A Civil Action" - Using the Landmark Trial for Learning Environmental Geoscience and the Connection Between Geology and Human Health

民事诉讼”——利用具有里程碑意义的试验来学习环境地球科学以及地质学与人类健康之间的联系

• 批准号: 0443076
• 负责人: E. Scott Bair
• 金额: $ 35.77万
• 依托单位: Ohio State University Research Foundation -DO NOT USE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-03-15 至 2010-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0443076&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Civil; Action; Using; Landmark; Trial

This project is creating an on-line instructor's manual and websites containing course modules, datasets, and materials for use individually by faculty and students in courses in physical geology, environmental geology, hydrogeology, and medical geology, or sequentially in an interdisciplinary science course that culminates in a mock trial enacted by students. The modules center around the landmark 'A Civil Action' case in which eight families in Woburn, Massachusetts filed suit against two local industries alleging improperly handled toxic chemicals entered the groundwater system, traveled to two municipal supply wells, and consumption of the contaminated water by local residents caused childhood leukemia and other health disorders. The modules are introducing the scientific methods and geoscience skills that enable students to explore, analyze, and interpret the geologic, hydrologic, and geochemical datasets from the actual trial. With these datasets and other course materials, students are constructing maps, graphs, and diagrams (used later as trial exhibits) to help them formulate and write their own professional opinions as 'expert witnesses' in the mock trial, where they present and defend their opinions before a judge and jury. The project is fostering critical thinking skills, enhancing basic academic skills (data analysis, computational methods, and written and oral communication), and introducing scientific methods and geoscience skills. The intellectual merit of the project lies in students manipulating the actual trial datasets; creating, interpreting, and explaining the maps and graphs that they created; applying a variety of scientific principles and methods to address a poignant real-world problem; and teaching students how to formulate and defend their own opinions. In the broader view, this project is connecting STEM education to societal problems, demonstrating the role of science in society, particularly in the courtroom and in public health assessments, and documenting the need for professional ethics and standards.

该项目正在创建一个在线教师手册和网站，其中包含课程模块，数据集和材料，供教师和学生在物理地质学，环境地质学，水文地质学和医学地质学课程中单独使用，或依次在跨学科科学课程中使用，最终由学生进行模拟审判。 这些模块围绕着具有里程碑意义的“民事诉讼”案件，其中马萨诸塞州沃本的八个家庭对当地两家企业提起诉讼，指控处理不当的有毒化学品进入地下水系统，进入两个市政供水威尔斯井，当地居民饮用受污染的水导致儿童白血病和其他健康疾病。 这些模块介绍了科学方法和地球科学技能，使学生能够探索，分析和解释实际试验中的地质，水文和地球化学数据集。 有了这些数据集和其他课程材料，学生们正在构建地图，图表和图表（后来用作审判展品），以帮助他们在模拟审判中作为“专家证人”制定和撰写自己的专业意见，在那里他们在法官和陪审团面前提出并捍卫自己的意见。 该项目旨在培养批判性思维技能，提高基本学术技能（数据分析、计算方法以及书面和口头交流），并介绍科学方法和地球科学技能。 该项目的智力价值在于学生操纵实际的试验数据集;创建，解释和解释他们创建的地图和图表;应用各种科学原理和方法来解决尖锐的现实问题;并教学生如何制定和捍卫自己的观点。 从更广泛的角度来看，该项目将STEM教育与社会问题联系起来，展示科学在社会中的作用，特别是在法庭和公共卫生评估中，并记录职业道德和标准的必要性。