Upper-level undergraduate environmental geology course that focuses on the use of GIS and complex data sets in the laboratory portion of the course.

Students must have exposure to Excel and be proficient in using GIS. Students must have some background in the role/impact of various nutrients in a estuarine system.

The activity is part of a sequence of exercises that combines inquiry, physical models, and complex data sets.

The goals of this activity are: (i) to expose students to spatial and temporal trends in nutrient concentrations and estuarine health in a system that is of relevance to them, (ii) build student skills sets in using software analysis packages to better enable them to interpret complex and rich data sets, (iii) to build students synthesis skills in interpreting data sets with multiple variables that are continuously in flux.

Students will use hypothesis building, data analysis, interpretation, synthesis of data, and evaluation skills.

Students will also learn to work in groups, use the WWW, and write a report.

Most students understand that water quality is an important issue, however many do not understand the complexity associated with the processes involved, the complex nature of estuarine systems, or the fact that management decisions are made based on available data sets that can be difficult at best to interpret. Students will be provided nutrient data in Excel for two Texas estuaries which they will supplement with additional information that they have compiled on these two estuaries during the duration of the course through a GIS database available to the entire class. Furthermore, students will retrieve information from the WWW to learn more about the specific estuaries and the nutrients of interest and their impacts on the environment.

Student reports will be evaluated via a rubric.

• The EPA National Nutrient Database (NUTDB)
• The EPA's National Estuary Program website