Caryl Waggett: Using Lead in the Environment in ES 415: Environmental Health, at Allegheny College
About this Course
Upper division natural science course used for students in Environmental Science (advanced science elective); Environmental Studies (advanced science elective); Global Health Studies (advanced elective in Science, Health & Environment Dimension); Education (elective Public Health); Biology; Chemistry.
22
students
Two 75-min classroom sessions per week; one 120-min laboratory session per week
Syllabus (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 268kB Oct14 16)
Investigation and analysis of current human health impacts related to environmental issues. Students study the ecological, physiological, and social underpinnings of case studies, evaluate causal and correlative associations using key epidemiological tools, design and assess control and mitigation efforts, and develop a response to a local or regional environmental health issue. Students also interpret and conduct risk assessments to prioritize various issues and to evaluate the severity of impacts on specific populations, examining how environmental issues often place disproportionate health burdens on disenfranchised communities and individuals. Includes laboratory component.
I. Assess significance of environmental issues of public health concern based on scientific literature
a. Interpret and critique scientific articles
b. Assess validity of causative associations
c. Evaluate appropriateness and execution of epidemiological study design
d. Identify specific sub-populations at potentially high risk
e. Prioritize significance of range of environmental health issues
II. Evaluate strengths/weaknesses of a risk assessment for a specific environmental health concern or issue
a. Explain key components (dose-response, exposure, management, communication) of risk
b. Evaluate biologic, ecologic and geologic foundations of contaminant or pathogen interactions
III. Explore the systems involved in pathogens that occur in natural environment and chemicals and other exposures that occur in the physical and built environments as they relate to human health
a. Evaluate literature for a given environmental health topic
b. Describe how historical and current anthropogenic patterns (use and extraction of natural resources, location of developments, etc) result in past and current human health incidence and distribution in the environment
c. Characterize distributions in population risks as they change temporally and spatially by age, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geography
d. Develop appropriate management strategies to reduce risk of exposure and minimize adverse health outcomes
IV. Recommend course of action for management of environmental health issues to appropriate agencies and organizations (e.g., EPA, DEP, DOH, research agencies, county health officials, etc.)
Understanding Health Disparities through Data-driven Exploration
My advanced-level course in environmental health allows students to explore a variety of representative cases – heavy metal contamination, vector-borne diseases, the health effects of the built environment. I have moved from an advanced "survey" course to spending more time on fewer topics, allowing students to really delve into the challenges and complexities inherent in each case. Students were actively engaged at each step and gained a comprehensive understanding of biophysical cycles and of human social and political systems as we have attempted to reduce children's risk of lead exposure across a range of scales. This Lead module was a deep exploration of lead in the environment and in humans, and how it gets there – but it also included an equally deep exploration of the challenges of managing risk for an individual family, community, or the country as a whole.
This module really surprised a lot of students because they thought they knew something about lead; they knew that lead was an epidemiological and regulatory success story – that scientists had discovered the really negative impacts that lead has on the developing brains and bodies of young children, and then regulators worked hard to ban commercial uses of lead. What the students didn't know was that lead persists in the environment, that our efforts to screen young children and to manage risk is patchy and weak, and that tens of thousands of children, especially low income children, continue to experience serious irreversible effects from a completely preventable source of exposure.
My Experience Teaching with InTeGrate Materials
My class was a 2x per week class (75 minutes), with a 3-hour lab associated with it. So, I used the 3x/week model and either expanded on one of the key sections in the lab or tried out some of the extra activities in the Tips for Instructors section. Some of the tips had good recommendations, but they are not as well fleshed out, so I recommend for anyone tackling this module for the first time to stick with the more refined sections. The students loved having more time to discuss some of the really interesting topics, and we used the extra class time in the Unit I: Predicting Impacts on Populations and Individuals class to talk about the breaking news of Flint Michigan and to input some data that were released from the Flint water supply into the model. We used the extra time in the Unit II: Social Determinants class to discuss the recent case of Freddie Gray, a black man who was killed in Baltimore, MD who was lead poisoned as a child. The students loved the extra time to explore more recent cases and events within the structure of this module.
Relationship of InTeGrate Materials to my Course
I pilot tested this module in my advanced ENVSC 415 Environmental Health class. The class is a semester-long course and had 22 students in the Fall 2015, when I piloted this module. The Lead in the Environment module was the last segment of the class, each lasting approximately three weeks. This module followed other sections on:
- Assessing Causality: Using Epidemiological Tools
- Vector-Borne Diseases: Lyme Disease Case Study
- Climate Change and Human Health
- Built Environment: Neighborhood Design, Food Environment, and Disparate Health Outcomes
- Lead in the Environment
Class 1 – Historical Comparisons of Lead
- The orientation to this module was dry, and could benefit from more interactive overview to get the students excited. The PowerPoint lead-in was far too bland. May benefit from a short video, interesting story, or better context.
- Students enjoyed Jeopardy game.
Class 2 – EPA Model
- The original goal was for each student to run the model on his/her own computer. Due to difficulty with downloading the software and resource constraints the activity was modified to have instructors run the software on a projector and for students to answer questions on their worksheets.
- Revised plan worked fairly well but could benefit from students required to sketch graphs produced from the model and deeper questions for students to predict the model outcome from a given scenario.
Class 3 – State/County Data
- This activity required students to analyze and explain data trends. It was successful.
- No major revisions needed.
Class 4 – Boston Neighborhoods
- Various graphs and charts were used in this exercise but were not in order with questions so students wasted time attempting to find appropriate data. Reorganization of data sets is necessary.
- Students are required to complete a question worksheet and chart. No answer key exists for the chart and should be drafted for grading reference.
Class 5 – Occupational Lead Hazards (Nigeria)
- The student activity does not have an answer key. Possible responses should be drafted.
Class 6 – Home Screening Procedures
- The original assignment for this class was not complete. Students were provided with pictures of lead testing swabs from around a house and asked to rank the perceived lead risk as high, medium or low. There was no answer key, follow-up portion of the activity or way for students to check their work.
- Revisions occurred before the trial to include a PowerPoint with an example layout of the house for visualization. Students still ranked the risk in each room as high, medium or low but they received pictures of windowsills, doors, etc. in the home and used those rather than just lead testing swabs. After initial evaluation, students saw the same chart with values of lead exposure and were asked to compare their responses with the quantitative values provided to understand why a certain risk existed where in the home.
- Once the initial revisions were completed, the class ran smoothly.
Class 7 – Systems Diagram
- Prior to class students are split into 3 groups and required to read different articles. When creating the diagrams, groups should include at least one person from each of the different reading groups so students can bring together different background knowledge and ideas from their reading.
- Quality of work produced by students varied greatly. A more clear explanation of what is expected from the final project should be included to encourage more advanced systems diagrams.
- This activity combines lead at many different levels and would be best suited as the final, comprehensive project for the module.
Class 8 – Federal and State Laws
- This course was bland, but it was hard to envision completely eliminating all discussions related to policy, then having a lead hearing on policy development as a summative assignment. The students were intrigued by the application, but most felt like the cases were redundant in some ways.
Class 9 – Lead Hearing
- The Lead Hearing is a neat idea as it forces students to verbally defend their roles as stakeholders in a community. Rather than a hearing where students give a speech and are asked subsequent questions, an open debate would allow for more communication of ideas and a more encouraging classroom atmosphere.
- This class was awkward because some students were fully prepared for the activity while others arrived at class without any materials. In the future students should prepare for class by completing a policy memo rather than that being the homework assignment.
- Rather than a very formal setting with students positioned around the classroom, a circle of desks/tables is necessary to allow for better communication and inclusion of all students in the debate.
Assessments
The Environmental Health students loved playing with the data at the state level, exploring the GIS maps that were developed exploring various social determinants of health in Boston neighborhoods, and exploring the models that allow us to predict which social conditions or events could lead to different patterns in disease prevalence. In each instance, they reflected on why data gaps exist and how to improve data collection to reduce these gaps and while the explicit goals in these specific activities was on data and not policy assessment, the activities forced the students to critically evaluate gaps - in screening, in diagnosis, in patient education, in policies, and in risk reduction strategies for some of the most vulnerable populations. The students came to life when they were able to wade into real data.
As a whole, the students were on average shy and less excited about the City Council board meeting simulation in which they were asked to participate, but loved the summative assessment policy brief that they had to develop for this fictional town.
Outcomes
Students in this advanced class come mostly from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, including Environmental Studies, Global Health, Education and International Studies. I hoped that the students would be able to gain a deeper understanding of data, the impacts of a specific heavy metal within a human body, and the pathways that lead takes as it cycles from a mineral, its extraction, its commercial use and dissemination, and its secondary life as a by-product that can cause severe human harm.
In this particular class, students really loved playing with the data and the applied setting helped make many scientific concepts really clear. I was surprised to find that the students had sufficient excitement and interest in the subject that I could have covered far more than three weeks within the course - perhaps even used this is a vehicle for the entire class.
Explore other InTeGrate Instructor Stories
Learn More
Hide
Download
Download a zip file that includes all the web pages and downloadable files from the instructor's materials
