Using Scant Data in Hydrogeology

Don Siegel

Syracuse University

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This page first made public: Jul 27, 2005

Summary

Using scant data to come to decisions is an integral part in consulting, but most students have little appreciation for it. This PowerPoint presentation gives some examples that can provide a template for classroom or homework exercises to this end.

Groundwater flow, Water quality/chemistry , Contaminant hydrology | College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16)

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Context

Audience

Basic hydrogeology.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

They have to have learned about Darcy's law, very basic chemistry, and water table maps.

How the activity is situated in the course

I give exercises of this kind all the time during my class.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

Water table maps, contaminant plume delineation, fate of contaminants.

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

To get students to think out of the box, and not constrain their interpretations to the data alone.

Other skills goals for this activity

Description of the activity/assignment

I presented the short case studies at the Teaching Hydrogeology workshop to illustrate the five fundamental points I emphasize in my basic hydrogeology class. These five points are what consultants tell me my students should know cold;

what the difference is between the water table and potentiometric head,
that a contaminant plume from an individual source should be narrow,
that water table maps should be related to the topography,
that major dissolved species are important to know about, and that
organic matter conditions a lot of contaminant transport.

How to apply this knowledge where there is scant data is the rub, and I draw from my consulting files to illustrate how I, at least, do it.

Determining whether students have met the goals

Testing using scant data, and later and hearing their calls when they graduate, enter the work force, and thank me profusely for what I taught them on the topic.

More information about assessment tools and techniques.