Bergaya F. Handbook of Clay Science

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ﬁeld of clay science. Each of these disparate sub-sets requires unique education and

training regimens for development of practitioners who are capable of contributing

to their particular ﬁelds. Some of the sub-sets of clay science require use of equip-

ment about which researchers in other sub-se ts have no expertise.

However, there is a commonality that crosses the disciplinary boundaries between

all sub-sets of clay science. It takes the form of classic clay mineralogy including

X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Bot h of which existed for nearly a century being

inspired by, and following in part, the content of the textbook by Grim (1953). XRD

is the universal technique for studying clay minerals that is taught in various ac-

ademic departments and at different levels at universities around the world.

Teachers, researchers, engineers, users of clay materials (bentonite, kaolin, talc),

and politicians responsible for establishing education curricula in each country, need

to recognize the importance of multidisciplinary education in clay science. Homo-

geneous education curricula and teaching techniques do not exist across the full

spectrum of clay science. Each sub-set of clay science is sufﬁciently complex and

detailed that no university can afford professors and equipment to establish pro-

grams for all sub-sets. On the other hand, those aspects of clay science (e.g., clay

mineralogy and XRD techniques) that are common to all sub-sets of clay science are

being ignored by increasing numbers of universities that have either marginalized

them or dropped them from their curri cula altogether. As a result, clay mineralogy

and XRD techniques are too often taught in scattered snatches delivered in geology,

mineralogy, crystallography, colloid chemistry, and soil science courses.

Serious investigation is needed concerning what is considered fundamental in the

clay science curricula of all universities in all countries. It seems timely to identify the

programmatic commonalities across all sub-sets of the discipline. Inter- and intra-

university communication between teachers and researchers will be facilitated when

knowledge of cou rse content and level of teaching is shared. The factors and rea-

soning that control or dictate clay science curricula at various universities should be

documented in order to assist the establishment of commonalities in clay science

curricula. Ultimately, students will be the beneﬁciaries.

The importance of clay mineralogy and XRD techniques is recognized universally

across all sub-sets of clay science. Can this common subject matter be enlarged to

encompass information or techniques that were not yet included in classes on clays

and clay minerals? What subject matter will mot yet been be of maximum beneﬁt to

the greatest number of students as they seek employment? Aside from the basic

concepts of physics, chemistry, and mathematics, what other subjects and techniques

should be added to the core curriculum for all aspects of clay science? The breadth of

teaching within the sub-sets of clay science will correspond approximately to the

topics listed in the Table of Contents of this handbook.

In general, these following fundame ntal questions must be answered:

– Why must clay science be taught?

– What has to be taught?

–AtWhich grade of education must clay science teaching be delivered?

Chapter 16: Teaching Clay Science: A Great Perspective1184

Recently, Rule and Guggenheim (2002) answered the last question. They declared

that ‘‘Teaching Clay Science is often thought of as forming the curriculum of upper-level

for juniors. Although clays and clay minerals are complex subjects often requiring

extensive background to understand in detail, introducing topics related to clays does

not require such specialization.’’ These authors further add that ‘‘It does not seem

reasonable to wait until a student reaches the upper-college level to introduce the

subject, although the introduction of clay science must be approached at levels appro-

priate to the student’s development and background.’’

The sooner basic clay mineralogy is introduced into a university curriculum, the

better students will be able to understand the properties of these unique materials

and the reasons behind many applications such as the medicinal value of some clays ,

even for trees protection against speciﬁc illness (Sarrazin, 2004), or cosmetic effec-

tiveness of other clays (such as North African ‘ghassoul,’ used in spas or for hair

washing). Studying clay science can avoid potential dangers that may accompany the

use of clay minerals as reported in Chapter 11.

There is actual ly little educational homogeneity regarding clay science as it

is taught in diffe rent countries. Clay science university curricula were controlled

to a signiﬁcant extent by needs and interests at the local, provincial, or state

levels.

In the USA the Clay Minerals Society is attempting to have a positive inﬂuence on

teaching clay science at the university level across state boundaries. The results of

these efforts may be of value to universities outside North America. The remainder

of the chapter is devoted to presenting the current status of clay science education in

North America (principally the USA), in Europe (mainly in Germany), and also in

New Zealand and Australia.

16.1. TEA CHING CLAY SCIENCE IN THE USA

Clay science education is changing throughout the world, in general, and in the

United States of America, in particular. The number of universities that offer pro-

grams in classical clay mineralogy, usually associated with departments of geology or

earth sciences, is diminishing for several reasons. Clay mineralogy plays a lesser role

in the petroleum industry, thereby diminishing employment opportunities for clas-

sically trained clay scientists. Government research laborat ories such as the United

States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Commonwealth Scientiﬁc and Industrial

Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia are focusing less on projects related to

clay mineralogy and in some cases are cutting clay science programs completely

(Churchman, 2002). These cut backs also contribute to diminishing employment

opportunities. Many professors who once carried the load of supervising graduate

students in traditional clay science programs are retiring without being replaced by

others of a similar background, owing to what university administrations perceive as

lessened scientiﬁc importance of the ﬁeld and diminished employment opportunities.

16.1. Teaching Clay Science in the USA 1185

In the USA, fewer degrees (BS, MS, and PhD) in all areas of geosciences, including

clay science, were granted in 2001 than in 1973 (Ridky, 2002).

However, clay science in the United States and elsewhere remains strong at uni-

versities with soils programs, particularly where associated with schools of agricul-

ture. Here, students are taught clay mineralogy applied to the processes of soil

formation and maturation, as wel l as how clay science may be applied to the solution

of pedologic problems. To a much lesser degree, departments of civil engineering

support programs in clay mineralogy that are narrowly focused on foundation

problems related to construction of dams, highways, and large ofﬁce or housing

structures. University departments of environmental studies, ground water hydro-

logy or hydrogeology recognize the importance of clays and clay minerals as they

relate to permeability, water quality, and remediation of pollution problems (such as

spills of environmentally damagi ng and carcinogenic substances) but rarely teach

clay mineralogy courses. Companies that manufacture absorbent substances from

clay minerals (for control of pet wastes, and environmental spills) generally depend

upon departments of chemistry to provide employees who are trained in this area of

clay science.

Kaolinite and bentonite mining industries remain strong, worldwide. Research

scientist vacancies are ﬁlled from academic departments that continue to graduate

persons trained in classical clay mineralogy or from departments of agriculture.

Some private industrial research laboratories support highly focused in-house clay

mineralogical training programs in support of company goals and objectives. Such

programs rarely have an impact outside individual companies.

An entirely new ﬁeld grown (and continues to grow) out of clay mineralogy; the

modiﬁcation of clay minerals or outright synthesis of clay mineral-like substances

called pillared clays, micro-composites, and ceramics. In the 1950s a few clay sci-

entists became involved with a new ﬁeld of ceramic engineering applied to electron-

ics. The piezoelectric ceramic phonograph cartridge was one of the ﬁrst products to

emerge from this ﬁeld of endeavor. In fact, the piezoelectric and modest semicon-

ductor properties of ceramics ﬁred from clay minerals contributed to a ﬁeld that

revolutionized electronics. As research progressed, ‘‘ceramic’’ materials were syn-

thesized from substances unrelated to clay minerals. The term ceramic remains in use

in semi-conductor and nanocomposite ﬁelds of research but is rarely recognized as

related to clay science. The task of educating future scientists for this ﬁeld of research

now resides primarily in departments of physics and occasionally in departments of

chemistry that support strong programs in surface chemistry, crystallography, and

atomic structure. Pillared clay research continues mostly in departments of chemistry

and engineering. New materials with exceptionally small pore diameters (micro

sieves) were developed in academic departments and private research labs but these

applications are concerned with clay-sized material and may be more closely related

to zeolite than clay mineralogy.

Although clay science remains widely recognized for its importance in a variety of

disciplines and ﬁelds of research, it is clear that future professors of clay science

Chapter 16: Teaching Clay Science: A Great Perspective1186

necessarily are being educated differently now than they were decades ago. Rarely are

they the products of classic clay mineral programs housed in geology or earth sciences

programs. With the possible exception of soil sciences, the curricula that served as

cores of university programs in the 1960s and 1970s are no longer adequate. Professors

must now be prepared to teach within much narrower disciplines, preparing their

students to work successfully in such widely divergent ﬁelds as soil and earth sciences,

nanocomposites, engineering geology, environmental science, molecular sieves, and

the pharmaceutical industry. This does not mean that clays are no longer important in

the geological sciences but it does mean that clay science is more commonly combined

with geochemistry and geophysics in sophisticated ways. As geologists attempt to

solve highly complex problems related, for example, to ancient climates, plate tec-

tonics, early composition and evolution of the lithosphere, they ﬁnd it increasingly

helpful to use the sensitivity of clays to environmental changes to provide chemical

and physical information that helps solve their earth science problems.

16.1.1. Teaching Clay Science at the University Level

Teaching Practices

The trend toward using authentic or at least realistic, experiential techniques

(Thomas, 2002) in undergraduate science education applies to teaching clay science.

In the United States of America the phrase ‘‘hands-on education’’ is now being used

in undergraduate education in the same way as it was used for many years in primary

and secondary public schools. Students are be ing introduced to sophisticated an-

alytical techniques at increasingly earlier stages of their undergraduat e education .

Theoretical courses in basic clay miner alogy will never be displace d from modern

curricula, but these courses are now being infused with opportunities to apply what

was learned to the solution of realistic problems.

Some professors use their own consulting and research experiences when con-

structing classroom, ﬁeld, or laboratory exercises that enable students to learn

techniques of problem solving. Undergraduate students are increasingly being in-

cluded in the professional research projects of their professors. ‘‘Teach ing Clay Sci-

ence,’’ edited by Rule and Guggenheim (2002) contains exampl es of ways to

incorporate practical problem-solving activities in clay science classrooms. ‘‘Teach-

ing Mineralogy,’’ edited by Brady et al. (1997) is focused on classroom experiments

and activities related to miner alogy in general. However, many of these experiments

and activities can be used in clay mineralogy classes with minimal modiﬁcation.

Papers that describe experiments and other hands-on classroom activities are listed

in Table 16.1.

Teaching methods in undergraduate and to some extent in graduate classes un-

dergone scrutiny and are changing. Methodologies that were once used almost ex-

clusively at the primary and secondary school levels are becoming increasingly

common in university classrooms. Cooperative learning techniques (Srogi and

16.1. Teaching Clay Science in the USA 1187

Baloche, 1997; Gugge nheim and Kane, 2002), teaching by analogy (Rule, 2002a),

differentiated teaching techniques (California Department of Education and the

California Association for the Gifted, 1994), differentiation in classrooms (Tomlin-

son, 1995) and other creative educational techniques invaded university teaching in

the USA. The once widely accepted practice for university students to sit in class and

listen to whatever the professor felt like talking about is being subjected to critical

scrutiny. More and more frequently, professors are asked to consider what a studen t

Table 16.1. Sources of classroom activities and experiments in clay science

Teaching mineralogy

Brady, J.B., Mogk, D.W., Perkins II, D. (Eds.), 1997. Mineralogical Society of America, Washington,

DC., 406pp. (papers devoted to teaching general min eralogy, and applicable to teaching clay science

include this list in the order in which they appear in the volume.)

‘‘Introduction to properties of clay minerals’’, by S. Guggenheim .

‘‘From 2D to 3D: I. Escher drawings, crystallography, crystal chemistry, and crystal defects’’, by P.R.

Buseck

‘‘A fun and effective exercise for understanding lattices and space groups’’, by D. Perkins.

‘‘Building crystal structure ball models using pre-drilled templates: Sheet structures , tridymite, and

cristobalite’’, by K. Hollocher.

‘‘Directed-discovery of crystal structures using ball and stick models’’, by D.W. Mogk. (includes

biotite as the only phyllosilicate example)

A Laboratory manual for X-ray powder diffraction

Poppe, L.J., Paskevich, V.F., Hathaway, J.C., Blackwood, D.S., 2001. U.S. Geological Survey Open-

File Report 01-041, CD-ROM.

Teaching clay science

Rule, A.C., Guggenheim, S. (Eds.), 2002. CMS Workshop Lectures, Volume 11. The Clay Minerals

Society, Aurora, CO, 223pp. (papers listed in the order in which they appear in the volume.)

‘‘Using a discrepant event to teach the coagulation and ﬂocculation of colloids’’, by S.B. Parekh and

A.C. Rule.

‘‘Rubrics in teaching assessment’’, by R.W. Berry (classroom activities about interpretation of clay

mineral XRD data and their application).

‘‘An introduction to the analysis of clay minerals by laser and X-ray diffraction techniques’’, by

S. Guggenheim.

‘‘Interlayer reactions in expandable clays: Exchange, solvation, and intercalation experiments’’, by

B. Ross and S. Guggenheim.

‘‘Infrared spectroscopy in clay science’’, by P.A. Schroeder.

‘‘Structure and chemistry of clay minerals: Learning through application’’, by J.H. Laukant

Resources on the Internet

U.S. Geological Survey publications: ohttp://pubs.usgs.gov/>

Proceedings from and information about workshops in Clay Mineralogy at the research center in

Karlsruhe and the university in Jena: ohttp://141.35.2.84/chemie/geowiss/tagungen/clay2002/

clay2002.html>

‘‘Demonstrations in Soil Science’’ from Purdue University: ohttp://www.agry.purdue.edu/courses/

agry255/brochure/brochure.PDF>

Chapter 16: Teaching Clay Science: A Great Perspective1188

should know and be able to do when he or she completes the course. Departmental

colleagues now exert more inﬂuence on what is taught in each other’s classes, leading

to formal or informal sets of course standards. Course standards become small sub-

sets of a larger set of standards that guide departmental curricula. Departmental and

university curricula in the USA are being adjusted to align with state and national

content standards (Rule, 2002b).

Assessment

Something else invaded university education. Assessment as it was used in primary

and secondary educational systems in the USA is becoming more widespread in

colleges an d universities. Assessment tools grown to be much more than a few

quizzes and exams, supplemented by lab reports and term papers. Once standards

were established for what a student should know or be able to do on complet ion of

the course, assessment must determine how successfully the course (or curriculum of

courses) met the standards. Portfolios, journals, and scoring rubrics are asses sment

tools that, although new to many university professors, are becoming more common

at the univers ity level. An outline of the history of the introduction of statewide

standards and assessment at the California State University since 1988 is presented

by Berry (2002). The subject is discussed for Texas by Cawelti (2000), for Virginia by

Thayer (2000) , and for Massachusetts by Noyce et al. (2000).

Students beneﬁt when university professors pay close attention to what they teach

and how they teach it. Appropriately applied standards help improve the focus of a

course and assessment provides professors with information about teaching effec-

tiveness (Berry, 2002). Students will also beneﬁt if they adjust their study techniques

in the light of assessment results.

It is important to realize that assessment and evaluation are signiﬁcantly different

even though they may overlap each other. Assessment does not necessarily include

grade consequences whereas evaluation almost always does. Evaluation (generally

the assign ment of grades) focuses on teaching and learning that has alrea dy taken

place. At best, evaluation can no more than incidentally help students improve

their study skills and learning strategies. Professors are seldom motivated to

make changes in a cou rse solely as a result of the assignment of grades. On the other

hand, assessment helps students and professors alike measure the effectiveness

of both the teaching and learning processes. If assessment is begun early, teaching

methodologies, learning strategies, and subject matter content may be adjusted

and improved before completion of a course. Performance assessment and authentic

assessment are both helpful. Performance asses sment encourages students to

construct responses that illustrate how they might apply the knowledge they ac-

quired. Authentic assessment encourages students to construct responses that de m-

onstrate an actual application of knowledge, often in ‘‘real life’’ situations. More

may be learned about performance and authentic assessment s from Marzano and

Kendall (1996).

16.1. Teaching Clay Science in the USA 1189

16.1.2. Clay Science in the Public Schools

A neglected aspect of teaching clay science is the preparation of primary and sec-

ondary (public school) students for a successful experience at colleges and univer-

sities. Clay science professionals, particularly university professors, have a vested

interest in the quality of education received by students before they enter institutions

of higher education and ultimately enter the professional work force. Most public

school teachers are open to if not enthusiastically supportive of cooperation with

subject matter experts, especially in science.

The generally low levels of scientiﬁc expertise held by primary schoo l teachers

provide clay scientists with an opportunity to serve as subject matter consultants or

resource persons. Primary school students’ keen interest in soil provides an entre

for a team of classroom teachers and clay science professionals to introduce

age-appropriate information about soils as they relate to clays and clay minerals.

Similarly, strong interest in the physical en vironment in which they live provides

opportunities for teacher and clay scient ist to promote study and experimentation

about the environment and preservation of its quality. Here again, clays play an

important role.

Secondary school teachers usually ha ve strong backgrounds in the subject matter

of the courses they teach. However, they too usually welcome opportunities to in-

teract with clay science professionals who may be in a position to help construct

experimental protocols and supply access to equipment that otherwise would be

unavailable to secondary school students. Assistance with planning and carrying out

honors activities or science fair projects is highly valued by secondary students and

teachers, alike.

There is great satisfaction in taking part in the intellectual growth of children and

youths, and clay science professionals may ﬁnd it very fulﬁlling to contribute to the

teaching and learning processes of primary and secondary school student. There are

additional rewards for univers ity professors that result from interaction with public

school teachers. Public school teachers are experienced in standards-based education

methods and assessment tools, the same things that are relatively new on college and

university campuses. They may serve as a signiﬁcant resource for the university

professor who is struggling with understanding and implementing new teaching

methodologies.

16.1.3. Concluding Comments on the Scene in the USA and Other Industrialized

Nations

Changes are taking place in the teaching of science in general and clay science in

particular. Fundamentally, these changes are driven by changes in society on the one

hand and increased complexity of modern science on the other hand. A strong

impetus for implementation of standards-based science education (and attendant

Chapter 16: Teaching Clay Science: A Great Perspective1190

assessment programs) is a societal focus on accountability. In the USA as well as in

other industrialized nations, when measures of student success in learning show a

decline society wants to know who is responsible for the decline and how the trend

can be reversed. One way to hold schools, teachers, and students accountable is to

establish subject matter standards and assess the success of student s in meeting these

standards.

Perhaps not the best, but certainly one of the easiest assessment tools to use is

a standardized test. This is true for all educational levels from primary scho ols to

universities. There is much to recommend standardized testing at universities. Uni-

versity administrators, professors, and students are provided, in this way, with a

measure of teaching and learning effectiveness. Studen ts, departments, and univer-

sities can be compared on the basis of test results. Standardized testing is most

beneﬁcial when analyses of test scores result in program s that improve teachi ng

methods, subject matter selection, and student learning strategies.

Standardized tests may become punitive when evaluation rather than assessment

is emphasized. Under these circumstances, when test scores are judged to be too low,

there is a risk that students may be held back from graduation, and campus and

departmental funding may be curtailed or faculty remuneration affected. Under

these conditions the tests are called ‘‘High Stakes Tests.’’ At ﬁrst it may seem like a

good thing to use high stakes tests to hold campuses, faculty, and students ac-

countable for poor educational outcomes. How ever, educational problems arise

when emphasis is placed on passing the test rather than on improving teaching and

learning. Although the research results are not consistent, high stakes testing may

well increase student dropout rates. Another potential outcome is that teaching and

learning may be unduly controlled by the person(s) who construct the tests rather

than by university faculty and administration. In the USA, ‘‘teaching to the test’’

describes when professors focus too much on their students’ ability to pass the test

rather than learn the subject matter.

A disturbing trend in the USA and a few other industrialized nations is to apply a

business model to higher education. In this model, students are viewed as customers,

and knowledge is a product with tuition as the product’s price. This places university

faculty in the position of being salespersons and casts administration in a management

role. The model mandates that faculty salaries be inﬂuenced by incentive increases that

are primarily controlled by results of high stakes tests and faculty evaluation surveys

completed by students. At universities that emphasize funded research, a professor’s

salary and teaching load may be inﬂuenced by how much extramural funding he or

she can attract, without regard to the quality and quantity of student involvement.

Some private universities, based entirely on a business model, are ﬁnancially

successful. Most of these private universities focus on continui ng education for those

who are already employed in local businesses. The ﬁnancial success of these uni-

versities suggests that the business model of higher education has something to

recommend it. Students believe they are getting something of value or they would

not pay the tuition, but are they reall y getting as much of value as they could?

16.1. Teaching Clay Science in the USA 1191

The previously mentioned downside of a broad application of the business model

to institutions of higher education must not be ignored. Educational quality suffers

when professors teach to the high stakes tests and inﬂate grades. These actions may

cause the professor to look good when incentive pay raises are awarded but do little

to forward teaching excellence. Patronizing students to acquire high evaluation scores

(sometimes called ‘‘student satisfaction scores’’) may be ﬁnancially rewarding but

may cause traditional and usually beneﬁcial student–faculty relationships to suffer.

If the business model of higher education is allowed to exert inappropriate control

of colleges and universities, curriculum decisions will be made by default by whom-

ever boards of trustees or legislative committees assign the responsibility for writing

high stakes tests. Clearly this not yet happened widely. If university faculty and

administration reject the business model of higher education, control over curriculum

and teaching excellence will not be abdicated to those least qualiﬁed to exert control.

Teaching clay science in the next decade will be in a state of change, driven by

changes in the clay minerals marketplace. University curricula will change to reﬂect

the universal move away from traditional clay mineralogy and toward more highly

specialized and complex topics. Physics, chemistry, and computer modeli ng will play

ever-greater roles in clay science. There is no doubt that the discipline of clay science

and the teaching of clay science will survive, but the giants of the clay mineralogical

past might not recognize them as part of the same profession they once served.

16.2. TEACHING CLAY SCIENCE IN GERMANY AND OTHER

EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

In Germany and probably most European countries the same trend is observed as

in the USA, perhaps even more pronounced. The need for clay mineralogists and

geologists is decreasing and vacancies are seldom ﬁlled by clay scientists. Now, at the

beginning of 21st century, even responsible people do not recognize the change of

clay mineralogy into clay science. They are not aware of the need for well-trained

clay scientists. They do not or cannot recognize that clay is a highly complex material

which usually needs marked chemical or physical modiﬁcation in order to meet

application requirements. The rapid development in the use of clays and clay min-

erals in the production of enhanced material s (see Chapters 10 and 11) and the need

for optimization of clays for hundreds of uses, including the area of health pro-

tection, require clay scientists to be well trained in chemistry, surface and colloid

science, physics, and more and more in biological science. It often happens that open

positions in industry, environmental technology, and administration that should

have been occupied by modern clay scientists have been given to chemists and

physicists who are not acquainted with clay science. The lack of basic knowledge in

clay science is reﬂected in many publications!

The second important point is that teaching about clays and clay minerals at

universities (teaching is almost absent in schools) strongly decreased. Typically,

Chapter 16: Teaching Clay Science: A Great Perspective1192

knowledge about clays and clay minerals was imparted in mineralogy and geo-

logy courses. The number of students decreased with the number of positions

for mineralogists and geologi sts, a wel come process at universities under the inﬂu-

ence of the government to reduce the chairs in these disciplines. The decreas-

ing interest in clay scienc e is also observed in agronomy, in spite of the importance

of clay minerals in soils. The alternative of teaching clay science in chemistry

departments is urgently needed but is seldom implemented. Even the optimal com-

bination of clay and colloid science is taught only at a few places in the world,

ignoring that well-trained students will have the best chances to ﬁnd industrial

positions.

That clay science is seldom imparted in faculties other than geological science, is

the consequence of too strict and too many regulations at universities. This is at least

true for Germany although the situation in other European countries might be

expected to be similar. Most governments and responsible politicians consider it

important that the residence time of students at universities is as short as possible.

Nor is great importance placed on students receiving a broad, all-embracing edu-

cation. Students have little time to follow special interests, in great contrast to real

needs in our high-t ech world, and no longer possess the required degrees of freedom.

The develop ment of science is impeded by administrative and bureaucratic regula-

tions for all disciplines, and clay science, in particular.

The transition of clay mineralogy into clay science, followed closely by a move-

ment toward material science is a great change, even if it does not have much impact

on teaching activities. It is a challenge for the National Clay Groups to ﬁll the gap by

increasing the number of courses that they offer. Success in the future depends on

people recognizing the transformation of traditional clay mineralogy and geology

into modern clay and material science. We should never forget that the pathway

from ideas to technical realization can be long. Nor should we forget that future

developments derive from present ideas and knowledge. For example, the term

‘nanotechnology,’ introduced some 30 years ago by Taniguchi (1974), is only now

universally in vogue.

16.3. TEA CHING CLAY SCIENCE IN NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA

The situation in New Zealand and Australia as regards teaching clay science is

similar to that in Germany (and probably most countries in the European Union).

Clay research, in general, diminished greatly in both New Zealand and Australia

(Churchman and Theng, 2002). A small amount of clay mineralogy is taught as an

adjunct to soil science which itself is in decline because of cut backs in funding and

competition between research agencies for the avail able funds. However, countries

like New Zealand that earn much of their living from agriculture must sooner or

later ‘‘wake up’’ to the fact that soils and the clay minerals they contain are a key to

economic prosperity.

16.3. Teaching Clay Science in New Zealand and Australia 1193