Instrumentation to Apply the Scientific Method in Undergraduate Environmental Science Laboratories

该项目使教师能够在环境科学入门课程中设计实验室，通过应用学习教学法来提高具有很少或没有科学背景的学生的科学素养。 新设备支持创建四个实验室练习。 这些练习旨在让学生使用最新开发的数据收集技术和计算机软件应用科学方法。 实验室练习序列让学生从相对较低的概念水平开始，通过操作物理对象来观察因果关系来进行学习。 最后是一个抽样练习，让学生在概念和分析思维方面具有更复杂的智力水平。 这一系列实验室练习对智力发展的强调是独特的，对于培养科学素养非常有用。 新设备向没有科学素养的学生介绍（1）通过使用地下水模型和计算机模拟来了解科学中的因果关系，使学生能够操纵变量并观察结果，（2）收集和分析数据的方法，从定性观察到使用最先进的环境传感器和计算机，以及（3）以书面和数学形式有效地传达他们的发现和兴奋。

This project enables faculty to design laboratories in an introductory environmental science class that raise the scientific literacy of students with little or no scientific background through applying the pedagogy of learning. New equipment supports the creation of four laboratory exercises. These exercises are designed so that students apply the scientific method using recently developed data collection technology and computer software. The laboratory exercise sequence starts students at a relatively low conceptual level at which learning occurs through manipulating physical objects to observe cause and effect relationships. It concludes with a sampling exercise that involves students with a more intellectually sophisticated level of conceptual and analytical thought. The emphasis placed on intellectual development in this series of laboratory exercises is unique and highly useful in developing scientific literacy. The new equipment introduces scientifically illiterate students to (1) cause and effect relationships in science through the use of a ground water model and computer simulations that allow students to manipulate variables and watch the results, (2) methods of collecting and analyzing data that range from qualitative observations to the use of state-of-the-art environmental sensors and computers, and (3) effective communication of their discoveries and excitement in a written and mathematical form.