General Education Environmental Science: An Interdisciplinary Laboratory Program for the 21st Century

跨学科（99）我们正在开发三个技术增强的、独立于教科书的、多周的环境主题实验练习，以适应跨学科科学普通教育受众的目标和需求。实验练习被分成模块，每个模块连续4-6周检查一个环境主题，为每个主题提供深入的检查。每个模块综合了传统的湿实验室练习与计算机模拟的环境主题，在线测验/交流，和计算机数据实验室仪器。这些练习侧重于学生关心的环境问题，并利用学生自己收集的真实数据（例如，水质研究），或从基于互联网的数据库收集的数据（例如，空气污染物水平）。这种方法避免了大多数传统实验室练习固有的可预测性，传统实验室练习只是试图通过经过时间考验的（即可预测的）练习来证明基本的科学原理。这种原始数据和当地问题的结合使实验经验与课程内容相辅相成，并极大地提高了学生对课程实验部分的兴趣。此外，通过强调这些练习的“个性化”性质（分析个人影响，原始数据，在案例研究中对有争议的问题发表个人意见），实验室体验是为每个学生量身定制的。这些模块包含丰富的多媒体内容，通过实验室介绍中的数字视频片段吸引学生的注意力，带学生到当地进行虚拟实地考察，使学生能够快速计算和分析他们对区域环境影响的个人贡献，并通过数字化访谈提供引人注目的案例研究。此外，演示正确实验室技术的数字化视频剪辑在开放式实验室中是非常宝贵的，在开放式实验室中，学生可以在自己选择的时间完成实验室练习，并且没有实验室教师在课堂上演示的好处。

Interdisciplinary (99) We are developing three technology-enhanced, textbook-independent, multi-week laboratory exercises on environmental topics that fit the goals and needs of a general education audience in Interdisciplinary Science. The laboratory exercises are grouped into modules that examine one environmental topic for 4-6 consecutive weeks, providing in-depth examinations of each topic. Each module synthesizes traditional wet lab exercises with computer simulations of environmental topics, online quizzing/communication, and computerized data laboratory instrumentation.These exercises focus on environmental issues of concern to students and utilize real data as collected by the students themselves (e.g., water quality studies), or gathered from internet-based databases (e.g., levels of air pollutants). This approach avoids the inherent predictability of most traditional laboratory exercises, which simply seek to demonstrate basic scientific principles through time- tested (i.e., predictable) exercises. This combination of original data and local issues makes the laboratory experience complement the course content and greatly improves student interest in the laboratory component of the course. Further, by emphasizing the "personalized" nature of these exercises (analysis of personal impacts, original data, voicing personal opinions on controversial issues in case studies), the laboratory experience is uniquely tailored to each individual student.The modules contain abundant multimedia content that engages student attention with digital video clips in laboratory introductions, takes students on virtual field trips to local sites, enables students to quickly calculate and analyze their personal contributions to regional environmental impacts, and presents compelling case studies with digitized interviews. Further, igitized video clips demonstrating proper laboratory techniques are invaluable in open-scheduled laboratories, where students complete laboratory exercises at a time of their choosing and do not have the benefit of in-class demonstrations by laboratory instructors.