The Bigger Picture: A Project-Based Course on EnvironmentalGeophysics and Geochemistry

将在地球科学课程的第二年为学生开发一门基于项目的环境领域方法课程，为学生第一次遇到更复杂，特别是更定量的科学主题创造一个新的背景。通过对当前环境问题的一系列深入研究，在其历史和社会背景下，教授地球物理和地球化学领域的方法，我们希望让学生，特别是妇女和少数民族，在定量科学管道，并明确自己的潜力，这样的工作。学生将通过深入的环境“案例研究”，或项目模块，如作为盐水入侵在沿海佛罗里达，在纳瓦霍族铀矿开采整治，并在格鲁吉亚河口富营养化的主题。学生将处理数据的一个子集，联合收割机数据集，分析和解释数据，定义其解释的限制，并制定和证明政策决策。该课程将围绕六个或七个连续模块构建，每个模块旨在遵循相关领域方法的课堂介绍。我们计划为这些单元增加辅助材料，以便它们也可以用作环境地质学、水文学、地球物理学和地球化学课程的个别案例研究，并将以可以在万维网、光盘和硬拷贝上传播的形式提供。 这项工作将是四个教师在不同的机构（威廉和玛丽，纳瓦霍社区学院，和格鲁吉亚技术学院）的合作努力。我们每个人都将设计一个或两个模块，在我们的家庭机构的本科生工作。我们将共同审查和修改每个模块，因为我们开发的过程作为一个整体。因此，学生将遇到更广泛的地理环境和文化背景的环境问题比目前发现的定量地球科学课程。

A project-based course in environmental field methods will be develmped for students in the second year of earth science programs, creating a new context for students' first encounter with more complex, and in particular, more quantitative science topics. By teaching geophysical and geochemical field methods through a sequence of in-depth studies of current environmental problems, presented in their historical and social context, we hope to keep students, especially women and minorities, in the quantitative science pipeline and make clear their own potential for such work. Students will work through in-depth environmental "case-studies", or project modules, on topics such as salt water intrusion in coastal Florida, uranium mining remediation in the Navajo Nation, and eutrophication in a Georgia estuary. Students will process a subset of the data, combine data sets, analyze and interpret the data, define limits to their interpretations, and make and justify policy decisions. The course will be built around six or seven sequential modules, with each module designed to follow a classroom introduction to the relevant field methods. We plan to add supporting materials to these modules so that they can also be used as individual case studies in environmental geology, hydrology, geophysics, and geochemistry courses, and will be in a form that can be disseminated on the WWW, CD-rom, and hardcopy. This work will be a collaborative effort by four faculty at disparate institutions (College of William and Mary, Navajo Community College, and Georgia Tech). Each of us will design one or two modules, working with undergraduates at our home institutions. We will collaboratively review and revise each module as we develop the course as a whole. Thus students will encounter a wider range of both geographic settings and cultural contexts for environmental problems than is currently found in quantitative geo-science courses.