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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The materials are free and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
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Instructor Materials: Overview of the Lead in the Environment Module

Module Goal: This module will allow advanced undergraduate students to explore the important contributions of multiple disciplines to the use of lead, the understanding of its toxicity, the assessment of risk, and the development of plans to reduce exposures and minimize health outcomes. Students will examine how lead has migrated and impacted populations at a variety of scales and via a multitude of different exposure methods, leading to an understanding of lead circulation as a system. Students will evaluate primary and secondary data sources, interpret findings, and synthesize information to make recommendations for specific populations to reduce the risk of lead exposure.

Module Summative Assessment:
Students will apply what they have learned about the sources, risks, and consequences of child lead poisoning to design solutions for a hypothetical community in which a high percentage of the children have elevated blood lead levels. During the final classroom exercise, each student will be assigned to a role as a community stakeholder (low income parent, physician, educator, landlord, etc.) or city-council member. Students will also be given data and materials showing distribution of elevated blood lead levels among children in the city. In groups, during class, the students will prepare and present a proposal to City Council. The subsequent discussion will allow the class as a whole to explore any gaps in the discussion. Students will apply what they have learned about the sources, risks, and consequences of child lead poisoning to design solutions for a hypothetical community in which a high percentage of the children have elevated blood lead levels.

Unit 1 Use of Lead in the Environment and Health Impacts on Human Populations

In Unit 1, students engage in discussion of the historical use and resulting distribution of lead throughout the human environment. Class 1 introduces the systems dynamics linking geology, human use, and human health through an introductory lesson. Class discussion is facilitated by an exercise exploring students' risks of childhood exposure to lead. In a "pre-assessment exercise" suitable for homework or in-class group activity, students hypothesize explanations for varied lead exposures among different populations over time based on their existing understanding of lead's dynamics in the environment. Class 2 analyzes the evolution of regulations and policies to reduce lead exposures and examines a current international case study that showcases the lag in regulatory guidelines for many parts of the world. In Class 3, students explore exposure routes, transport, and fate of lead in the human body.

Unit 2 The Lead Problem Still Exists: Challenges and Gaps in Understanding Exposure

In Unit 2, students examine the distribution of lead poisoning as it varies spatially and temporally. Students also have the opportunity to explore the sources of lead exposure and the implications of social determinants on human health outcomes. In Class 4, students analyze historic and geographic trends in lead poisoning at state and county scales, while evaluating factors that influence data quality and availability. In Class 5, students evaluate spatial and temporal patterns within a US city and identify the causes and patterns of disparate lead exposure within a population. In Class 6, students conduct a virtual home assessment to evaluate whether or not dust is a source of lead exposure in this case study.

Unit 3 Managing the Risks of Lead Exposure

In the past two units, students considered the strengths and limitations of scientific tools to identify exposure pathways and demographic patterns of lead poisoning. In Unit 3, students evaluate domestic regulatory approaches and apply policy solutions. In Class 7, students explore the role of scientists, regulators, and communities in the development of lead regulations. In the final two classes, students analyze various perspectives within a community and confront the challenge of reaching consensus. Students participate in a debate and engage in a two-part summative assessment where each student: (1) writes a one-page policy memo recommending a particular course of action for this community based on evidence gained throughout the module and presented in the exercise, and (2) creates a visual representation of the cyclic patterns of lead in the biophysical and human environment.

Making the Module Work

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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
Explore the Collection »