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

在地球科学课程的第二年，将为学生开设一门以环境领域方法为基础的项目课程，为学生第一次遇到更复杂的，特别是更定量的科学主题创造一个新的背景。通过在历史和社会背景下对当前环境问题进行一系列深入研究，教授地球物理和地球化学领域的方法，我们希望使学生，特别是妇女和少数民族，保持在定量科学的管道中，并明确他们自己从事此类工作的潜力。学生们将通过环境“案例研究”或项目模块来学习，主题包括佛罗里达沿海的盐水入侵、纳瓦霍民族的铀矿开采补救以及乔治亚河口的富营养化。学生将处理数据的一个子集，组合数据集，分析和解释数据，定义他们的解释的限制，并制定和证明政策决定。该课程将围绕六或七个连续的模块建立，每个模块的设计遵循相关领域方法的课堂介绍。我们计划在这些模块中添加辅助材料，以便它们也可以作为环境地质学，水文学，地球物理学和地球化学课程中的个别案例研究，并将以可在WWW， CD-rom和硬拷贝上传播的形式发布。这项工作将由来自不同机构（威廉玛丽学院、纳瓦霍社区学院和佐治亚理工学院）的四位教员共同努力。我们每个人都将设计一到两个模块，与国内院校的本科生一起工作。我们将共同审查和修改每个模块，因为我们开发的课程作为一个整体。因此，与目前的定量地球科学课程相比，学生将在环境问题方面遇到更广泛的地理环境和文化背景。

A project-based course in environmental field methods will be developed 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 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 `e 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 qua ntitative geoscience courses.