Hydrogeology

Paul Ryberg

Clarion University of PA
a
Public four-year institution, primarily undergraduate
.

Summary

Hydrogeology is intended for upper level undergraduates who have already completed a physical geology class with lab. The course provides a broad overview of surface and subsurface water, and the relationships to surficial and bedrock geology. This is a field-oriented class, with most labs conducted outdoors or at specific tour sites

Course URL:
Course Size:

15-30

Course Context:

This is an upper level required undergraduate course with a prerequisite of physical geology with lab. The course has a 3 hour lab, mst of which are spent in the field. The class is writing intensive. A multi-week group project culminates the course (there is no final examination)

Course Goals:

Discipline Goals
Students should be able to analyze the relationships between precipitation and surface flow affected by topography and watershed boundaries
Students should be able to analyze the relationships between surface water and groundwater
Students should be able to analyze the subsurface interface between unsaturated and saturated groundwater
Students should be able to interpret the differences between unconfined and confined aquifer systems
Students should be able to interpret the variations in karst aquifer systems

Higher Order Thinking Goals
Students should be able to analyze and interpret the affect of pollutants and contaminants and their interaction with various aquifer systems
Students should be able to develop a remediation strategy to reduce or alleviate contaminants in unconfined and confined aquifer systems


How course activities and course structure help students achieve these goals:

Instead of a Final Exam, students are divided into small groups (3 to 4 persons) and then assigned a remediation project, which takes about three weeks to complete. The example project for this NSF Workshop is only one of about 4 to 5 projects which I use in my Hydro class. The last two class meetings are reserved for group presentations (about 20 to 30 minutes each) to the rest of the class, so others can learn about sites which they did not work on themselves.
Students will be evaluated with the categories of "exceeds", meets" or "does not meet" all the discipline and higher order thinking goals stated above

Skills Goals

Skills Goals
Students should be able to effectively write summaries of field trips and projects
Students should be able to effectively communicate information in oral presentations
Students should be able to effectively make quantitative calculations and assessments
Students should be able to interpret and analyze data from web sites and geologic literature
Students should be able to effectively work individually and in groups


How course activities and course structure help students achieve these goals:

Instead of a Final Exam, students are divided into small groups (3 to 4 persons) and then assigned a remediation project, which takes about three weeks to complete. I have found that some students that consistently perform poorly on traditional exams become very engaged in the project setting. Some have even gone on to successful jobs because of the motivation of working on applied, real world problems.
Students will be evaluated with the categories of "exceeds", meets" or "does not meet" all the discipline, higher order thinking, and skill goals stated above

Assessment

Evaluation
Students will be evaluated with the categories of "exceeds", meets" or "does not meet" all the discipline, higher order thinking, and skill goals stated above

Syllabus:

Hydrogeology Syllabus (Microsoft Word 24kB May27 10)

INSTRUCTORS NOTES (Microsoft Word 28kB May27 10)