Master classes. The expository sessions are the main activity in the classroom, always combined with case studies and activities for an initiation in this discipline.

Field practices. They are essential for the students’ application of the knowledge acquired in relation to the description and sampling of soils. The practices consist of a one-day field trip in which the students, in groups of 5, will describe the environment where a soil has been formed, make a pit, describe the different horizons, and take samples for analytical purposes.

Laboratory practices. These sessions aim to familiarize students with the most common analytical procedures in soil characterization, but at the same time also obtain lab data from the samples collected in the field for the preparation of a poster. The practices will be organized in three sessions of four hours each in which the students, in the same groups of the field trip, will analyze the soil samples collected. To be able to attend the laboratory practices, as it is necessary that the student have passed the biosafety and safety tests available at the Virtual Campus, and be aware and accept the Biosciences Faculty laboratories.

Group work (poster). As the culmination of the field and the lab practices, the group of students prepares a poster including the description of the study area and the soil, the analytical results, and an interpretation in relation to the formation of the soil and its capability.

Tutoring session. A tutorial session with the entire class group will be carried out shortly before the poster hand-out, which intends to resolve questions raised during the preparation of the poster.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

The 2017 amendment to Title IV (Assessment) of UAB's Academic Regulations, in accordance with RD 1393/2007, applicable from the 2018-2019 academic year, will be followed. It will consist of three assessment activities:

1. Midterm exam (25% of grade). Consists of short-answer questions and/or exercises on the main concepts of the subject that should have been mastered by the time of the exam.
2. Final exam (50% of grade). Consists of questions and/or exercises formulated in relation to a soil, for which the morphological description and main analytical results will be provided. This test will have an integrative character covering the knowledge taught throughout the course, including all concepts covered up to that point, in accordance with the continuous assessment system in force at UAB.
3. Poster describing and interpreting a soil (25% of grade). Consists of submitting a poster in PDF format on the soil study carried out by each group. This activity cannot be retaken/made up.

Review. When exam grades are published on the virtual campus, the date, time, and place of the review session will be announced. No individual reviews will be conducted outside this scheduled time.

Make-up exam and "not assessable" criterion. When a student's overall grade for the course is below 5 (and above 3.5), they will be entitled to a make-up exam covering the entire course syllabus. The grade obtained on this exam will replace the weighted average grade obtained on the midterm and final exams (thus carrying a weight of 75%), since it will cover all the course content.

Students will receive a grade of "Not Assessable" when the assessment activities completed represent a weighting of less than 67% of the final grade.

Attendance at all practical sessions (or field trips) is mandatory. Students will receive a grade of "Not Assessable" when absences exceed 20% of scheduled sessions.

Criterion for failing the course. Once all assessment phases have been completed, and the make-up exam if applicable, a student will be considered to have "failed" when the overall grade is below 5, or when the weighted average of the midterm and final exams—or of the make-up exam—does not reach 4.5.

Students under the single-assessment modality. Consult the Faculty of Biosciences on how to opt for this assessment modality, or visit https://www.uab.cat/doc/CriterisAvaluacioUnica. Single assessment for this course will consist of a single synthesis test evaluating the content of the entire theoretical syllabus. The grade obtained on this synthesis test will account for 75% of the final course grade. The single-assessment test will be held on the same date set in the calendar for the last continuous-assessment test, and the same make-up system used for continuous assessment will apply. As for the assessment of practical activities (poster), it will follow the same process as continuous assessment, and will therefore account for 25% of the final course grade. This last activity cannot be retaken. The review of the final grade follows the same procedure as for continuous assessment.

Irregularity in an assessment activities. Committing any irregularity in an assessment activity (academic fraud, plagiarism, or improper use of AI, unless such use is expressly authorised in the course guide) that may lead to a significant variation in the grade will result in that activity being graded with a 0. In the event that the course guide stipulates that passing the subject requires having obtained a minimum grade in that assessment activity, or that several irregularities occur in the assessment activities of the same subject, the final grade for that subject will be 0. Notwithstanding the above, disciplinary proceedings may be initiated against any student who commits any of these irregularities.

Use of AI (Model 2 – Restricted). In this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted exclusively for support tasks (such as bibliographic or information searches, text correction or translations, or the generation of explanatory graphics). Students must clearly identify which parts have been generated using this technology, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and final outcome of the activity. Failure to disclose the use of AI in this graded activity will be considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in a partial or total penalty on the activity's grade, or more severe sanctions in serious cases.