additional requirements for this course:
All students must attend all the laboratory practicals, as missing even one would place attendance below 90%. Attendance at the workshops is also mandatory as there are only 3. The workshops link one-to-one to learning objective 1, 2, and 3 hence this justifies why attendance in obligatory. Fieldwork is obligatory because it links to learning objective 4 and the practicals are obligatory because they are linked to learning objective 5. The contact hours in this course are limited and the information is therefore very dense. Missing more than 90% of lessons would therefore hamper your ability to contribute to your groups learning pace.
| Item and weight | Details | Remarks |
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Final grade | presentatie veldwerk | |
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30% Excursion Group Report | Must be ≥ 5.5 | |
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70% lab, report, lab notebook | Must be ≥ 5.5 | |
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Final grade after retake | ||
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30% Excursion Group Report | Must be ≥ 5.5 | |
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70% lab, report, lab notebook |
The presentation of the excursion is graded and counts for 30% for the total grade. The excursion needs to be passed with a 5,5 minimum to be able to pass the course. The other 70% of the grade is based on the final report 80%, the lab notebook 10% and the attitude for working in the lab 10%. All these parts must meet a 5,5 minimum to pass the course. Onderdelen report and lab notebook could be re-taken. However, fieldwork and practicals itself need to be retaken the next year.
| Leerdoel: | Rapport | Labjournal | Practical | Excursion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1. | x | x | ||
| #2. | x | |||
| #3. | x | |||
| #4. | x | x | x | |
| #5. | x | x |
There are three graded assignments during this course, the excursion group report (which will be a presentation in the field), the experimental report and the laboratory notebook. The first two are group assignments but your lab-journal/notebook will be assessed individually. On top of these three assignments, your work attitude during the practical will be assessed on the performance of the group. Oral feedback on your work during the fieldwork excursion, work during the practical and your lab journal/notebook will be provided. Written feedback is available for handing in the introduction and discussion of the report and your R-code. These will not be graded.
The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl
| Weeknummer | Onderwerpen | Studiestof | deadline |
| 1 | introduction, planting | literature on canvas; syllabus | |
| 2 | experimental design; formulating hypotheses | 15 September 23:59 group hand-in introduction report with practical supervisor | |
| 3 | Fieldwork excursion | 21 September: soil pit presentation in the field | |
| 4 | Measuring available nutrients | syllabus; suggested literature on canvas | |
| 5 | statistics; ANOVA; creating your code with dummy data; counting AMF infection under the microscope | links to suggested websites at slides during the laptop tutorial; syllabus | 6 October 23:59 group hand-in code via e-mail with Anne Uilhoorn |
| 6 | writing a scientific report; rewrite your introduction based on feedback and suggestion during laptop tutorial; harvest of experiment | documents on scientific writing on canvas | 13 October 23:59 optional group hand-in discussion via e-mail with practical supervisor |
| 7 | writing; self study | 23 October 15-17 hand-in lab journal at SP at course coordinator | |
| 8 | trouble shooting session; finishing report | 27 October 23:59 group hand-in Report via canvas |
We vinden het belangrijk dat je je op de UvA en bij Future Planet Studies veilig voelt. Krijg je onverhoopt te maken met ongewenst gedrag of voel je je onveilig, dan kun je terecht bij verschillende personen. Je melding wordt altijd vertrouwelijk behandeld. Kijk op onze website voor meer informatie over waar en bij wie je terecht kunt.
It is important that everyone feels safe at the UvA and Future Planet Studies. We are committed to provide social safety and we offer various forms of support for people experiencing inappropriate or unsafe situations. Consult the UvA website or Future Planet Studies Canvas page for more information and contact info.
In order to provide students some insight how we use the feedback of student evaluations to enhance the quality of education, we decided to include the table below in all course guides.
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