Enhancing Undergraduate Participatory Research in Environmental Science with Field-Based Data Acquisition Equipment

向没有实际实地研究的环境科学本科生讲授生物、物理和化学系统之间的理论相互关系，以证明这些联系是环境科学中的一个教学问题。该项目使用基于TI计算器的实验室(CBL)与手持计算器以及模拟和数字游标探头相结合。计算器的存储容量允许同时记录来自五个探头的多达10,000个数据点。尽管这些数据记录器和探测器是为实验室设计的，但它们正在该项目的现场使用。通过部署数据记录器网络和各种探头来收集各种环境参数(降雨量、电位、表面高度、溶解氧、溶解离子、光照强度、pH、湿度、温度)的数据，可以开发广泛的数据集，学生可以评估、解释和模拟条件的空间和时间变化。使用数据记录器网络的方法已被纳入两个预定的跨学科、团队授课的学术课程，该课程在两年的授权期内提供。学生们，从一年级到大四学生，正在设计研究项目，部署数据记录器，收集和评估数据，并构建模仿自然系统的概念和计算机模型。这项参与性研究正在帮助学生发展他们的批判性思维和量化技能，并导致对自然系统的更全面的理解。这种方法遵循了Ann McNeal和Charlene D‘Avanzo的建议，《学生主动科学，大学科学教学中的创新模式》(德克萨斯州沃斯堡：桑德斯学院出版社，1997)。

Teaching the theoretical interrelationships between biological, physical, and chemical systems to undergraduate environmental science students without practical field-based research to demonstrate these connections presents a pedagogic problem in the environmental sciences.This project is using TI Calculator Based Labs (CBL) coupled with hand-held calculators and analog and digital Vernier probes. The memory capacity of the calculators allows up to 10,000 data points to be logged from five probes simultaneously. Although designed for the lab, these data loggers and probes are being used in the field in this project. By deploying a network of data loggers and a variety of probes to collect data in a wide range of environmental parameters (precipitation, potention metric surface elevation, dissolved oxygen, dissolved ions, light intensity, pH, humidity, temperature), extensive data sets can be developed and spatial and temporal changes in conditions can be assessed, interpreted, and modeled by the students. The approach of using a network of data loggers has been incorporated as an integral part of two scheduled interdisciplinary, team-taught academic programs offered during the two-year grant period. Students, ranging from freshmen to seniors, are designing research projects, deploying the data loggers, collecting and assessing the data, and constructing conceptual and computer models which mimic the natural systems. This participatory research is helping the students develop their critical thinking and quantitative skills and leading to a more comprehensive understanding of natural systems. This approach follows the recommendations in Ann McNeal and Charlene D'Avanzo, "Student Active Science, Models of Innovation in College Science Teaching," (Fort Worth, TX: Saunders College Publishing, 1997).