Week 6: Obeservation to Interpretation

In Week 6, we shift from learning about soil biology to actively applying what you’ve learned through real-time qualitative assessment. This class is all about practice, pattern recognition, and calibration.

We’ll introduce a new tool—the QMAT (Qualitative Microbial Assessment Tool)—designed to help you systematically observe, evaluate, and interpret what you’re seeing under the microscope. We’ll begin by walking through the tool together, explaining how it works, how to use it, and how to think about qualitative signals rather than chasing exact counts.

Next, we’ll complete a live microbial assessment as a group, using QMAT step-by-step with full commentary so you can hear how observations translate into assessment decisions. After that, we’ll run a second live assessment without commentary, giving you the chance to complete the tool independently in real time.

Once finished, we’ll compare a selection of results to see how closely our assessments align, discuss where interpretations matched or differed, and explore why. This calibration step is key to building confidence and consistency in qualitative analysis.

To wrap up, we’ll open the floor for students to share samples they’ve prepared. Together, we’ll discuss observations, interpretations, and the reasoning behind them—turning individual samples into shared learning moments.

This session is designed to help you move from observation to interpretation, and from uncertainty to confidence, using a structured but flexible qualitative framework.