Groundwater Consulting Lab
,
Community College of Rhode Island
This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Collection
Resources in this top level collection a) must have scored Exemplary or Very Good in all five review categories, and must also rate as "Exemplary" in at least three of the five categories. The five categories included in the peer review 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 activity has benefited from input from faculty educators beyond the author through a review and suggestion process.
This review took place as a part of a faculty professional development workshop where groups of faculty reviewed each others' activities and offered feedback and ideas for improvements. To learn more about the process On the Cutting Edge uses for activity review, see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.
- First Publication: May 1, 2008
- Reviewed: October 19, 2012 -- Reviewed by the On the Cutting Edge Activity Review Process
Summary
Students are given a real-world scenario in this lab exercise in which they must determine the extent of groundwater contamination while staying within a budget. They progressively request more information and summarize their findings on a map.
Context
Audience
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
Students must be able to determine the direction of the flow of groundwater based on a water table contour map.
How the activity is situated in the course
This activity is part of a lab on groundwater.
Goals
Content/concepts goals for this activity
Predict movement of groundwater contaminants
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
Analysis of data; formation and testing of hypothesis; synthesis of data
Other skills goals for this activity
Description of the activity/assignment
In groups, students are given a scenario of a leaking underground storage tank. They must decide where to sample on the map while staying within budget. Students progressively collect more data and use them to make an interpretation of the direction of groundwater flow and extent of the contamination. The activity requires that students use their limited resources to solve a real-world problem.
Determining whether students have met the goals
The final map on which students draw their interpretation of the direction and extent of the contamination is reviewed.
Teaching materials and tips
Activity Description/Assignment (Acrobat (PDF) 25kB May1 08)
Modifications on this activity from the community
Contributed by Katherine Ryker
In Spring 2020, this was part of a lab that went online during the COVID-19 pandemic. To adapt the data retrieval part of the exercise, students used a Google spreadsheet version of the table: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qcbryj8splqzP1cnlJ1ZF6gz8_wARPJNB4_D1qFAmjI/edit?usp=sharing
The data in the second tab is randomized in the first column; each TPH value is listed only once on the far right, so multiple "Yes" cells link to each one. The idea was to make it harder (though not impossible) for a student to easily pull all of the values.
Contributed by Allie Nagurney, University of Puget Sound
I used this in my intro geology course (30 students, mostly non-majors) at the University of Puget Sound in Fall 2021.
My students really liked being able to 'make decisions' about geology and this activity helped them to understand the flow paths of groundwater very well.
I did this during a 50 minute class period. We were a little short on time to finish it, mostly because I was the only person handing out the answers. In the future, I would modify this so that I had a TA or another instructor helping so that there is not a lot of wait time for the students.
Other Materials
Collapse