Deriving Darcy's Law: Demo and Think-Pair-Share Exercise

Karen Salvage

Binghamton University - SUNY

This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Peer Reviewed Teaching Activities collection.

This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection

This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are

Scientific Accuracy
Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
Pedagogic Effectiveness
Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page

For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.

This page first made public: Jul 20, 2005

Summary

This exercise involves a constant head permeameter demo, followed by a Think-Pair-Share exercise. The students derive Darcy's Law based on their brain stormed ideas.

Groundwater flow | College Upper (15-16), Graduate/Professional

Expand for more detail and links to related resources

Used this activity? Share your experiences and modifications

Context

Audience

Senior undergraduate and introductory level graduate students.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Physics 101.

How the activity is situated in the course

This is used as the first class period introducing Darcy's Law and hydraulic conductivity.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

Development of student understanding of:
(1) factors affecting fluid flow through porous media;
(2) Darcy's Law;
(3) hydraulic conductivity.

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

Development of the students' reasoning skills and ability to synthesis multiple concepts into a coherent whole.

Other skills goals for this activity

This exercise is used early in the semester. Use of the Think-Pair-Share approach is a deliberate choice to foster student involvement early on.

Description of the activity/assignment

This exercise begins with a demonstration of fluid flow through porous sediment using a constant head permeameter, with the students conducting the experiment and collecting the data. The demo is followed by a Think-Pair-Share exercise in which the question is posed to the class: "What could we change in order to increase flow through the system?" The class then works through their brainstormed list of ideas, discussing each and evaluating whether it is correct or a misconception. The students derive Darcy's Law qualitatively, based upon the results of the Think-Pair-Share exercise and discussions.