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、为期数周的环境主题实验室练习，以满足跨学科科学普通教育受众的目标和需求。实验室练习分成模块，连续4-6周检查一个环境主题，对每个主题进行深入检查。每个单元将传统的湿法实验室练习与环境主题的计算机模拟、在线测验/交流和计算机化的数据实验室仪器相结合。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，即仅仅寻求通过经过时间测试(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补充了课程内容，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“个人化”性质(分析个人影响、原始数据、就案例研究中的争议问题发表个人意见)，实验室体验是为每个学生量身定做的。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剪辑吸引学生的注意力，带领学生进行虚拟实地考察当地地点，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，并通过数字化访谈呈现引人注目的案例研究。此外，在开放式实验室中，演示正确的实验室技术的有个性的视频剪辑是非常宝贵的，因为学生在他们选择的时间完成实验室练习，并且没有实验室教师的课堂演示的好处。

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.