Establishing a Research-based Interdisciplinary Watershed Program for an Environmental Studies Program

跨学科（99）本项目采用弗曼大学和希本斯堡大学的方法，将水质和流域评估作为跨环境研究课程的跨学科学习工具。该项目位于七英里溪流域，这是一个集约化农业生产地区，距离明尼苏达州中南部的校园只有几英里。七里溪是明尼苏达河的一个小流域，明尼苏达河被认为是明尼苏达州污染最严重的河流。该项目扩展了Brown-Nicollet-Cottonwood水质委员会和明尼苏达州污染控制机构的现有工作，以恢复湿地，鼓励农民使用最佳管理实践，并研究这些措施对水质的影响。湖泊或溪流的水质是根据水的化学成分、污染物水平和生物多样性程度来评估的。它还与陆地上的人类活动、土地覆盖类型、地表水和地下水之间的相互作用以及流域内的干扰密切相关。因此，这个流域研究项目本质上是跨学科的，要求学生将他们所学的水文学、营养和化学循环、土壤和地质以及生物反应结合起来。通过动手研究导向的实地，实验室和计算机项目，学生们从体验式学习中受益，同时产生与恢复明尼苏达河和其他受农业影响的水体相关的数据。学生们正在获得诸如溪流和地下水监测、实验室化学分析、生物多样性分析和空间分析等技能，从而使他们具备作为环境科学专业人员或从事研究生研究所需的广泛科学技能。

Interdisciplinary (99)This project is adapting the approaches of Furman University and Shippensburg University in using water quality and watershed assessment as an interdisciplinary learning tool across the Environmental Studies curriculum. The setting for this project is the Seven Mile Creek watershed, an area of intensive production agriculture, located just a few miles from campus in south central Minnesota. Seven Mile Creek is a sub-watershed of the Minnesota River, which was identified as the most polluted river in Minnesota. This project expands upon existing work by the Brown-Nicollet-Cottonwood Water Quality Board and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to restore wetlands, encourage farmers to use Best Management Practices, and study the effects of these measures on water quality. Water quality of a lake or stream is assessed based on the chemistry of the water, pollutant levels, and the degree of biological diversity. It is also intimately related to human activities on the land, land cover type, the interactions between surface water and ground water, and disturbances within the watershed. Thus, this watershed research project is inherently interdisciplinary in nature, requiring students to integrate what they have learned about hydrology, nutrient and chemical cycling, soils and geology, and biological responses. Through hands-on research-oriented field, laboratory, and computer projects, students are benefiting from experiential learning while producing data relevant to the restoration of the Minnesota River and other agriculturally impacted water bodies. Students are gaining skills such as stream and ground water monitoring, laboratory chemical analysis, biodiversity analysis, and spatial analysis, thus giving them the broad scientific skills necessary to serve as environmental science professionals or to pursue graduate research.