Citizens first! Democracy, social responsibility and chemistry 9780841233577, 0841233578, 9780841233560

Table of contents :
Content: ForewordCitizens First! An Historical Perspective1. Teaching Chemistry with Civic Engagement: Non-Science Majors EnjoyChemistry When They Learn by Doing Research that Provides Benefits to the Local Community2. Value of Using STEM Professionals in the K-12 Classroom: Connecting Chemistry to the Real World3. Introduction to Environmental Issues as a Chemistry for Non-Science Majors Course4. Partnerships that Foster Civic Engagement in Undergraduate ScienceEducation and Research: Assessment of an Urban Zoo5. Developing Sustainable Pollinator Gardens for Habitat and Education6. Connecting Chemistry to Community with Deliberative Democracy7. Crossing Boundaries: Teaching Chemistry for Prisoners and Non-Majors8. Incorporating Intercultural and Global Competencies into Higher Education STEM Programming9. Communicating Your Research to the Public: A Trip to the Mall10. Assessing Citizenship: Questioning Our GoalsEditors' BiographiesAuthor IndexSubject Index

Citation preview

Citizens First! Democracy, Social Responsibility and Chemistry

ACS SYMPOSIUM SERIES 1297

Citizens First! Democracy, Social Responsibility and Chemistry Cynthia Fay Maguire, Editor Texas Woman’s University Denton, Texas

Richard D. Sheardy, Editor Texas Woman’s University Denton, Texas

Sponsored by the ACS Division of Chemical Education

American Chemical Society, Washington, DC Distributed in print by Oxford University Press

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Maguire, Cynthia Fay, editor. | Sheardy, Richard Dean, editor. | American Chemical Society. Division of Chemical Education. Title: Citizens first! : democracy, social responsibility, and chemistry / Cynthia Fay Maguire, editor (Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas), Richard D. Sheardy, editor (Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas) ; sponsored by the ACS Division of Chemical Education. Description: Washington, DC : American Chemical Society, [2018] | Series: ACS symposium series ; 1297 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018029364 (print) | LCCN 2018036666 (ebook) | ISBN 9780841233560 (ebook) | ISBN 9780841233577 Subjects: LCSH: Chemistry--Social aspects. | Chemistry--Study and teaching. Classification: LCC QD39.7 (ebook) | LCC QD39.7 .C58 2018 (print) | DDC 540.71--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018029364

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48n1984. Copyright © 2018 American Chemical Society Distributed in print by Oxford University Press All Rights Reserved. Reprographic copying beyond that permitted by Sections 107 or 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act is allowed for internal use only, provided that a per-chapter fee of $40.25 plus $0.75 per page is paid to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Republication or reproduction for sale of pages in this book is permitted only under license from ACS. Direct these and other permission requests to ACS Copyright Office, Publications Division, 1155 16th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036. The citation of trade names and/or names of manufacturers in this publication is not to be construed as an endorsement or as approval by ACS of the commercial products or services referenced herein; nor should the mere reference herein to any drawing, specification, chemical process, or other data be regarded as a license or as a conveyance of any right or permission to the holder, reader, or any other person or corporation, to manufacture, reproduce, use, or sell any patented invention or copyrighted work that may in any way be related thereto. Registered names, trademarks, etc., used in this publication, even without specific indication thereof, are not to be considered unprotected by law. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Foreword The ACS Symposium Series was first published in 1974 to provide a mechanism for publishing symposia quickly in book form. The purpose of the series is to publish timely, comprehensive books developed from the ACS sponsored symposia based on current scientific research. Occasionally, books are developed from symposia sponsored by other organizations when the topic is of keen interest to the chemistry audience. Before agreeing to publish a book, the proposed table of contents is reviewed for appropriate and comprehensive coverage and for interest to the audience. Some papers may be excluded to better focus the book; others may be added to provide comprehensiveness. When appropriate, overview or introductory chapters are added. Drafts of chapters are peer-reviewed prior to final acceptance or rejection, and manuscripts are prepared in camera-ready format. As a rule, only original research papers and original review papers are included in the volumes. Verbatim reproductions of previous published papers are not accepted.

ACS Books Department

Contents Foreword .......................................................................................................................... ix Citizens First! An Historical Perspective ..................................................................... xi 1.

Teaching Chemistry with Civic Engagement: Non-Science Majors Enjoy Chemistry When They Learn by Doing Research that Provides Benefits to the Local Community .............................................................................................. 1 W. Robert Midden

2.

Value of Using STEM Professionals in the K-12 Classroom: Connecting Chemistry to the Real World ................................................................................ 33 Robert Thomas, Mary Baker, Cathy Cross, and Michael Miehl

3.

Introduction to Environmental Issues as a Chemistry for Non-Science Majors Course ........................................................................................................ 43 Mary E. Railing

4.

Partnerships that Foster Civic Engagement in Undergraduate Science Education and Research: Assessment of an Urban Zoo .................................... 53 Philip J. Carlson, Leslie Robinson, David O’Gwynn, Elizabeth Brandon, John Estes, Joel Oakley, Dave Wetzel, Paul Griffin Jones III, Beth Poff, Harley McAlexander, and G. Reid Bishop

5.

Developing Sustainable Pollinator Gardens for Habitat and Education .......... 73 Cynthia Fay Maguire and Richard D. Sheardy

6.

Connecting Chemistry to Community with Deliberative Democracy ............... 81 Regis Komperda, Jack Barbera, Erin E. Shortlidge, and Gwendolyn P. Shusterman

7.

Crossing Boundaries: Teaching Chemistry for Prisoners and Non-Majors .... 99 Samantha Glazier

8.

Incorporating Intercultural and Global Competencies into Higher Education STEM Programming ......................................................................... 109 Heather MacCleoud

9.

Communicating Your Research to the Public: A Trip to the Mall .................. 139 Nasrin Mirsaleh-Kohan, Sidrah Khan, Cynthia Maguire, and Richard D. Sheardy

10. Assessing Citizenship: Questioning Our Goals ................................................. 147 Stephen B. Carroll

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Editors’ Biographies .................................................................................................... 183

Indexes Author Index ................................................................................................................ 187 Subject Index ................................................................................................................ 189

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Foreword Traditionally science has been strictly disciplined to march in a very restricted parade arena. The disciplinary walls are especially thick. Guards and billboards have been posted everywhere to maintain order by keeping unruly non-science subjects out and scientists, for the most part, in. The argument has been that the purity of science will be contaminated if mere human life and public issues seep into research studies, labs, and the everyday teaching of science. The consequences of such a stance have harmed the teaching and learning in science and put the bulk of humanity and the planet earth at unnecessary risk. In a recent National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), 61% of seniors responded overall by saying they “often or “very often” connected learning to societal problems or issues in their major. But the contrasts across majors were wildly different. For instance, 78% of seniors in social sciences majors reported connecting societal problems or issues in their major. By contrast, for physical sciences, math, and computer science, only 38% of seniors responded affirmatively. Of the ten clustered majors in the NSSE question, the lowest rated three categories were all science disciplines. If science insisted that public issues had no place in its barracks, Flint, Michigan should have changed all that. But so should have the Atomic bomb, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. Or Hurricane Katrina and Harvey, the growing desertification in 168 countries, and the acidification of the ocean. Clear-sighted scientists like Cathy Middlecamp, a chemist by training and long-time author and many years editor-in-chief of Chemistry in Context, have helped lead the way to radically reframing science. “My work is at the intersection of science, people, culture, and the real world issues that we as humans face on this planet,” she writes unabashedly on her University of Wisconsin, Madison website. Middlecamp was a member of my advisory board for a National Science Foundation project I directed almost two decades ago called “Women and Scientific Literacy: Building Two-Way Streets.” Had I taken her chemistry class as an undergraduate, I might very well have gone to graduate school in chemistry instead of English literature. She herself is non-monogamous in her disciplinary affections. At this point in her professional career, she has a joint appointment as a professor in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and in Integrated Liberal Studies. The ability to explore different disciplinary perspectives seems to be one of the keys to marching out of the parade arena, against orders. Middlecamp has been a faculty consultant with another dynamic disrupter of walls, bans, and exclusionary practices: SENCER, Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities. Its premise is a simple one: students would be more engaged in science if science were more engaged with the world ix

and its public issues. The editors of this volume, Richard D. Sheardy and Cynthia Maguire in the chemistry and biochemistry department at Texas Woman’s University, have both been deeply influenced both by Cathy Middlecamp and by SENCER. They have also each taken a stint at running the SENCER Center for Innovation‒ Southwest, housed at TWU. SENCER argues that civic engagement through science can also produce more informed, responsible citizens. So, it is no accident that the name of the first symposium on this topic at ACS was originally dubbed by Middlecamp as “Citizens First!” The name stuck and the papers in this volume, Citizens First!, are largely from the 2017 symposia that Sheardy and Maguire led. The essays to a person are testimonies that science and society can actually make beautiful music together, stronger, more tonal, better beat than those regimented, stiff, constrained marching bands. Sheardy, Maguire and their colleague Nasrin Kohan were selected by my organization, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, as an exemplary model of a chemistry and biochemistry department because they have developed a civic lining throughout the courses in their major that prompts students to think about the public consequences and ethical implications of some of their studies. And they have scaffolded such learning over time for their majors, most of whom become involved in research projects about local issues of import in Denton, Texas. Information about their major and other departmental designs can be found in Peer Review, Civic Learning in the Major, Fall 2017. AAC&U also just awarded twenty-four mini-grants to departments interested in beginning a dialogue about layering civic engagement and social responsibility across levels in the major. Twenty-five percent of the awardees were in science departments: a sign that more scientists have gone AWOL. That is good news for student learning, for scientific discoveries, for the health of the planet and its people, and for the civil society that seems to be dangerously unraveling in the U.S. and many spots around the globe. It is a matter of some significance therefore that the American Chemical Society is publishing volumes like this one. Read it carefully.

Caryn McTighe Musil Senior Scholar and Director of Civic Learning and Democracy Initiatives Association of American Colleges and Universities

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Citizens First! An Historical Perspective Since the early 2000s, the SENCER (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities) project has advocated that connecting science content with real world issues through civic engagement enhances student learning. This project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for more than 18 years, has been recently recognized as a highly successful community of practice (1). Initial efforts by the SENCER community primarily focused on improving student learning in science courses for non-science majors. Incorporating civic engagement activities in non-majors science courses is fairly facile since content can be flexible. These courses are typically part of the general education requirements that all students must take and, typically, most non-science majors only take one or two science courses. The first symposium at a national meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) that introduced the SENCER ideas was held in Philadelphia in 2008. This symposium, Science Education and Civic Engagement: The SENCER Approach, featured speakers describing the basic “nuts and bolts” of how to incorporate civic engagement into science courses. This led to the ACS Symposium book of the same title published in 2010. The second symposium on SENCER at a national ACS meeting was in Denver in 2011. This symposium, Science Education and Civic Engagement: The Next Level, focused more on the expansion of SENCER philosophy to programs of study, science teachers, community colleges and interdisciplinary certificates. A second ACS Symposium Book was published in 2012. Over the years, many institutions around the country have developed very innovative courses for non-science majors leading to the development of novel and pioneering programs. While most of the SENCER efforts focused on non-majors science courses, it also became evident early on that civic engagement activities should be incorporated into courses for STEM majors at all levels. The pushback was based on losing content which is much less flexible in majors’ curricula. However, it became clear that civic engagement can be incorporated into majors’ courses in a variety of ways. An ACS symposium organized by Matt Fisher and Trace Jordan and held in Washington DC in 2009, addressed Civic Engagement and Chemistry Education and addressed issues of content and context. SENCER promotes incorporating civic engagement into science curricula, thereby strengthening student learning, and, at the same time underpinning citizenship skills. Thus, democracy is fortified. The idea of the citizen scientist is

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not new but is receiving increasing notice. Scientists have great power and, with that, great social responsibility. The Citizens First! symposium series began in 2014 at the San Francisco ACS meeting. The concept for Citizens First! came from Cathy Middlecamp as a juxtaposition to the atoms first approach for teaching first year general chemistry. Cathy Middlecamp and Patrick Daubenmire organized that symposium and those for the 2015 Denver and Boston ACS meetings. In 2016, Matt Fisher and Bettie Davis took over organization with help from Angela Hoffman for the San Diego meeting and Karen Anderson for the Philadelphia meeting. Finally, Cynthia Maguire and Richard Sheardy have organized the 2017 San Francisco and Washington, DC Citizens First! sessions, as well as the 2018 New Orleans symposium. The chapters in this book have been contributed primarily by presenters at the 2017 symposia. The following description has been used by the ACS Division of Chemical Education to announce the Citizens First! symposia: “The title of this symposium acknowledges that ALL of our general chemistry students are citizens. Yes, some will pursue careers in the chemical sciences and engineering. All, however, will have roles in decisions and behaviors that shape the future of their community and nation. Understanding the chemistry that underlies environmental, societal, and personal health issues is critical to having a sustainable future. This symposium welcomes all who in some way teach/connect chemistry with civic engagement. This can include those who launch their courses —both for majors and non-majors—by using real-world contexts to engage students in learning. We would like to hear about the different contexts you select, what works well and what does not.” This description truly captures the essence of the presentations. Speakers have talked about new chemistry texts that relate real-world issues to the chemistry, student projects, course and curriculum development, and other topics related to the overall theme of chemists and citizens first and discussions of how we get there. The chapters of this book represent just some of the work that has been presented in the symposium series.

References 1.

Kezar, A.; Gehrke, S. Communities of Transformation and Their Work Scaling STEM Reform; Pullias Center for Higher Education: 2015. https:/ /pullias.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/communities-of-trans.pdf (accessed February 28, 2018).

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Richard D. Sheardy Professor and Chair Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry Texas Woman’s University PO Box 42589 Denton, Texas 76204, United States

Cynthia Maguire Senior Lecturer Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry Texas Woman’s University PO Box 42589 Denton, Texas 76204, United States

xiii

Chapter 1

Teaching Chemistry with Civic Engagement: Non-Science Majors Enjoy Chemistry When They Learn by Doing Research that Provides Benefits to the Local Community W. Robert Midden* Innovative STEM Education, 304 University Hall, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

This chapter describes a chemistry instructor’s evolution in the use of five different teaching methods in an effort to improve student motivation, engagement, and learning in chemistry courses designed for non-majors: 1) integrating “big questions” about timely topics as the driving focus for learning the fundamental concepts of chemistry; 2) following how human curiosity about common phenomena of nature drove the history of chemistry, science and medicine; 3) allowing students to select their own topics of interest and requiring them to write reports about those by analyzing and synthesizing evidence from science and medical research reports observing rigorous criteria for evaluating the quality and validity of evidence; 4) conducting hands-on experimentation; and finally, 5) embedding learning in a research project that students conduct to provide real benefits to the local community. Of these methods, the last produced the most improvement in student attitudes, interest in science, commitment of effort to the learning process, and ability to articulate their understanding of science concepts. This was true in a general education course for first-year non-science majors who were in the course primarily because it was required. Results include instructor assessment of student motivation, engagement, and learning. But the most powerful data are the students’ words written in reflections about how they perceived their experience in © 2018 American Chemical Society

the course, and what they found most worthwhile about it. Virtually every student in the course over a period of seven semesters and five years indicated they enjoyed the course and found it worthwhile. Nearly everyone reported that what they found most worthwhile about the course was the opportunity to learn while doing something that benefited others in our area. Finding that student motivation, effort invested in learning, and success in learning was best achieved when students were learning by doing research that benefited the community, and that students consistently appreciated the opportunity to learn by doing something that provided benefit to others, suggests that civic engagement may be a powerful way to achieve a markedly higher level of the outcomes that we all desire for our students, especially for those students who do not already have an inherent interest in chemistry and science.

Introduction Student interest, motivation, and engagement in traditional, lecture-based, general education chemistry courses are typically low and student learning is often weak, partly as a result of their low level of engagement as well as the difficulty that many experience when trying to learn in lectures and from chemistry textbooks (1–3). The term, “general education courses” is defined as courses that students are required to take outside of the discipline of their major degree program that are intended to broaden their education and ensure that they are well prepared, generally, for life after college as a citizen in a democratic society. However, students often do not understand or appreciate why they are required to take these courses that are not directly related to their career plans or personal interests. Thus, they sometimes resent the requirement. Furthermore, their preparation for achieving the traditional outcomes of typical general education chemistry courses is often not strong. Given this, it is not surprising that their performance and experience in these courses is often less than optimum. Various types of experiential learning have been found to improve these outcomes in courses for chemistry majors and non-majors and many examples have been reported for project- and problem-based learning, service learning, and course-based research (4–19). This chapter describes instructor observations of the relative effectiveness of five different modes of instruction aimed at improving these outcomes. These observations suggest that students who are not majoring in the sciences, can find studying science worthwhile, beneficial, and enjoyable. The instructor found that this was accomplished best with learning activities that were integrated with students conducting real science research that has direct benefits for their local community. This type of instruction could be called “research service learning” and is a form of citizen science research since this is scientifically valid research conducted by non-professional scientists. The instructor observed that this was true, not just for some, or many, of the students who took this course, but for 2

virtually all of them. And virtually every student mentioned that an aspect of the course that they found particularly appealing was their perception that they were learning by doing something that benefitted others. Indeed, this is not a new discovery. Sheila Tobias, on the last page on her report of a study of why so many students leave the sciences in college provided this quote as an example of a reason why students left science in college for other fields of study, “‘I was not given the belief that I could give something to science and that it could give something back to me.’ Stephanie, Participant-Observer” (1) While this is not a new discovery, this chapter provides a look at the evolution of a faculty member’s experience trying multiple ways to improve student reaction and response to chemistry and science, and as such, may provide helpful insight and understanding about how and why this mode of instruction may be so effective, as well as evidence to support efforts to conduct more rigorous research to determine how well these observations and findings can be generalized and used by others. Purpose and Philosophy of General Education It is important to acknowledge the purpose, philosophy, and intended learning outcomes for general education, since that represents constraints for how such courses should be designed and taught. Here are the Learning Outcomes for Liberal Education/General Education as promoted by one of the most prominent higher education associations in the United States, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) (20).

Liberal Education & America’s Promise | AAC&U Liberal Education and American Capability Reflecting the traditions of American higher education since the founding, the term “liberal education” headlines the kinds of learning needed for a free society and for the full development of human talent. Liberal education has always been this nation’s signature educational tradition, and this report builds on its core values: expanding horizons, building understanding of the wider world, honing analytical and communication skills, and fostering responsibilities beyond self. However, in a deliberate break with the academic categories developed in the twentieth century, the LEAP National Leadership Council disputes the idea that liberal education is achieved only through studies in arts and sciences disciplines. It also challenges the conventional view that liberal education is, by definition, “non-vocational.”

The Essential Learning Outcomes Beginning in school, and continuing at successively higher levels across their college studies, students should prepare for twenty-first-century challenges by gaining: 3

Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World •

Through study in the sciences and mathematics, social sciences, humanities, histories, languages, and the arts by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring

Intellectual and Practical Skills, Including • • • • • •

Inquiry and analysis Critical and creative thinking Written and oral communication Quantitative literacy Information literacy Teamwork and problem solving extensively, across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance

Personal and Social Responsibility, Including • • • •

Civic knowledge and engagement—local and global Intercultural knowledge and competence Ethical reasoning and action Foundations and skills for lifelong learning through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges

Integrative Learning, Including •

Synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general and specialized studies through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings and complex problems

Not every course is expected to achieve all of these outcomes but the collection of courses that a student completes by earning her degree should include mastery of all of these.

An Example: General Education at Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a moderate sized (approximately 17,000 students), regional, state-supported, with the Carnegie Classification: Doctoral University: Higher Research Activity. This might be considered a typical case, in some regards, in that it serves students who are probably similar to a relatively large portion of the college student population in the nation. Faculty must have a productive, externally supported research program in the natural sciences to be granted tenure. While teaching quality must be good, faculty must devote a fairly substantial portion of their time and effort to research, to succeed. 4

The General Education program at Bowling Green State University, called the “Bowling Green Perspective Program” (BGP) states: “BGSU’s general education program, BG Perspective: 21st Century Liberal Studies, was created with the intention to provide students with a coherent combination of courses in which active learning strategies are the norm and in which pedagogies are guided, in part, by regular, formal assessment of general education learning outcomes, thereby preparing students with a solid foundation for moving into their upper-level courses. During the completion of general education requirements, students will hone their intellectual skills that include the ability to think critically and communicate effectively; the ability to understand different cultures, modes of thought, and multiple values; and the ability to investigate forces that shape scientific and technological complexities of contemporary culture.” Learning Outcomes are specified for each of seven primary domains: English Composition and Oral Communication; Quantitative Literacy; Humanities and the Arts; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Natural Sciences; Cultural Diversity in the United States; International Perspective. Most relevant to this chapter, are the learning outcomes for the Natural Sciences: Upon successful completion of BG Perspective natural science domain courses, students will: • • • • • •

Describe how natural sciences can be used to explain and/or predict natural phenomena Identify misconceptions associated with the specific scientific discipline Explain simple quantitative data and its limits relative to the study of science Demonstrate the application of simple quantitative and qualitative data in the scientific process. Solve problems using one or more of the logical approaches of science Reflect on the relevance of science to one’s everyday life

However, a typical syllabus for the BGSU general education course offered by the Chemistry Department states: “The course will provide fundamental chemistry concepts and chemistry applications in a variety of settings. You should expect to gain a qualitative understanding of chemical phenomena presented in class, and also gain perspective of how these chemical concepts are considered in real-world scenarios.” A table of contents for a typical textbook used for this course has these chapters: Atoms and Atomic Structure Chemical Bonds Chemical Accounting Gases, Liquids, Solids Intermolecular Forces Acids and Bases Oxidation and Reduction Organic Chemistry and Polymers 5

Nuclear Chemistry Earth Chemistry Air Water Energy Biochemistry Food Chemistry Pharmaceuticals Agricultural Chemistry Household Chemicals Poisons While some of these topics have relevance for students’ lives, notice that the topics that are most directly relevant to students’ lives are at the end and the textbook begins with abstract concepts of chemistry about which, students often have little desire to learn. And here is a typical schedule for the BGSU general education chemistry course that used a textbook like this, showing that this lecture-based course focuses primarily on the fundamental chemical concepts with little inclusion of the life-relevant applications such as food chemistry, pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemistry, household chemicals, or poisons: Course introduction, Chemistry Basics Matter Atoms Atomic Structure (2 class periods) Exam 1 Light and Electron Configuration Introduction to Bonding, Ionic Bonds Polyatomic ions Covalent bonds, Lewis Structures VSEPR, Dipoles Introduction to Reactions, Reaction Accounting Reactions, Molar Mass, Mass Relationships Exam 2 Stoichiometry Solutions, Solids, Liquids, Gases Phase Diagrams, Intermolecular forces Gas Relationships and Gas Laws Pairwise Reactions: acids and bases Carbon Containing Compounds Exam 3 Organic Chemistry (3 class periods) Biomolecules (5 class periods) Review Final Exam 6

Such a course could be taught in a way that it would address the learning outcomes of the BGSU General Education program for the natural sciences, but student achievement of those outcomes in a course like this is often very weak because of their lack of interest, some even feeling resentful that they are required to take a course that seems irrelevant, with little perceived benefit for them. Thus, their level of engagement is often relatively low. However, in my teaching experience, even introducing topics frequently cited as highly important in the popular press, only stimulates the interest of a relatively small number of the students, even for science majors.

The Author’s Personal Experience My first teaching assignment at BGSU was the course designed for nursing students that covers general, organic, and biochemistry during two semesters. The traditional version of this course as represented by the vast majority of textbooks designed for it, addresses core concepts of chemistry: matter & energy, atoms, chemical bonds, chemical reactions, phases of matter, solutions and colloids, reaction rates and equilibria, acids and bases, organic chemistry nomenclature, functional groups, and common reactions, common biomolecules and their properties, bioenergetics, and the core metabolic biochemical pathways. But it was clear that the vast majority of the students did not recognize or appreciate the value of this knowledge for their future careers. With the intent of increasing student interest and motivation and more robustly engaging students, I searched for topics in nursing textbooks and nursing board exam reviews that required a knowledge of chemistry, but was surprised to find relatively little true need for nurses to know much fundamental chemistry. Since the modern practice of nursing did not require a thorough mastery of the fundamental chemistry concepts that are the standard curriculum for this course, I revised the course and started each section of the course with a “big question” such as “What causes ozone depletion and how can that problem be resolved” (this was the mid 1990s), “What causes climate change and what are strategies to reduce that problem?”, “How can AIDS and other viral diseases be cured?”, and “How do antimicrobials work and how can antibiotic resistance be addressed?” I guided the students in the search for answers to these questions, leading them to the same fundamental principles of chemistry that are the intended topics of the course. The expectation was that these timely topics would make it clear to students why it was worthwhile for them to master these concepts. And it did…but only for about 15-20% of the students estimated from responses in student evaluations of the course completed at the end of the term. Some even complained that now they needed to learn more than what was in the textbook and they felt that was an undue additional burden. Apparently, many students at that time did not care about understanding the chemistry that underlies these problems. Their curiosity was low and their interests lay in other areas. At that time, I joined a new, innovative undergraduate program on our campus, a residential learning community, that gave me the freedom to design a general 7

education science course with few constraints regarding the topics, as long as the general education learning outcomes for the natural sciences were met.

Variations in Design of a General Education Science Course Human Curiosity and the History of Science The first version of this new course was based on the premise that the history of science was driven by human curiosity about how the natural world truly behaves. So, the course was designed based on that history, starting with such phenomena as static electricity and experiments that led to the discovery of the electron, the structure of the atom, chemical bonding, the nature of chemical reactions, gas laws, the periodic table, and other fundamental chemistry and also relating to the history of medicine since the premise was that most students would find medical developments compelling. But student reactions and reports of their perceptions seemed to indicate that many had no interest in the history of science and relatively little curiosity remaining about some of the common phenomena of the natural world that drove the development of science. Student motivation and engagement as judged by the instructor’s observations of student comments in class, their behavior and engagement in the class, their responses in assignments, and their responses in the course evaluation at the end of the term was no higher than was achieved by introducing timely topics as the motivation for learning.

Student Chosen Topics So, the course was redesigned again. Since instructor-chosen topics did not seem to interest as many students as hoped, students were assigned to write a report and give an oral team presentation about a medical or health topic they chose, that involved chemistry, about which they were most interested. They also designed a brief research project that they could conduct within a few days on campus and gave an oral and written report about that. The course included instruction in: a) use of the library, b) understanding and evaluating information in scientific and medical research articles, and c) writing reports and giving presentations in the standard format of scientific reports. While student interest was initially stronger than for topics chosen by the instructor, the interest of many students waned when they did not find the information that they needed on their first attempt searching library resources and databases. Most students did not have the motivation to achieve the standard of performance that the instructor deemed sufficient for a course at this level. Course evaluations and student responses to end-of-course reflection prompts indicated that this strategy did not achieve the level of student interest, motivation, and engagement that was sought. For instance, in the end-ofterm course evaluation mean response on a 7-point scale to the question, “To what extent did you… carefully read the assignment guidelines until you understood them” was 5.2 for this version of the course compared to 6.1 for the final version of the course described below. This strategy was used for two semesters. 8

Hands-On Experimentation To Optimize Scientific Measurement

Recognizing that students often are more engaged with hands-on activity, the course was redesigned to incorporate hands-on experimentation for investigating local water quality. The instructor had become aware that there was a concern about possible contamination of private water wells in the rural parts of our area, by crude oil from abandoned oil wells. This is a somewhat unique situation; it is estimated that 36,000 oil wells were drilled in this county during the period 1885-1910 and then abandoned by 1930 because wasteful practices resulted in most wells ceasing economic production prematurely. Because almost none of the oil wells were properly sealed, they now represent potential sources of contamination of the ground water that rural residents access using household water wells. Indeed, the county health department had found a few such private wells were contaminated by crude oil but lacked the resources to systematically test wells to determine the scope of the problem. This seemed to possibly be a worthy investigation for students in this course, but a method for determining levels of crude oil in water that non-science majors could use reliably and accurately with affordable equipment was needed for this to be feasible. A survey of the various methods for detecting crude oil suggested that fluorescence might provide sufficient sensitivity. It was recognized that high intensity LED (light emitting diodes) with fairly narrow emission bandwidths were very inexpensive and readily available as possible light sources. But it was uncertain what types of light detection devices and which combination of LEDs and light detection devices would work best for detection of crude oil fluorescence. Since the method only needs to detect one analyte, crude oil, a detector could be chosen with a fixed bandpass so an expensive monochromator was not needed. But it was necessary to find the optimum components for a crude oil fluorimeter. Rather than conduct this research, myself, I decided to have students do this. Thus, the course was structured for students to learn about the importance of water quality, the hazards of water contamination, and the special circumstances in our region regarding possible contamination of household water wells by crude oil, as well as the role that students could play investigating that. They also learned that a suitable detection system that could be used by students like themselves, was not yet designed. So the last few weeks of the course was devoted to the task of testing various LED and light detectors to determine which gave the most accurate and sensitive results for detecting crude oil in water. Initially students responded positively to this challenge and several enjoyed the hands-on experimentation, but it was necessary to conduct a relatively large number of tests to be sure that the best available system could be designed and to ensure that the results were accurate and reliable. Many, if not most, of the students found the repetition of the tests boring and lost interest. By the end of the course, while the students produced useful data, a competent system had not been developed and no real water samples had been tested. End-of-course student evaluations indicated that many students found this course to be somewhat more compelling than previous versions but still did not demonstrate the level of interest, motivation, and learning that was desired. 9

An Optimized Fluorimeter Fortunately, soon after the study by the students, a particular photodiode was found that had an optical interference filter in the top of the diode canister that transmitted wavelengths corresponding to the maximum in the fluorescence emission spectrum of crude oil. This device, used with a high intensity blue LED, was found to work well for detecting crude oil fluorescence. However, it was found that the level of crude oil in water is too low to detect directly, due to low water solubility. So, solid phase extraction, using 3M filters designed to adsorb grease and oil from water, was used to increase the concentration 250-fold. The next term, this system was used by students to achieve a 0.2 ppb total crude oil detection limit with standard curves generated by many students using crude oil standards, having correlation coefficients >0.990 and virtually all >0.950. One set of components for this fluorimeter cost about $50 and the individual components could be assembled by students and their individual function learned through experimentation with each component individually. Thus, students were able to fully understand how the crude oil was being detected through hands-on experimentation with the individual components and their various combinations. The local county health district agreed to provide water samples from household wells they were routinely testing as part of their normal surveillance program. So now it was possible for students to conduct research by testing these water samples from real people’s homes. They now had real responsibility for real people.

Learning by Doing Research To Benefit Members of the Local Community The instructor impressed students from the first day of the course that the question they were investigating, “how many household wells in the county are contaminated by crude oil,” was their responsibility and their responsibility, alone. The government agencies with jurisdiction over this issue did not have the resources to investigate it. Thus it was up to the students in this course. But, they had to thoroughly learn the chemistry and the science so that they could conduct this research accurately, reliably, and consistently. Students began to learn how to construct and operate their fluorimeter by learning how to construct electronic circuits to power their LED using a 9-Volt (V) battery, a 5 V voltage regulator, and a load resistor. They also learned to use a multi-meter to measure current, voltage, and resistance, and explored the relationships between these parameters for different types of circuits to achieve a reasonable level of understanding these fundamental concepts of electricity. Students used a white LED with a set of optical interference filters with central bandpasses ranging from 450 to 720 nm to determine the colors of light represented by these various wavelengths, and arranged the colors in the order of increasing wavelength. They then considered where they had seen a similar pattern of colors elsewhere, eventually recognizing that they had seen that in rainbows and the light dispersed by prisms and gratings. This helped them understand that these phenomena must be related to wavelength. 10

They examined the color of crude oil fluorescence with LEDs that emitted different colors of light and then compared the wavelengths of the incident and fluorescent light. This led after some additional consideration to realizing that the energy of the fluorescent light is less than the energy of the incident light, thus observing the law of conservation of energy. They also learned how the C18-coated silica particles in the 3M filters used in the solid phase extraction were able to extract crude oil from water due to differences in molecular polarity and explored differences in molecular polarity and the role that intermolecular interactions played in solubility. They learned how to convert units of measurements, how to calculate concentrations, how to measure masses, densities of liquids, and a number of other core science concepts on which the crude oil detection system was based. Other Topics Used To Broaden the Course To ensure that students had a good understanding of the scientific background knowledge and the context, and being uncertain that the water testing, alone, would be sufficient to form the entire course, in the first design of this course, approximately the first half of the semester was spent on water quality issues of a broader scope. Students watched the film, “A Civil Action,” about a case in which a cluster of child leukemia cases was attributed to contamination of some city water wells by chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents used by some businesses in Woburn, Massachusetts. This case was critically evaluated by students in terms of the scientific evidence as well as some legal considerations. The course then turned to the question of whether Bowling Green City water was safe to drink. Scientific evidence was collected from published sources and critically evaluated, the Bowling Green Water Treatment Plant was inspected and the Director interviewed. Additional sources of scientific information and evidence was included in the critical analysis for forming conclusions. Then attention was turned to the research project that was to serve as the driving force for learning: the question of whether household water wells in our county were contaminated by crude oil.

Making It Real To help convince students that this was a real problem of concern to the local community, in the first class sessions representatives from the Wood County Health Department, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and a local well driller with an extensive knowledge of the oil and water well history of the region, spoke to the students. These guest speakers explained the reasons why there was concern about possible contamination of household water wells. They also explained that they lacked the resources needed for conducting an appropriate investigation and explained that students’ work would be valuable if it was done with high quality and accuracy. Thus, the first class sessions involved students learning about the problem they were to investigate, why it mattered, what they could accomplish, and what 11

they needed to learn and be able to do. Then they started doing hands-on work with the components of their fluorimeter and solid phase extraction system, and learning the science concepts on which these were based and how to use these systems reliably and accurately. They worked in teams of two or three students. When they had fully mastered an understanding of the science concepts on which their crude oil detection system was based, they assembled their fluorimeter and calibrated it using standard solutions of crude oil in toluene. They then tested water samples that were intentionally contaminated with known amounts of crude oil to verify their ability to obtain accurate results, reliably and consistently. When they believed they had reached a sufficient level of accuracy and reproducibility, they tested blind standards whose crude oil concentration was known only by the instructor, to convince the instructor they were competent. When students were able to report the correct concentration of crude oil in three sequential, different water samples within 20%, they were then certified as valid water samplers and could begin to test water samples that had been collected by the County Health District. Each water sample was divided into a minimum of four aliquots of 500 mL and each tested by a different team of students. Initially, the Health District collected 2 L from each well giving us four aliquots for each well; later they collected 4 L and for those cases, eight aliquots were tested by different teams. The final exam for the course consisted of poster presentations given by the student teams, and research reports that were written by students individually. In most cases, all members of a given student team received the same grade for the poster presentation. Thus students had a reason to help each other learn and to feel a responsibility to the other member(s) of their team to learn well. Prior research has shown that student performance improves in such cooperative learning situations where there is joint responsibility for academic performance (21–23). But the individual research reports enabled individual accountability to be included in the assessment and also exercised students written communication as well as oral communication skills for reporting scientific research. The formats of these were required to be the same as the standard format for professional scientific presentations and reports. An essential and important element of the reports was a statement of the confidence in the conclusions regarding the level of contamination of each well, based on the quantity and quality of the evidence. Even more importantly, the reports had to give a full justification for the level of confidence claimed for the conclusion for each well. Students were expected to explain not only the level of agreement of the determinations of the contamination level by each of the teams, but also an evaluation of the quality of the validation results that each team had generated as a measure of each team’s credibility and validity. This was used to help students more deeply understand the nature of uncertainty in science, how the level of confidence is determined for scientific conclusions, as well as how that confidence level can be used in decision making. This is considered one of the more important learning outcomes for this course, as this is essential in being able to make good and appropriate use of science in human decision making. The same representatives from the Wood County Health Department, the Ohio EPA, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources that had introduced the 12

need for this investigation, along with the directors of the BGSU Environmental Science, and Environmental Health programs, and other faculty and students, served as the audience and evaluators for the students’ poster presentations. This helped to confirm to students that the work they had done truly mattered, and that it had real meaning and value to others.

Meeting General and Liberal Education Outcomes Notice that this design of the course achieves not only the BGSU general education learning outcomes but also addresses the AACU liberal education and LEAP outcomes for general education. Students’ attention was called to the role that they were playing, helping to meet an important civic need: determining whether residents in our region were using household water that is contaminated with a potentially hazardous substance. Of the LEAP Learning Outcomes, the course especially addressed, in robust fashion, quite differently from a traditional general education science course: • • • • •

Inquiry and analysis Critical and creative thinking Written and oral communication Quantitative literacy Teamwork and problem solving

Additional Learning Objectives That Had Been Set for This Course •

Students master a number of central scientific concepts and learn how to learn chemistry, and science, in general ◦

•

Students improve their understanding of the nature of science as it is actually practiced, its abilities and limitations and how it is used to acquire new knowledge ◦ ◦

•

Using a variety of information sources, not just textbooks

The effort involved in obtaining reliable & accurate evidence How to establish and use uncertainty in decision-making

Students recognize and appreciate the value of science in their lives and in our society and how it can be used to provide benefit for meeting important human needs

Scientific Concepts They Were Expected To Master •

Properties of underground aquifers and geological factors that influence water well contamination 13

•

• • •

•

How to build simple electronic circuits, the function of light emitting diodes, light detectors, resistors, voltage regulators, measurement of voltage, current & resistance and the relationships among these Chemical and physical nature of fluorescence, wavelength vs color of visible light, energy vs wavelength, the function of optical filters Concentration units, determination of concentration from fluorimetry data and after dilution Chemical extraction principles, chemical affinity, chemical solubilities, molecular polarity and its role in determining chemical properties and its role in chemical separations Statistical analysis of data obtained by multiple trials, determining experimental uncertainty and confidence limits in conclusions

Nature of the Data Regarding Course Effectiveness The next section provides the observations regarding student response to these different types of courses. When the first course revision was conducted the author did not anticipate that a series of different instructional methods would eventually be tested. Unfortunately, he did not structure the classes so that rigorous comparisons of educational outcomes could be measured in a scientifically valid way. The primary measure of the effectiveness of these differences in course design was the instructor’s perception of student learning using a variety of assessment methods and instruments, and the instructor’s perceptions of student attitude, motivation, and engagement. While this does not allow drawing conclusions that can be generalized with high confidence, the instructor’s observations were made within the context of 25 years of college chemistry instruction and a number of years of experience observing and evaluating other chemistry faculty instruction as part of faculty evaluation and thus can be considered within this broader context. The most striking and compelling evidence was the responses that students wrote of their perception of the course at the end of the semester. The instructor did not perceive that he had any bias regarding the effectiveness of any instructional method. The initial goal was not to test various methods of instruction. Instead, each change in instructional mode was made only due to dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of the prior instructional mode. It was only because the final method tested was found to be so much more effective than prior modes that the instructor did not make any further major revisions to the instructional mode. With the first few course revisions, the instructor was rather optimistic about the likely improvement in course effectiveness and student response. However, when those initial revisions did not generate the improvement in student learning and motivation that was expected, the instructor’s expectation of success with additional course modifications was tempered. The instructor adopted the final course revision, using a science research project as the context for learning, with little preconceived notion of its effectiveness and was uncertain how students would respond. Readers are encouraged to examine the student comments. Those comments are summarized at the end of this chapter and a full 14

set of responses are available upon request. Virtually every student in the seven semesters during which this mode of instruction was used, reported favorably about the course. Those familiar with student attitudes in typical general education science courses will likely recognize that this is very different. Furthermore, also striking was that more than 95% of students mentioned that a feature of the course that they found particularly appealing was the opportunity to learning by doing something that could benefit others. That so many students would so uniformly cite this as a compelling feature of the course is considered a very significant finding. What cannot be ruled out, however, is that this instructor happened to have the type of disposition and style that was particularly well suited to a certain mode or style of instruction and that accounts, at least in part, for the observed outcomes. It is also possible that the particular population of students who enrolled in this course were also unusually disposed towards a particular mode of instruction. But the uniformity of the comments students made and their performance and behavior in the course, as well as the depth of their learning, were so dramatically different from those of students in other modes of the course, that it would seem unlikely that this accounts for all of the difference.

Evaluation of Student Motivation, Attitude, and Learning Adding Topics of Current Interest in the Popular Press As described above, the first innovation tested to improve student outcomes was adding timely topics to a course taught for nursing students and education majors in a traditional format with a textbook in a large enrollment setting (150-200 students with fixed, tiered lecture hall seating). This course did not involve student completion of graded assignments and the only formal means of assessment of student learning were three mid-term exams and a final exam at the end of the course. Student motivation and interest was judged by how students responded to questions and challenges posed by the instructor in class, by student comments, and by student responses in the course evaluation that they completed at the end of the term. Assessment Summary (data from 1 semester) • Instructor Observations: Compared to the traditional version of this course, student interest and motivation seemed to increase only for a relatively small number of the students and failed to achieve the goal of inspiring a high level of excitement about learning chemistry or a high investment of effort. (It should be noted that the students enrolled in this course were not chemistry majors. They were almost all nursing or education majors. A different response might occur for chemistry majors.) The student evaluations of the course were very similar to, with almost no significant difference from prior versions of the course taught without the inclusion of timely topics. • Student Perceptions: Some students complained that the timely topics represented additional information that they needed to master. So, rather 15

than perceiving those topics as increasing their interest and the value of the course, some students seemed to perceive this as adding additional burden without sufficient additional educational or personal benefit. There were some students who seemed to appreciate these new topics and to take more interest in them but based on analysis of the student comments and responses in the end-of-term course evaluation, the instructor estimates that this was likely only about 15% of the students. For the majority of students the new topics seemed to have little benefit or detriment to their motivation and interest. No written student comments were collected for this course so those cannot be compared to student comments regarding the following instructional modes.

Human Curiosity and the History of Science The next attempt to improve student response was the general education course that examined the history of science and medicine, drawing on those aspects of human curiosity that drove the development of science. This seemed to be even less effective than including timely topics. Students did what was required but showed minimal interest, motivation, and engagement. It seemed that few had much curiosity about viable and convincing explanations for how fundamental phenomena occur and even less interest in the history of the development of these seminal aspects of human knowledge.

Assessment Summary (data from 1 semester) • Instructor Observations: Student curiosity about fundamental phenomena of nature was lower than expected and interest in the history of science and medicine was very weak; these topics did not stimulate interest or motivation, as had been hoped. • Student Perceptions: Some students said they felt the course was taught well saying for instance, it was well organized, the instructor was always on time, he will gladly make an appointment, made comments that were useful for preparing assignments, was available and flexible. However, other comments indicated lack of interest and excitement about the courses for a number of students: “I am not really interested in science so the course did not mean that much to me, although it did help me with my oral presentation and writing skills.” “I wasn’t really able to use the material anywhere outside of class.” “…the class was sometimes boring.” “[The course] was supposed to be exciting and interesting. At times it was, but overall the course found its way heading toward an uninteresting and typical science course of a different sort.” “It would help if the course was more exciting and more interesting for the students.” 16

Student Chosen Topics Allowing students to choose medical or health topics that they found personally interesting, at first stimulated a favorable response from students. However, when required to do rigorous academic work, finding scientifically relevant information, analyzing the quality and validity of that information, and synthesizing it into academically credible and creditable reports, their motivation rapidly declined and performance was much weaker than hoped and intended. Assessment Summary (data from 2 semesters) • Instructor Observations: Students were rapidly and easily frustrated when they failed to find information they were seeking on their first or second attempt and they requested more variety (even though they could choose any topic they wanted). They seemed to be overwhelmed in locating articles in databases, selecting articles from the lists that they found, reading and understanding articles and reporting. They fell far short of expectations for this mode of learning. • Student Perceptions: “This course didn’t stimulate my creative side very much but then again I am an art student.” “Overall the course was a little dry, but sound.”

Hands-On Experimentation To Optimize Scientific Measurement Students responded more enthusiastically, at first, to the opportunity to work with electronic components in an effort to optimize the design of a fluorimeter that could be used to detect crude oil in water. However, a relatively large number of repetitive measurements were needed to provide scientifically useful data and many students somewhat quickly lost that enthusiasm and participated more reluctantly when success was not realized in their first efforts. Students engaged in analysis and discussions of the scientific facts, concepts, and relationships on which the investigation would be based and that underlie the function of the devices they were using and the system they were developing. But note that, while the expectation was that this system could be used in a real investigation, that investigation did not begin during the term of this course and no real water samples from households were tested. Thus, the class activity did not have the potential to directly or immediately benefit any humans outside the University. Assessment Summary (data from 1 semester) •

Instructor Observations: More students responded positively but several still reported boredom when the nature of the activities did not change quickly and repetition was required to determine reproducibility and to optimize system performance. Hands-on lab activities might achieve higher motivation and engagement if the nature of the activities were frequently changed, perhaps at least different in each class if not two or three different activities in each class period. 17

•

Student Perceptions: Some students reported that they liked the course but nearly all suggested changes to improve it. “Do some more exciting experiments.” “Do more field work to get us outside.” “Vary the activities.” “It was a little boring.” “Do a few different topics over the course of the semester.” “Maybe have more projects.” [Make it] … “More interesting.”

Learning by Doing Research To Benefit Members of the Local Community By the time I taught the course that involved students analyzing water samples from real people’s homes, my expectations about how students might respond was tempered by my prior experiences in which my hopes of dramatically increasing student interest, motivation, and engagement were not met. I did not know how much difference it would make for students to be charged with analyzing water samples from homes in our area with an authentic responsibility for conducting original science research. So I was surprised, and even shocked, to find that virtually every student demonstrated not only interest, but commitment to the class. But I also found that their interest and commitment was strongest when the entire course was devoted directly to the investigation. As mentioned above, for the first few semesters that this mode of instruction was used, we did not begin work directly on the research project until about mid-term. The first half of the term was devoted to the larger issue of water quality, starting with the case of a childhood leukemia cluster in Woburn, Massachusetts and following that with a study of the quality of water provided by the City of Bowling Green Water Treatment Plant. While those were compelling issues, they differed notably from the students analyzing water samples from homes in our area in two important ways: 1) students did not conduct any hands-on activities or conduct any science research; 2) students were not responsible for determining the possible exposure to a potentially harmful substance of someone nearby whom they could potentially meet, thus they were not doing anything that provided a real benefit to someone else. I found that student comments in the end-of-course reflections indicated that students were significantly less engaged and motivated during the first half of the term. So, in subsequent terms I revised the course again and devoted the entire semester to work that was directly related to the investigation of crude oil contamination of local household water wells. The course began with presentations by scientists from the Ohio EPA, the Wood County Health Department, and a local well driller with extensive knowledge and expertise about local water and oil wells and the history of the region. These presentations set the stage and convinced the students that this investigation was real and there was interest of others outside the University in this issue. They were convinced that what they would do would matter to others and would provide a 18

benefit to the community. From the beginning of the course they realized that they had real responsibility for the accuracy of the work that they did and thus they had an obligation to do it well and conscientiously. And the entire course was devoted to this agenda. The results of the research conducted by students were reported periodically to the Wood County Health Department. Over the five years of investigation no wells were identified as having significant contamination that had not already been identified as being contaminated (0.2 ppb minimum detectable concentration of total crude oil). Additional research conducted as part of the course found that without vigorous mechanical mixing, the level of crude oil contamination was undetectable and even with such mixing, over a period of several months sufficient separation of oil and water occurred that reduced the level of contamination below the detection limit. Indeed, when crude oil was present at 0.2 ppb or above, its presence was detectable by visual inspection or odor. While a few wells had been found to be contaminated before this investigation was conducted and those had been part of the motivation for initiating this investigation, those wells were identified because of odor and appearance. Thus the Health Department was informed that the findings suggest that the probability that a significant number of household water wells are contaminated by crude oil was low and that their inspection system should be able to detect contaminated wells readily by odor and appearance by their trained inspectors.

Assessment Summary (data from 7 semesters) •

•

Instructor Observations: Students displayed a strong sense of responsibility and engagement, more often persisted in spite of difficulty and seldom complained of boredom despite the need for repetitious work to determine reproducibility and to ensure scientific accuracy and validity of the results. Students were much more consistently engaged, paying attention, responding voluntarily, seeming to have a more positive attitude in class, and the classes seemed to have a more positive atmosphere. Student Perceptions: Virtually every student over the seven semesters that students conducted this research, reported that they found it particularly enjoyable to learn by doing something that benefitted others. More than 95% of the students reported that they liked the course and every student reported having some type of positive experience in it. A summary of student comments is provided near the end of the chapter in the section titled “The Students’ Words.” A few representative examples are provided here. Compare these comments to those made by students in traditional general education chemistry courses: “I would like to take other courses like this because in high school I always thought that science was so pointless and useless, and I never knew when I would be able to use this. The Journeys class was beneficial to other people and it was useful.” 19

“On the first day of class I was nervous about taking a science class, especially at the college level…Previous classes I had taken in high school included biology, botany/zoology, introduction to chemistry and physics…On the first day of the course I thought I had a pretty decent exposure and understanding of science. Looking back, I had barely a clue as to what science really is. I didn’t realize how much it affects our everyday life. The first paper we wrote surprised me as to how much detail and effort was required. On a good note, it did improve my writing ability and comprehension of material. … Now I love science. I am excited to learn more. The class made me feel like I might be able to make a difference in the world. I am seriously considering becoming an Environmental Health major. Before this class I thought science was dull and old-fashioned, not realizing how much it is a part of our present, everyday life.… My understanding of science has changed a great deal since the beginning of the course. My ability to do science has increased. I am able to break down difficult information easier and understand it better.” “When I walked into journeys into science I had no idea what to expect. I thought it was going to be like my previous science classes, boring and plenty of repetitious homework. I wanted to give science a second chance because I never did horrible in science but I never liked it because I didn’t understand everything. I wanted to get out of there quickly because I needed science credit to graduate high school. I need science credit again to graduate college. That was my basic attitude coming into the classroom. I had plenty of exposure to science. I took science for about 12 years…I got confused and my previous teachers never explained well…I didn’t have too much scientific ability before I entered the class. I was more confused from all the information that I tried variously to absorb through my science classes. That didn’t work well…My attitude now about science is that I’m curious and I want to try again. I want to learn. I am excited because over the summer I want to take a Biology class. I want to take science classes now. I understand better. I understand how to think like a scientist and ask questions. I am enthusiastic about learning new ideas and discovering new ideas I never knew or thought of. My attitude has changed tremendously since the beginning. My mom couldn’t believe I actually wanted to take more science classes. I enjoy science now because I am able to comprehend more and learning what science is all about.…I understand science a great deal. I learned that scientists have to communicate. That it is a lot of work but also rewarding. It is like finding a present after you are done with everything. I understand scientific terms and approaches well. I learned there are many types of science…I want to know more about water. Where does it come from? What are the cycles of water? Are there cycles? There are so many questions that arose for me over this one topic. There are so many more ideas and topics now that I’m curious about. I am able to comprehend scientific vocabulary, what it means to prove an idea. My ability to hold 20

a conversation about science — I never thought I would be able to do that. I think I can see more clearly what a science teacher wants and desires.”

Factors That May Account for Increased Motivation & Engagement The factors that are believed most account for the high level student interest, motivation, engagement, and learning are: • • • •

•

Experiential learning (hands-on activities) Student realization that this is a real scientific research investigation Student perception that they are providing a benefit to local people Students have the authority to make decisions in their work, the more the better, but they must be prepared and have the ability to make good decisions Students work in pairs/groups but both group and individual accountability is enforced

The data are consistent with the conclusion that students responded positively to the challenge of taking responsibility for doing real scientific research accurately and conscientiously so that they could provide a benefit to their local community; in other words, they responded positively to a civic engagement challenge. The students realized that the work they were doing had real meaning and real value to others and those others were in their local community, including government officials, but also ordinary community members.

Additional Learning Outcomes In addition to the learning outcomes listed above, other learning outcomes that were achieved include: • • •

How to recognize the needs of others in the local community Being able to apply the knowledge, methods, and understandings of academic disciplines to meet those needs Realizing the personal satisfaction of doing so

These are also very important learning outcomes for higher education. After all, the most successful businesses are those that are able to recognize the wants and needs of their customers, find the best ways to meet those needs, and enjoy the success of doing so. For instance, those companies that provide the best service to their customers and best meet their customers’ expectations are more likely to garner a larger share of the market and realize business success. The most successful governments are those that are able to recognize the needs of their citizens, find the best ways to meet those needs, and celebrate the success of doing so. Indeed, politicians who best recognize the desires and needs of their constituents and find the best ways to meet those needs are more likely (at least in 21

principle) to be re-elected and to help to advance the welfare of their communities. The most successful organizations, agencies, and churches are those that best recognize the needs of their members and find good ways to meet those needs and share the success in doing so. For instance, community agencies such as county health departments, schools, and parks systems are more likely to be supported by voters, if voters perceive them as better meeting their needs and desires. And the most successful families are those whose members recognize each other’s needs and find the best ways to work together to meet those needs, and cherish the success of doing so. Thus, achieving these outcomes could help to foster the success of our graduates after they leave our institutions in multiple ways, if they realize how to transfer these understandings, abilities, and dispositions to other aspects of their lives.

Challenges & Possibilities How can this be replicated? One needs to: 1) Find a research question and investigation that: a. b.

c.

addresses a local issue or problem that directly affects people in the community and; can be investigated using scientifically valid and accurate techniques that students are capable of learning to use reliably and well within four or five weeks; and involves chemistry and science concepts that represent good learning goals for the students in the course.

2) If necessary, establish a partnership with one or more local agencies, organizations, or institutions. 3) Acquire materials, supplies and instrumentation needed for the investigation. 4) Learn the risks involved in navigating and negotiating the community landscape and ensure student safety, especially if field work is involved. 5) Find the time to develop and implement the plans and obtain all of the resources needed for the course. Clearly this is not trivial. Finding a suitable research question is often the first formidable barrier. But perhaps what is most needed is a change in mindset. Most, if not nearly all of the research conducted in universities is designed for training graduate students and postdoctoral fellows or perhaps the occasional advanced undergraduate student. Thus, it is designed to use state-of-the-art techniques and instrumentation to ensure that students are well prepared for their future careers in high-powered science. However, there are many research questions that can be addressed with much simpler, yet scientifically rigorous and valid methods and measurements. The explosion in citizen science research 22

projects that has occurred over the last ten years is testament to that. Indeed, it may require thinking a bit differently about what is a suitable research topic and being somewhat creative about selection of possibilities. Many possibilities initially conceived will likely need to be rejected because they do not meet the two criteria listed above. Considerable thought and ingenuity may be needed to find worthwhile opportunities. It is also important that from the very first day of the course, students fully understand and appreciate why the course is being taught so much differently than other courses. The instructor should explain to students what the course involves, impress students with the importance of the responsibility that they have for their role in the research, how that role cannot be filled by anyone else, and therefore why it is so important for them to learn fully and learn well everything that is needed for them to conduct the research accurately, reliably, and consistently. They should understand that this is being done because there is evidence that it will lead to better and deeper learning of the practice of chemistry, in particular, and science, in general, in ways that should be more useful for them, throughout the rest of their lives. They should understand that that these changes are being made because it is believed they will provide real benefits for them, make the course more enjoyable for them but also more effective in terms of their achievement of a broader set of learning outcomes that will serve them better in the future. An important consideration are the number of students who can effectively participate in a course with this type of structure and practice. The course sections taught by this author had enrollments of 22-28 students and students were organized in teams of pairs or trios. With this number of students the instructor can interact frequently with individual student teams or even individual students. But the instructional strategies and practices are not complex and the knowledge needed to guide students is not highly sophisticated. Thus it is conceivable that competent graduate teaching assistants could be prepared to provide support to students under the guidance of an experienced and capable faculty instructor. The more limiting consideration is likely to be availability of laboratory facilities. This type of course is best taught almost entirely within a laboratory setting. For a three credit-hour course, this might require six contact hours per week which is double the typical weekly laboratory time. That may limit the number of students who can be accommodated in this type of course in some institutions.

Is the Effort Justified? Is it worth the effort? Note that such a course is able to promote student mastery of learning outcomes that are increasingly recognized as important skills for members of our democratic society. Students learn the true nature of scientific discovery and scientific research, including the care and effort that must be spent to obtain scientifically valid evidence. They also are able to experience and appreciate the value of that evidence for addressing important issues such as human health and environmental contamination. Students experience an example of doing real research which is likely to increase their appreciation for science and their future support of it. They may also acquire a deeper appreciation for 23

the value of scientific knowledge and evidence in decision making. Many of these outcomes are difficult, if not impossible to achieve in a traditional science course, not only because they lack the learning experiences that address such outcomes, but also because it is so difficult to muster the student motivation and commitment needed to master such outcomes. There is another potential benefit of courses like this: it has been found that students who participate in service learning are more likely to contribute to their community in the future (24–29). Increased community engagement has multiple benefits for communities and can lead to greater community prosperity and satisfaction (30). Also, note that, at least in principle, teaching a course like this could enable a faculty member to simultaneously serve all three aspects of their role: research, teaching, and service. Given clever design of research investigations, the results should be publishable in peer reviewed scientific journals. And this certainly represents teaching that, at least in some circles, would be rated quite highly although some faculty steeped in traditional pedagogy sometimes struggle to recognize the benefits of these strategies. And this also can be claimed as service to the community, thus “killing three birds, with one stone.” It should not be overlooked that students conducting research that can benefit the local community may foster a greater appreciation of the university.

The Students’ Words The most valid and useful evidence regarding the effectiveness of this mode of teaching and learning are statements that students wrote about their perceptions of the course. The final assignment of the course required students to respond to a set of questions. That assignment is provided here, followed by some of the comments that students wrote for this assignment. These comments are distinctly different from comments made about prior versions of the course that did not involve students testing water samples from local households. Readers are invited to compare these comments to comments students make about typical general education chemistry courses. These comments are truly representative. They were selected from more than 80 comments that are very much like these and those 80 represent only some of the favorable comments about this course and mode of instruction. About 5% of the students reported that this was not their favorite mode of science instruction but even those students indicated that they enjoyed the course. More than 95% of the students mentioned in at least one of their responses that they enjoyed or appreciated the opportunity to learn while doing something that provided a real benefit to others. The instructor did not know how students would respond to this type of learning experience when he first tried it, and in particular, the responsibility to work carefully, diligently, and repetitively to collect scientifically valid data that would benefit local residents. It was striking how virtually every student during the seven semesters this version of the course was offered, responded positively. A complete list of all of the students’ comments is available upon request.

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The Assignment: RESC 220 Final Reflection This reflection is part of the final exam for this course. However, there are no right or wrong answers. You will not receive a letter grade, but instead a +, x or – depending on how thorough and thoughtful your responses are. Please think carefully about each of the following questions and answer each question as thoroughly and honestly as you can. You should write at least a couple sentences for each numbered item. Be sure to number your responses so that it is clear to which questions you are responding. You have about 2 hours to complete this reflection. To write this reflection you can go to the computer lab, your room or some other location, but you must submit it to me as an attachment via email by 3:15pm TODAY (Dec. 10)! You can download this document from the Course Documents section for our course on Blackboard. 1.

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How would you describe your attitude towards science? What do you enjoy most about science? What do you enjoy least? Do you plan to major in a field of science or pursue a career that involves science? If so, which fields of science will be involved and what do you plan to do? What would you like to learn about science? How likely do you think it is that you will learn more about science after you finish your required science courses in college? Are you likely to read science articles in the news? Will you use science in making important personal decisions about issues related to health, the environment, or other matters that involve science? Why or why not? How capable do you consider yourself to be in using science to help make these personal decisions? Do you consider science important for the welfare of our society? Why or why not? What does a scientist do? How would you describe your ability to function as a scientist? Do you consider yourself to be incapable, moderately capable, or highly capable? In which aspects of science are you most confident and capable and in which are you weakest? Has your ability to function as a scientist changed over the course of this semester? If so, in what way? What is science; what are its most important features and characteristics? What makes a project, investigation, activity, or conclusion scientific? Why do you think scientists value these features and characteristics of science? How can you determine if a report, conclusion, or recommendation is based on valid science and is considered reliable and correct by the majority of scientists who are considered experts on that topic? This course is taught differently than most other science courses at this University. What did you like most about this science course? What did you like least about it? Do you think this method of instruction is effective? Were you able to learn science this way? Did you enjoy learning science this way? 25

10. Would you like to take other courses like this one that give you a chance to learn by doing things that can benefit people outside the university, including non-science courses? If so, why do you find this appealing? If not, what don’t you like about it? 11. What do you think of other types of science courses that involve primarily lecture and a standard textbook? What do you like about them, what do you not like about them? How do they compare to a course like this (RESC 220 Journeys Into Science)? 12. Thinking about what you did in this course this semester, what advice would you give new students taking this course next year? 13. What have you learned that you can use to be more successful in courses in the future? 14. What advice would you give me, the instructor, for teaching the course next year? 15. What are you most likely to remember about this course ten years from now?

The Responses Virtually every student reflection, for those terms in which the course was entirely focused on the research project, reported a positive attitude about the course. Here are a number of quotes from the reflections that students wrote in response to the questions listed above. Selected Quotes from Student Responses My understanding of science has changed greatly. I look at it with more respect now due to all the testing that we did. My ability in science has gotten better…I am no longer scared to try new testing procedures out or even test things other than water. When I learn any science after this class I will now have a more scientific view about it…I will know how to tell if a report is scientific or not. The only experiences I had with science before this course were common high school classes. I found science to mean boring, mindless, uncreative work that was a waste of my time. I really wanted to stay away from science, but this course description made it sound more like something I would enjoy…Now I understand that scientific work can be very creative and very useful. Now that the class is over I feel that I have learned more about science than I ever did in all my high school courses combined. Thinking back to the first day of science I was nervous and scared because I have never done well in science…On the first day of this course my scientific ability was not good…My understanding of science has broadened a lot. This class was like a key opening up a new, understandable world of science. I would for sure love to take another course like this one. I think knowing that it could benefit others was what gave us the drive to actually do the most that we could in such a small amount of time. I find it appealing because its not just answering some random questions out of a text book about something I’ll never 26

have to deal with in my life again. It was one of those things where you know you will need it later in life and it actually will benefit others so if you have to take a class, why not take one for the team and for the good of other people. It was also very interesting and about something I never would have known if I hadn’t taken the class. I like science when it is used to help ensure the safety of people. I enjoyed the work we did this past semester to help the residents of Wood County. I would most like to do science that helps people. I loved the science course. I liked how it was hands on and that we were helping people in the process. It wasn’t like any other science class I have taken, we were actually helping the community out and learning the material in the process...I think this method of instruction was very effective. I learned a lot more in this class then I have in any other science class I have taken. I was able to learn science this way and it was very enjoyable. My attitude about science has definitely changed since the beginning of this class and the semester. I think that since I started, at a very low understanding and tolerance for science, my attitude has increased toward the subject greatly. I can listen to some scientific fact now and listen and take it in because I actually care, before I wouldn’t have even listened. I never really had any science experience that was very hands-on and that’s the sort of science that interested me the most. In this class when we got to start actually working on things, then my interest sparked times ten. My understanding of science has changed since the beginning of this semester because I am now willing to open my mind to it. I allow myself to listen and take things in that I normally would have disregarded without a second thought. I am more able to comprehend scientific information now because of the techniques that I was taught in this class on how to read and sift through scientific information and research. My ability to do science has changed a whole lot too. I now have confidence in my ability. Before, I was afraid that I could mess something up and ruin an experiment, but now I’ve done it so much that I have a great deal of confidence. The way in which I have learned to use science and to learn more about science is something that I will always appreciate. The other day, a friend of mine and I were driving and one of the first things we saw while we were driving through a town was their water plant. We immediately got curious about their system and had a discussion about it. A year ago, that would have never happened. It was really a trip to know that I was doing actual research instead of just repeating set lab experiments. I think the thing that I am most likely to remember about this course in ten years is that for a short while, I was actually a scientist doing real research. It is a novel idea to me to think that some day what I may have helped do could someday help improve someone’s life. I hated science before I came here, primarily because it wasn’t ever really hands on. It was so boring to just read out of the text book. I mean science is very interesting but not when you can’t be hands on or actually see what they are talking about. Other classes don’t even compare to this class where you actually have to experiment and go through a long process and actually understand what you are doing. The other thing is that we actually had a purpose and goal in this class, not just to find out random facts and never apply them to our lives. 27

I liked this science course for one of two reasons. I liked that we were able to conduct the experiments ourselves because hands on things always help me understand things better. I also liked that the tests we were conducting throughout the entire semester went towards an actual problem in the community. It was neat knowing that all of our hard work was going towards a real life problem and that our results were not simulated, but actually used. I was excited to be in a class with a set goal that would influence the outside community…I had no scientific ability…I enjoy science a great deal now, more than before. This class really has made an impression on me throughout the course…This class has helped me look at things more objectively and it has made me realize that I should be aware of scientific breakthroughs because they may have an impact on my life…I love the hands on interaction with science. Yes, I would to take more course that are related to this type of learning because it makes you feel like you’re part of changing the world, and in reality, you really are! I would like to take courses like this because it gives me a feeling of relative power. I am not a power hungry person or anything; I just believe that it’s amazing how people are trusting college students with their water. It makes me feel like an adult, which is important, because whether I like it or not, I am an adult and this wake up call was much accepted and appreciated. The only part I don’t like about it is that I feel an enormous amount of pressure on me. While this may bring a chuckle to the readers of this response, I don’t want to make a mistake and mislead people. I’m not sure if I’m ready for this kind of pressure. However, there is no other way to make me ready than by this method. I must get out and face the world as a grown up. My favorite part of the way this science course was constructed is how what I learned about water contamination I actually got to put to use. I liked how I learned how to put a circuit together, perform solid and liquid phase extraction, and how to test water for crude oil contamination. All of those things that I learned actually felt useful. In other courses I continuously learn things that will never be used. I feel like it just wastes time. … I found myself looking forward to another day, especially once I got started on testing real water samples. Ten years from now, I will not remember the exact steps taken to test for crude oil contamination in water, or how to calibrate the fluorimeter, however I will remember how hard work can get you very far. At the beginning of the course, I never imagined that I would become so knowledgeable in telling if water was contamination. I will remember information about the oil wells in Wood County. This course made me feel like I really accomplished something great.

Conclusion The students words communicate much better than I can, the impact that this course had on their learning, on their beliefs about and attitudes towards science, and on their appreciation and recognition of the personal satisfaction of doing something that benefits others. While this is evidence from a single faculty member’s experience, it seems to indicate that a chemistry course can be 28

taught in such a way that students learn more science, understand it better, and enjoy it more, at the same time that they are becoming more civically engaged and committed to helping others, even if they do not have inherent interest in this subject matter. It suggests that we can increase student motivation, their commitment of effort to learning, and their success in learning, by appealing to their altruism. It also suggests that students acquire a much deeper and better sense of the true nature of scientific inquiry from this mode of learning. They come to recognize that valid scientific conclusions require care, diligence, effort, and accuracy, but that the results are worth the effort. They also come to appreciate the role and value that science can provide for our welfare. These would seem to be very valuable learning outcomes in addition to the science concepts and facts that students learn, perhaps even more valuable. There are challenges to designing and teaching courses in this mode. But maybe the value of those outcomes is greater than the effort needed to meet those challenges.

Acknowledgments The work reported in this article and other directly and indirectly related work has been supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers DRL 0850026, 0966189, 1238136, 1432921, and 1525623 for which we are most grateful. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or any other supporters of this work. Support is also gratefully acknowledged from the Ohio Department of Higher Education Choose Ohio First award numbers 09-25, 16-03, 16-09, and from the Wood County Commissioners. The author is also especially thankful for the support and assistance of Ms. Mary Dennis, Mr. Brad Espen, and Mr. Paul Hagan of the Wood County Health District. They each played a critical role in the development and execution of the research project that served as the core activity of the most successful version of the course that is the subject of this chapter.

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18. deProphetis Driscoll, W.; Gelabert, M.; Richardson, N. Efficacy of Using Learning Communities To Improve Core Chemistry Education and Increase Student Interest and Retention in Chemistry. J. Chem. Educ. 2010, 87, 49–53. 19. Esson, J. M.; Stevens-Truss, R.; Thomas, A. Service-Learning in Introductory Chemistry: Supplementing Chemistry Curriculum in Elementary Schools. J. Chem. Educ. 2005, 82, 1168. 20. Association of American Colleges and Universities. College learning for the new global century: A report from the National Leadership Council for Liberal Education and America’s Promise; Washington, DC, 2007. 21. Crouch, C. H.; Mazur, E. Peer Instruction: Ten Years of Experience and Results. Am. J. Phys. 2001, 69, 970–977. 22. MacGregor, J. Assessment in and of Collaborative Learning; Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education: Olympia, WA, 1995. 23. Johnson, D. W.; Johnson, R. T. Learning Together and Alone: Cooperation, Competition, and Individualization; Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1994. 24. Astin, A. W.; Vogelgesang, L. J.; Ikeda, E. K.; Yee, J. A. How Service Learning Affects Students; Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies: Los Angeles, CA, 2000. 25. Waldstein, F. A.; Reiher, T. C. Service-Learning and Students’ Personal and Civic Development. J. Experiential Educ. 2001, 24, 7–13. 26. Middlecamp, C. H.; Jordan, T.; Shachter, A. M.; Kashmanian Oates, K.; Lottridge, S. Chemistry, Society, and Civic Engagement (Part 1): The SENCER Project. J. Chem. Educ. 2006, 83, 1301. 27. Saltmarsh, J. The Civic Promise of Service Learning. Liberal Educ. 2005, 91, 50–55. 28. Sax, L. J.; Astin, A. W. The Benefits of Service: Evidence from Undergraduates. Educ. Record 1997, 78, 25–32. 29. Turner, L. Service Learning and Student Achievement. Educ. Horizons 2003, 81, 188–9. 30. Rogers, B.; Robinson, E. The Benefits of Community Engagement: A Review of the Evidence; The Active Citizenship Centre: London, U.K., 2004.

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Chapter 2

Value of Using STEM Professionals in the K-12 Classroom: Connecting Chemistry to the Real World Robert Thomas,*,1 Mary Baker,2 Cathy Cross,2 and Michael Miehl2 1AAAS

STEM Volunteer Program, 1200 New York Avenue, Washington, DC 20005, United States 2Sherwood High School, 300 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Sandy Spring, Maryland 20860, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) runs a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) volunteer program that partners scientists with public school teachers in the Washington, DC area to bring the real world of science into the classroom. One of these partnerships is at Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring in Montgomery County, MD, where a retired analytical chemist volunteers one day a week for the entire school year, working with three chemistry teachers to help students relate what they are studying to the world around them. Over the past 9 years the volunteer and teachers have explored different strategies to increase student engagement including classroom presentations on interesting science-related topics that might appear in the media, carrying out visual hands-on demos and organizing field trips to local science-related facilities. This paper not only describes the program, and how it started, but also highlights the partnership between the volunteer and the teachers. In particular, it focuses on how the collaboration has improved the educational experience of the students by allowing them to make connections between the classroom and the real world. The volunteer and the teachers use their combined skills to motivate and engage the students to help them better understand they all have roles to play in the future of this planet.

© 2018 American Chemical Society

Introduction K-12 STEM education has lagged in the United States compared to other countries. A recent study in 2015 focused on the understanding of science, math and reading demonstrated by 15-year olds in 70 countries (1). The country ranking of the US was 25th in science and 38th for math. Improvement of our K-12 STEM education must therefore become a high priority if we are to maintain our leading industrial and technological position in the world. Clearly, the falling student standards in the US described in this study are cause for concern. The Obama administration was also keenly aware of this fact. One of the suggestions of the 2014 PCAST (President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology) report entitled Prepare and Inspire: K-12 Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for America’s Future was that: “Every middle and high school should partner with STEM professionals to put the students in contact with real-world scientists and engineers to provide them with insights into the outside world (2).” In addition, the Next Generation Science Standards, a joint project by the National Research Council and the Achieve Group (and supported by 26 states), has seen a real need to change the way science is being taught (3). One of the main focus areas of the report, which was published in 2013, stated that “K–12 Science Education Should Reflect the Real World Interconnections in Science.” This is a direct quote and captures perfectly and validates that STEM volunteer program like this are making a real difference in the way students are learning.

AAAS STEM Volunteer Program One of the most cost-effective approaches to improve science learning is to involve experienced STEM professionals in the classroom on a volunteer basis. They can significantly enhance the learning experience and provide motivation for students to pursue technical and scientific careers. These volunteer programs are proving that someone who has spent their entire professional life working in a particular STEM-related field can make a significant impact on demonstrating to students that these are interesting and compelling subjects to learn. One such program is the AAAS STEM Volunteer Program, which places retired and currently-working scientists, engineers and mathematicians into public elementary, middle and high schools in the Washington, DC area with the aim of helping teachers improve the science education of all students (4). This is achieved by asking each volunteer to commit to an entire school year, dedicating a few hours of their time a week. In most cases, this works out to be about one day a week for retirees or a few hours every 2-3 weeks, for those who are still working.

Science Editorial The program has been in existence since 2004, when a small group of concerned STEM professionals and AAAS members got together to respond to an editorial in Science magazine (shown in Figure 1) about the lack of scientific knowledge amongst the general public (5). They decided to do something about 34

it and went to the superintendent of their local school district in Montgomery County, MD and suggested a pilot program of volunteering their time to support STEM teachers who were interested in bringing the real world of STEM into the classroom. Fourteen years later the program has over 200 retired and working STEM professionals bringing the real world of science and engineering to over 20,000 students every week of the school year in the Washington, DC area The program in Montgomery County, MD, is led by Rob Thomas, a retired analytical chemist, who coordinates STEM-related activities of almost 100 volunteers in elementary, middle and high school classrooms in the Montgomery County Public School system (MCPS).

Figure 1. An editorial in Science Magazine was the main incentive to start the AAAS STEM Volunteer Program. (Courtesy of the AAAS)

Classroom Activities Besides caring passionately about giving back to their local communities, one thing is common with all the volunteers and that is they want to elevate the level and quality of STEM education in the US, by bringing the real world of STEM into the classroom. Their activities are developed jointly with their teachers and are dependent on what the respective teacher wants, combined with the expertise and comfort level they bring to the classroom. Some of the activities being carried out by the volunteers include: •

Working with individuals or teams of students to encourage questions about the topic 35

• • • • • • • •

Offering insights to an aspect of a specific field of STEM Relating STEM topics to the real world experiences of the students. Being a resource for the teacher and for students Interacting with students and offering advice on experiments, investigations and fundamental principles Complementing the teacher’s lectures and adding a practical perspective Working with teachers to enhance/improve the course content Making presentations based on the volunteers’ STEM expertise, when the opportunity presents itself Helping teachers design experimental challenges, that demonstrate scientific and engineering principles

Partnership with Sherwood High School Besides running the STEM volunteer program in Montgomery County, Rob also volunteers at Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring, MD (6) where he supports three chemistry teachers by volunteering one day a week and talking about the real-world applications of chemistry as related to the curriculum. Figure 2 shows Rob taking to a group of students at Sherwood High School, while Figure 3 is a photograph of the three chemistry teachers he supports and co-authors of this article, Dr. Mary Baker, Dr. Cathy Cross and Michael Miehl.

Figure 2. Rob Thomas speaking to a group of students at Sherwood HS

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Figure 3. (L to R) Mary Baker, Michael Miehl, and Cathy Cross - chemistry teachers at Sherwood High School Over the years, they’ve expanded the program to also discuss events in the media that have chemistry “flavor”, such as the CSI crime series, drug testing, fracking for natural gas, toxic effects of Pb in drinking water, Fukushima nuclear disaster, conflict minerals in the Congo, and many more interesting and meaningful topics. They have discussion periods during many of the classes to get the students feedback and also to see if they’ve been paying attention (their smartphone headphones are often a give-away!). They have also organized field trips to the local water authority lab where they experienced science being applied to something they could relate to – clean drinking water. Other trips included the Montgomery County Crime Lab to learn all about drug testing; and to the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) Center for Neutron Research, which provides neutron measurement capabilities to the U.S. research community. And every two years, they attend the USA Science and Engineering Festival which is held every other year in Washington, DC. Rob also acquired an atomic absorption instrument - donated from a local lab that was closing down, so they have plans to carry out some basic trace metal studies on drinking, river and pond water samples. There is no question it has definitely put a spark into the chemistry classes. The teachers see the benefits and the students not only realize that chemistry was so much a part of everyday life…. but it was also so much fun to learn!

Do the Students Learn Anything? But are the students getting anything out of these talks, or are they just viewed as a diversion from the regular classroom activities and are not really learning anything. For that reason, a few years into the program, the teachers implemented an evaluation process, where they asked the students a variety of simple questions to see if they were paying attention. Initially, they didn’t really know if this 37

would work because many of students didn’t have a deep understanding of the subject matter. However, over the next few years they modified, fine-tuned and optimized the questionnaire to a point where they are now convinced that enough of the students are actually listening and getting something really valuable from the talks….and most important, they are learning that the chemistry they are learning in the curriculum, does have relevance to the real world they are living in. We felt it was important for the teachers to relay their own thoughts on the topic of student engagement, so the next section represents a consensus of their views and experiences.

Teacher Experiences On the surface, having a volunteer come to speak to classes once a week might seem like a welcome break for the teachers. After all, it’s a day with no lessons to plan, and one might expect that the teachers could get some grading or lab prep done during the lectures. In reality, of course, it’s not that simple - it requires teacher time, effort, and creativity to make a visiting speaker program effective. We found that working with a volunteer required just a much effort as teaching the class ourselves: planning relevant topics, modifying talks to accommodate special needs, and giving feedback on written work. The primary problem was carving out that much class time without reducing the topics taught or the amount of depth with which they were covered. And, we asked ourselves, if we could carve out that time, should we use it for the guest speaker or for additional instruction? If we could cover 5 days of learning in just 4 days, then why didn’t we teach at that pace 5 days a week and cover more material in the course? We knew we would quickly burn out our students if we maintained the faster pace all of the time. However, we hoped that - similar to high intensity interval training for physical fitness - we could work at a slightly higher pace four days a week as long as we had a break on the fifth day. This turned out to be particularly effective when the speaker came on Friday, as it generally meant that students had no new assignments over the weekend. If they were behind on the previous week’s work, they could more easily get caught up by Monday. Another challenge was how to keep the learning environment active. Many students were instantly engaged by the topics, the speaker’s Welsh accent, and his stories. Others, however, saw it as a time to do homework for another class or catch a quick snooze. We wanted to engage all the students yet keep a friendly, fun, low-stress atmosphere, and to hold the disengaged students accountable without decreasing the enjoyment of the others. After experimenting with different types of written student feedback, we settled on a guided notes sheet that helped point out the more important concepts and information in the lecture. We work closely with Rob to tailor his talks to our students’ strengths. For example we suggest specific questions and supplement with interactive challenges to the talks to increase student engagement. Figures 4 and 5 show a slide from one of the talks, together with the student’s guided notes/questions on the topic used for assessment purposes. 38

Figure 4. A slide from one of Rob’s talks about the Curiosity rover on Mars. (All images courtesy of NASA) We found that circulating among the students during the lectures also increased engagement. Obviously, our proximity prompted distracted students to stay on task, and we were able to help anxious students who worried about missed questions. We also found we could more easily encourage interactions with the speaker when we were in the audience with the students. Rob often stops to ask questions, and gives sincere praise for answers (and attempts) but students are initially reluctant to even attempt. While circulating, we can identify the ones that are timidly saying the answer to themselves and then cue Rob to call on them. We also can provide hints, such as signing element symbols, or asking related leading questions. By the end of the talk, most of the students are willing to call out answers, winning rewarding smiles and a “well done!” from Rob.

Getting Involved There are over 1 million retired scientists and engineers in the US over the age of 60, who have at least a Bachelor’s degree and have worked in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medicine and computing. There are only a few hundred who are actively involved in these programs, so we have barely tapped into that huge pool of potential volunteers. There is no question that volunteer program like the one described in this article can make a huge impact to help our children find a passion for science, technology, engineering and math (yes even math!). It is therefore absolutely critical that improvement of our K-12 STEM educational system must become a high priority to move the US up the global ladder in math and science. 39

Figure 5. Students guided notes/questions used for assessment of subject knowledge. (Graphic courtesy of NASA)

In the current state of public discourse, it is increasingly important for students to understand all sides of critical issues, as they are the voters and policy makers of the next generation. So if you are at a stage in your life or career where you can spare the time, we strongly encourage you to get involved. This program is based in the Washington, DC area, but there are many other similar STEM volunteer organizations around the country. If you do, your expertise and experience will bring enormous benefits to the school classrooms where you live….. Just like it did in the DC region fourteen years ago (7). And if that isn’t enough of an incentive, just remember that major policies could be enacted in the next 3-4 years, with complete and utter disregard of scientific facts, which could potentially jeopardize our future. This is your opportunity to influence and impact the thinking of future generations of students who will be making those critical decisions (8).

40

Final Thoughts As scientists, we continually have to remind the general public (and voters) who don’t have a good understanding of complex scientific issues that critical decisions about our future cannot be made in a vacuum and a basic grasp of scientific facts are critical to come to the right conclusions. Recent events have warned us that there are too many scientifically-ignorant people out there, sometimes even our own elected representatives (Congress included!), to keep that information to ourselves. The public debates on topics such as evolution, climate change, and safety of vaccines are living proof that “alternative facts” and “fake news” are now a part of our everyday lives…..where’s the Loch Ness monster when you need him (9)!

References 1.

2.

3. 4.

5. 6. 7.

8. 9.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, 2015. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisa-2015-results-in-focus.pdf (accessed April 12, 2018). Prepare and Inspire:K-12 Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) for America’s Future: Report to the President, September 2012. http://stelar.edc.org/publications/prepare-and-inspire-k-12-educationscience-technology-engineering-and-math-stem (accessed April 12, 2018). Next Generation Science Standards: For States, by States, April 2013. http:// www.nextgenscience.org/ (accessed April 12, 2018). AAAS STEM Volunteer Program, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC. www.stemvolunteers.org (accessed April 12, 2018). Leshner, A. Public Engagement with Science. Science Magazine 2003, 299, 977; http://www.sciencemag.org/content/299/5609/977.full.pdf. Sherwood High School Website. http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/ schools/sherwoodhs/ (accessed April 12, 2018). St. George, D. Genetics, evolution, the latest scary virus. These volunteers bring real-life science to the classroom. Washington Post, August 19, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/ genetics-evolution-the-latest-scary-virus-these-volunteers-bring-reallife-science-to-the-classroom/2016/08/19/e61a8bbe-5f09-11e6-af8e54aa2e849447_story.html?utm_term=.dd0c51e90b16 (accessed April 12, 2018). Alberts, B. Science for Life. Science Magazine 2017, 355 (6332), 1353; https://d2ufo47lrtsv5s.cloudfront.net/content/355/6332/1353.full. How American fundamentalist schools are using Nessie to disprove evolution. Glasgow Herald, June 24, 2012. http://www.heraldscotland.com/ news/education/how-american-fundamentalist-schools-are-using-nessie-todisprove-evolution.17918511 (accessed April 12, 2018). 41

Chapter 3

Introduction to Environmental Issues as a Chemistry for Non-Science Majors Course Mary E. Railing* Department of Chemistry, Wheeling Jesuit University, Wheeling, West Virginia 26003, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

The course was designed around six global ecological challenges in order to engage the interest of non-science majors and to prepare them to become environmentally responsible citizens. Each topic began with a real, current case study. After the chemistry and environmental science necessary to understand the topic was introduced, students participated in a project, class activity or laboratory activity. To help students think critically about human-environmental interactions and sustainability, and to make decisions based on a broader world view of the importance of protecting the earth and all on it, each topic was also viewed from economic, ethical and spiritual lenses. The integration of these views was tied to their service learning project – development of a vertical hydroponic system for a local food pantry. Topics for the course included: food, biodiversity, natural resources, energy, water, and global climate change.

Introduction Introduction to Environmental Issues was designed with an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to understanding human impact on the natural world and current environmental problems (1). The course examined six major global environmental challenges: food quality and availability, declining biodiversity, natural resource extraction, shift to renewable energy, water quality and availability, and global climate change (2). Information from various science © 2018 American Chemical Society

disciplines was introduced as needed for each topic. In order to help students think critically about human-environment interactions and sustainability, and to integrate what they have learned in diverse settings, each topic was also viewed from economic, ethical and spiritual lenses (3). It was hoped that the added dimension of ethical and spiritual perspectives along with a service learning project would lead to an increase in students’ affective qualities and ultimately to action. The main goal of the course was to provide students with a good balance of scientific knowledge and ethical understanding about environmental issues, the desire to make personal changes, and to make decisions based on a broader world view of the importance of protecting the earth and all upon it. The need for universities to education all students about environmental issues has never been more urgent. Environmental issues play a major role in the health and economics of those who live in Appalachia. Wheeling Jesuit University (WJU), a small, private university located in the northern panhandle of West Virginia, is intensely affected by multiple environmental problems. A primary aspect of WJU’s mission is to provide educational opportunities for Appalachian families. The student body is primarily from West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, with many students being the first generation in their families to attend college. Families of many students are tied in some way to extractive industries. There is a common belief that these are necessary jobs and that any criticism about the extractive process being harmful is an attack on one’s livelihood. Therefore, the incorporation of an economic perspective is essential to be able to dialog with community members.

Course Design In order to demonstrate to students their ability to find and understand scientific knowledge even after graduation, online material was used exclusively. The primary source was the Healing Earth e-textbook (http:// healingearth.ifep.net/). Healing Earth was developed by Loyola University of Chicago and an international group of educators in order “to address the major environmental concerns of our time through an educational resource and develop collaboration among teachers and learning in secondary school, university, and adult education contexts.” Each chapter in Healing Earth contains scientific knowledge relevant to the topic, ethical analysis, spiritual reflection, and a call to action. Knowledge from various scientific disciplines was blended to present a seamless scientific view, with additional scientific content included at times. While all of the scientific disciplines were included to some extent, overall there was more focus on chemistry subject material in the course. For some topics, students analyzed additional information from a variety of sources, including news sources, journals, and NASA sources. Care was taken to address various points of view. The foundation of the course is that it is the responsibility of citizens to understand why protecting the environment is important and to be knowledgeable about the implications of not protecting the environment. Meaningful dialog 44

benefits from understanding different points of view including the costs and benefits to individuals as well as global effects. Therefore, discussions included how personal lifestyle choices and public policies affect the wellbeing of the natural world and the human beings who depend on it. Rather than the more traditional lecture model, this course utilized student-centered, active engagement to interest and empowers students (4). The combination of individual intellectual exploration and collaboration with others will be accomplished by combining the best features from case study, problem-based learning (PBL) (5), flipped-classroom (6) and service-learning methods (7). Each chapter in Healing Earth begins with a real case study to engage students’ interest. In order to ensure students completed the assigned readings prior to class meetings, an online assessment format was selected. (McGraw-Hill Connect) (8). Additional questions were developed to supplement those available from McGraw-Hill. The online homework questions included a few recall of facts or concepts. These were followed with several questions addressing contextual comprehension. After a class discussion to answer questions and ensure students understood the basic scientific background, students engaged in a variety of activities. In some cases additional information was presented for students to analyze in group work. In class activities included discussions of news or journal articles and debates on ethical and economic challenges with select topics. Four laboratory activities were included to demonstrate the experimental nature of science and allow further exploration of these topics. I intentionally did not create special labs, as I wanted students to experience, “real” labs - although necessarily shortened. After three of the chapters, students had an additional assignment which required that they defend or evaluate an ethical position related to a controversial topic. The class participated in a group service learning project – development of a vertical hydroponic system for a local food pantry. Two guest speakers provided additional perspectives designed to deepen the students understanding of the complexity of the different issues. At the beginning of the semester, Mike Woods, S.J. introduced the class to food, spirituality, and sustainability. Towards the end of the semester, Lea Krivchenia, Assistant Country Director GOAL Syria, spoke to the class, via skype, about the effects of climate change on the conflict in the Middle East.

Course objectives stated in the syllabus: By the end of the semester, students should be able to: Locate and understand scientific knowledge related to environmental issues Describe the value and limitations of science in understanding environmental issues Discuss ethical challenges and possible responses to environmental issues Discuss how personal lifestyle choices and public policies affect the wellbeing of the natural world Clarify your personal values relative to environmental justice issues

45

Course Topics • •

• • • •

Food, including intensive agriculture, fertilizers, organic food, commercial animal production Biodiversity, including ecosystem services provided by biodiversity, the relationship between biodiversity and evolution, major biomes and aquatic ecosystems, current threats to biodiversity Natural resources, including minerals and elements, geology of natural resources, natural resource extraction Energy, including energy forms and processes, laws of thermodynamics, photosynthesis, renewable and nonrenewable energy Water, including structure and properties of water, hydrologic cycle, sources and uses of water Global climate change, including climate, weather, atmosphere, defining and detecting climate change

Specific Course Details The class met twice a week for 75 minutes. On average there were four class meetings devoted to each topic.

Food and Agriculture

During the first class meeting we discussed the idea of a scientific world view. The topics covered included the scientific method, the difference between data, results, scientific laws and theories and methods of scientific communication. Students were asked to write their first impressions about genetically modified organisms (GMOs), concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) and Organic foods. Students were then assigned one of these topics and a pro or con position for the first debate. Our 1st guest speaker joined us for the second class. Mike Woods, S.J., led a discussion on food, sustainability & spirituality. This led to the next class which met in WJU’s on-campus organic garden. After helping with harvesting vegetables and weeding, students performed simple soil test using purchased kits and discussed soil types. We ended with a taste test – tomatoes just picked from the garden and hydroponic tomatoes from the grocery store. The fourth and last class on the food topic was a debate on organic food, GMOs, and CAFO. Each pair of students had 5 minutes to present their case, after each pro & con on a topic, the students engaged in a discussion on that topic. 46

Biodiversity The beginning discussion on the effects of the loss of biodiversity in agriculture led to a more general discussion of the benefits of biodiversity and the services that are accomplished by a health ecosystem. The second class on this topic was a lab. This first lab was a shortened version of the Shannon’s Biodiversity Index lab done in the General Biology laboratory courses at WJU. Each pair of students was assigned to count the number of several plant and animal species in a defined area on campus. From this they calculated a Shannon diversity index. During the next class meeting students compared the diversities of different areas and discussed representative sampling. Since most of these students had not taken college science lab courses, we worked on writing their formal lab report together. The final class meeting on this topic was spent examining several case studies that demonstrate the negative consequences of biodiversity loss.

Natural Resources The curse of abundant resources. The introductory case study in Healing Earth for this topic highlighted the Democratic Republic of Congo. Students were able to immediately see that WV could easily have been a comparable case study – both are rich in natural resources but economically poor. This topic allowed discussion of elements and the periodic table. We focused specifically on the natural resources in WV including timber, coal, and natural gas. Class debates examined the conflict between jobs (economics) and the environment degradation from the various types of extractive industries. Spiritual and theological perspectives were incorporated with extra assigned readings from the Appalachian Pastoral Letters - This Land Is Home to Me (9) and At Home in the Web of Life (10). We were able to join a theology class for a discussion on the moral responsibility for caring for the environment. Discussions on extractive industries in this chapter led directly to the next two chapters on energy and water. In WV, coal and natural gas are the major extractive industries. Water usage and potential water pollution is an important concern with regard to the extraction and processing of both coal and natural gas.

Energy The energy chapter examined the renewable and non-renewable energy sources. In this section, more in class time was devoted to understanding the subject material which included energy forms and sources, laws of thermodynamics, energy transfer in living systems, energy conversion of devices, strengths and drawbacks of each type of energy generation. Students did a simple energy audit exercise from an Environment & Sustainability laboratory course. 47

While coal and natural gas are the primary energy sources in WV, the coal mining and processing and fracking for natural gas both contribute to significant water pollution.

Water During the water chapter, we spent only one day in the classroom. We were able to visit the local water treatment plant, and students performed two lab activities. The first water activity was from the Introduction to Ecology lab. Students utilized a LaMotte water quality kit to measure pH, nitrates, and conductivity of the stream that borders campus. We then discussed what these terms meant and what they indicated about the health of the stream. For the second lab we investigated possible metal contamination of surface waters around Wheeling, West Virginia. Specifically students examined the possible leaching of metals from old coal mines in Ohio County into streams by analyzing the water samples for iron (Fe) and Manganese (Mn) using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AA). This lab had the added benefit of demonstration the persistence of environmental damage.

Climate Change Background material for this chapter included temperature scales, how greenhouse gasses function and their natural and anthropogenic sources. During class we looked at NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration websites. In addition to discussing what the data on these sites indicates, we examined non-science websites and discussed how to evaluate the reliability of information. Our 2nd speaker, Lea Krivchenia, Assistant Country Director GOAL Syria, spoke to the class, via skype, about the effects of climate change on the Middle East and conflict. This led to the final discussion on politics and climate change.

Student Perspectives Student evaluations of the course are summarized in Table 1 below. With only eight students in the class it is impossible to generate any type of statistics from these evaluations. The course was designed for 16-18 students. Any more students would make the lab activities more challenging. All eight students responded to the end of semester course evaluations. Generally, students believed that the course objectives were met. 48

Table 1. Student Evaluations Average response

Course Objectives On a scale of 1-5, please evaluate to what extent were these course objectives met? With 1 = not met at all, 5 = sufficient for a100 level course. 1

Locate and understand scientific knowledge related to environmental issues

4.5

2

Describe the value and limitations of science in understanding environmental issues

4.5

3

Discuss ethical challenges and possible responses to environmental issues

4.5

4

Discuss how personal lifestyle choices and public policies affect the wellbeing of the natural world

5

5

Clarify your personal values relative to environmental justice issues

5

Conclusion: What Worked Well and What Did Not Work Healing Earth as the textbook delivered the integrated and interdisciplinary perspective that this course intended to provide. I felt it advantageous and necessary to provide additional scientific material. Additionally, the course could be tailored toward inclusion of more chemistry content. Necessary in that this course is intended to be a core science offering and therefore should be heavy in science content. The online homework for enforcing pre-reading and accessing students understanding of the basic science also worked very well. McGraw-Hill’s Connect was reasonably priced and flexible. Other online platforms were not investigated. The student debates improved over the semester with students becoming more comfortable speaking and I did a better job of making sure they understood their responsibilities and assigned position. The students enjoyed performing the labs. Their understanding of the results was reasonably good. Not surprisingly, expecting non-science majors to write lab reports did not work. Getting the students to understand the format and style was painful to all. In the future students will be given a guided worksheet instead of writing a lab report (11). Beginning the course with food and working in the garden made the importance of the topic immediately comprehensible. The less guided open discussions on articles or case studies was less successful than the focused debates. Students tended not to be willing to say anything that might be controversial. From students’ perspective the service learning project was successful. The project was to build a vertical hydroponic growing wall at the neighborhood food pantry. The growing wall was made up of lettuce, spinach and a variety of herbs. The idea was initially suggested by Chemistry and Environment & Sustainability upper-level students who were engaged in hydroponic research. Both the director of our Catholic Charities 49

Neighborhood center, which runs the food pantry, and staff from Grow Ohio Valley (Grow OV) were enthusiastic about this idea. Grow OV donated hydroponic channels that they were not using. These two organizations partnered with me to submit a proposal to Try this WV for funding to purchase supplies for this project. The hydroponic system was successfully built and the students enjoyed working on the project and felt “good” that they were providing a way for the Neighborhood Center’s food pantry to have fresh lettuce, spinach and herbs. However, a meaningful service learning project should also include relationship building with the community partner. Due to my inexperience with service learning design there was limited interaction with the clients at the Neighborhood Center. Additionally, it will be a challenge to identify a project each time this course is taught. Future service learning projects might include working with existing citizen scientist groups (i.e. Down Stream Alliance, Friends of Decker’s Creek).

Acknowledgments This course - Introduction to Environmental Issues: a holistic approach was developed with support from a NASA/WV Space Grant Consortium College Course Development grant and the Appalachian Institute at Wheeling Jesuit University. The mission of the Appalachian Institute is to promote research, service and advocacy for and with the people of Appalachia to build healthier, stronger, and more sustainable communities. Environmental issues play a major role in the health and economics of those who live in Appalachia. Funding for the hydroponic system was provided by Try This WV through a joint proposal with GrowOV and Catholic Charities WV (12).

References 1.

2. 3. 4.

5.

6.

Koether, M. C.; McGarey, D.; Patterson, M.; Williams, D. J. Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Education: Environmental Studies. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 934. Healing Earth Welcome. https://healingearth.ijep.net/welcome (accessed April 13, 2018). Miller, H. K. Undergraduates in a Sustainability Semester: Models of Social Change for Sustainability. J. Environ. Educ. 2016, 47, 52–67. Hibbard, L.; Sung, S.; Wells, B. Examining the Effectiveness of Semi-SelfPaced Flipped Learning Format in a College General Chemistry Sequence. J. Chem. Educ. 2016, 93, 24–30. Jannson, S.; Soderstrom, H.; Andersson, P. L.; Nording, M. L. Implementation of Problem-Based Learning in Environmental Chemistry. J. Chem. Educ. 2015, 92, 2080–2086. van Vliet, E. A.; Winnips, J. C.; Brouwer, N. Flipped-Class Pedagogy Enhances Student Metacognition and Collaborative-Learning Strategies in Higher Education but Effect Does Not Persist. CBE-Life Sci. Educ. 2015, 14, 17. 50

7.

Jensen, J. L.; Kummer, T. A.; Godoy, P. D. Improvements from a Flipped classroom May Simply Be the Fruits of Active Learning. CBE-Life Sci. Educ. 2015, 14, 5. 8. McGraw Hill Connect. http://connect.mheducation.com/connect/login/ index.htm?&BRANDING_VARIANT_KEY=en_us_default_default&node= connect_app_17_202 (accessed April 13, 2018). 9. The Catholic Bishops of Appalachia. This Land is Home to Me: A Pastoral Letter on the Poverty and Powerlessness in Appalachia; Published by the Catholic Committee of Appalachia: 1975. 10. The Catholic Bishops of Appalachia. At Home in the Web of Life: A Pastoral Message on Sustainable Communities in Appalachia Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of This Land is Home to Me; Published by the Catholic Committee of Appalachia: 1995. 11. Reviewer suggestion. 12. An article with pictures was included in the Chronicle – a magazine for the alumni and friends of Wheeling Jesuit University. http://wju.edu/alumni/ chronicle/Flip/Fall2016/Fall2016.html#p=44 (accessed April 13, 2018).

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Chapter 4

Partnerships that Foster Civic Engagement in Undergraduate Science Education and Research: Assessment of an Urban Zoo Philip J. Carlson,1 Leslie Robinson,1 David O’Gwynn,2 Elizabeth Brandon,3 John Estes,4 Joel Oakley,4 Dave Wetzel,5 Paul Griffin Jones III,5 Beth Poff,5 Harley McAlexander,1 and G. Reid Bishop1,* 1Department

of Chemistry and Physics, Belhaven University, 1500 Peachtree Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39202, United States 2Department of Computer Science, Belhaven University, 1500 Peachtree Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39202, United States 3Department of Biological Sciences, Belhaven University, 1500 Peachtree Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39202, United States 4Department of Mathematics, Belhaven University, 1500 Peachtree Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39202, United States 5Jackson Zoological Society, 2918 West Capitol Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39202, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

Attempting to bridge the gap between professional and citizen science and to connect science knowledge to problems of cultural and local interest has generated a renewed effort to form connections with local organizations. Teaching science through a civic engagement model which includes an interdisciplinary approach focusing on basic science and stewardship has inspired students to learn and put into practice the information they are taught in the classroom in a real world environment. The approach used at Belhaven University has been delineated to serve as an example for other like-minded organizations. Information regarding our recent partnership with the Jackson Zoological Society and the details of our cooperation are highlighted. Connecting students to problems of local and global importance through this initiative has proven

© 2018 American Chemical Society

to be beneficial to all parties involved. The focus on cultural context has helped many students engage in scientific learning in unconventional yet memorable ways where they can see the direct impact science has in society. This has allowed students to gain competence in scientific reasoning and to be better prepared to meet the challenges they will face as citizens first.

Introduction Traditional curriculum in the chemical sciences has included little information and instruction in the areas of green chemistry, responsibility, ethical decisionmaking, civic engagement, and stewardship. No discipline is ever studied or pursued wholly on its own or in the absence of a philosophical framework (i.e. worldview). A more interdisciplinary approach is generally required to show the importance of these areas to scientists, those training to be scientists, and citizens as a whole. The rise of the ivory tower mentality has served to isolate the chemist from concerns related to the big issues of civic importance, unless funding or some other external incentive provides an impetus. Breaking out of this traditional mold comes with much resistance but is becoming increasingly more important within a globalizing society. The chemist in training should certainly be exposed to these ideas for many practical reasons and can be by institutions of higher learning without sacrificing quality educational training. It is our contention that not only should this be done for chemists in training but for the entire population of the college educated. Those studying within the department of chemistry must be exposed to the ideas of history, art, and literature within the standard liberal arts degree program. Should not all students be exposed to the physical sciences also? Yet, this statement is met by many in higher education with some fear and reserve. Science can be tough. Why is there so much resistance? All science majors submit to taking courses like “Art Appreciation” and “Music Appreciation” yet we do not offer any in-kind reciprocation from the science department. A “Science Appreciation” course could serve to train people to think analytically while analyzing complex problems, processing data, and reading graphs. The nitty-gritty of detailed scientific theory need not be confronted head on. Yet so much about the scientific way of thinking can be of immense benefit to the non-science student. Certainly, those students engaged in higher education will be the public administrators of tomorrow. Would they not be much more prepared to make decisions about public policy with a background in scientific modes of thinking? These ideas have been gathered together and put into organized practice by a few different groups interested in extending science education. What does it mean to be a good citizen or a good leader? Does not scientific reasoning play a role in good decision-making? Citizens should seek to act ethically, responsibly, and in the public interest. These ideas form the basis for the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education based community known as Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) (http://sencer.net) which is the flagship program of the National Center for 54

Science & Civic Engagement (NCSCE) (http://ncsce.net). The SENCER network serves to bolster science education by helping students connect science to other academic disciplines and studies of interest and to simultaneously increase their proficiency, capacity, and interest for responsible work and citizenship (1). This framework has proven useful for increasing student competency and satisfaction (2, 3). Connecting ideas from many disciplines and utilizing student’s interests to help drive learning and course content retention has provided a fertile backdrop for our approach to science education (4). Recently these ideals have played a significant role in our approach to science education at Belhaven University as we have sought to increase science literacy among students in the chemistry department and at the university as a whole. The development of science literacy, particularly in education embattled states such as Mississippi, has been linked to enhancing the life opportunities of students particularly those from impoverished familial structures and among women and minorities (5–8). The community partnership model we describe herein is built off of a well-established body of work by leaders in the area of science and civic engagement (9, 10). The choice of a zoological park as a community partner provides a strong model through global conservation and sustainability (11, 12).

Belhaven University Belhaven University (http://www.belhaven.edu) is a private university with its main campus located in Jackson, MS, yet with a footprint across the deep-south. Established in 1883, Belhaven has remained strong to its commitment to academics and values together, as seen in our motto, “To Serve, Not to be Served.” Belhaven has helped to lead the way in higher education with its unique education model focusing on student character development as well as academic excellence. Students arrive expecting to use the internet, are unenthusiastic about costly textbooks, and are ready to embrace a global understanding of their chosen academic discipline. These students expect experiential, collaborative, and engaged learning that will challenge them and lead to profitable careers. Belhaven has sought to address these desires and needs, and has embraced the newest, cutting-edge educational approaches. This has shown true especially within the sciences evidenced by building and outfitting a new science facility in 2013. Belhaven’s unique approach was taken into account by working to ensure that the new building permits a truly multidisciplinary approach with flexible use spaces and state of the art multimedia hardware. The goal of improving STEM engagement as well as the quality, quantity, and diversity of STEM graduates is ever present and has led to the diversification of science offerings (including expanding our chemistry, physics, math, engineering, computer science, and biology programs extensively and by adding new faculty in each of these areas). Each science major has been reworked and developed to provide Belhaven’s unique approach. It is within this framework that Belhaven has sought to provide a science foundation for all its students that is thoroughly connected with other disciplines while being contemporaneously engaging and educational. 55

SENCER at Belhaven Recently, Belhaven began a focused initiative to bolster student development and learning through its unique and innovative Worldview Curriculum. This curriculum presents science, technology, history, philosophy, literature, and art as one set of interconnected disciplines. Students are challenged to recognize and develop their personal worldview though this integrative coursework. They are encouraged to see their learning as a connected whole rather than a fractured set of subjects needed only as degree requirements. This has led to a distinctive environment wherein the Belhaven Chemistry Department has sought to deliver much of its content by focusing on broader concerns related to stewardship, green chemistry, and social engagement. The recognition that chemistry impacts many areas of society means that students must be cognizant of how their work will interface with others and affect their lives. Real-world community problems should be engaged by responsible chemists and the SENCER model, introduced earlier, provides a suitable structure through which to frame these interactions and training. Efforts are underway to more fully implement this method of instruction within the chemistry department. Additionally, the development of foundational introductory courses in science serves as a broad effort to bring these ideas to fruition at a university-wide level. Green Chemistry at Belhaven The chemistry department at Belhaven University was the first in the state of Mississippi to adopt a completely green chemistry laboratory and stewardship policy. Every basic chemistry laboratory and lecture course offered uses the best sustainable practices of green chemistry and utilizes the green chemistry approach to help keep students aware of issues of larger importance in our globalizing society. The goals of fostering stewardship of our community, self, and the environment have led this effort to bring about a more educated and sustainable society by helping to minimize the use of non-sustainable resources, energy, and hazardous materials. Belhaven’s chemistry students have a deeper understanding of the commercial and industrial value of alternative feedstocks and energy sources within chemical synthesis, and these enhanced courses have served to engage students more deeply in the methodological reasons associated with the traditional and modern laboratory methods. Coursework is not the only area where the chemistry department has taken steps to increase civic engagement and stewardship awareness. Students from diverse backgrounds have worked together on projects related to SENCER concerns and been organized through our Student Members of the American Chemical Society (SMACS) chapter at Belhaven. This year alone, nearly thirty students have engaged in organizing laboratory experiences for non-profit education-related organizations, field experiences, science fairs, field trips, tutoring sessions, clean-ups, recycling efforts, chemistry demonstration exhibits, social activities, inter-student-chapter activities, and educational events for a number of local groups (for which we have been recognized at the national level). Students within chemistry routinely engage in both practical and underlying 56

philosophical analysis as part of the curriculum as well. The chemistry department requires students to assemble a “worldview portfolio” in their senior year wherein students give detailed thought to how their discipline relates to many different facets of thought and concern. Topics like stewardship, responsibility, green chemistry, chemical industry, limits of sciences and so forth are featured in their portfolios. Chemistry majors also gain leadership and communication skills through our broad tutoring schedule in the STEM disciplines. These efforts have helped contribute to a comprehensive approach within the chemistry department to train students to think about the bigger picture of the impact of their field of study to society. Science & Culture Course Series The worldview approach at Belhaven University has also provided a unique set of opportunities through which introductory STEM courses have been developed. Two unique courses entitled “Science and Culture” have been created. They are focused on the SENCER approach, keeping the needs of the modern students and society connected through practical learning experiences. One course was built around the life sciences (BIO 125) and the other around the physical sciences (PHY 125). Each course offers a laboratory component and students are only required to take one of these courses in their degree program. The Chemistry Department is responsible for instructing, maintaining and developing the physical sciences course; hence, it served as the primary focus of all efforts expended and reported on herein. This introductory science course addresses diverse civic issues while connecting learning to engagement. It hones in on the scientific method while identifying the responsibilities associated with each unresolved public issue utilized to drive content and overcome fears of science. This course also takes an interdisciplinary approach to science to help expose uncritical acceptance of science and to show the relevance of scientific thought to the everyday local life of the student. The laboratory component of this course focuses on basic scientific investigation and thought while connecting students to modern problems with data availability, interpretation, and analysis. No one textbook available has been found that meets the unique scope of this course, so each semester a unique approach has been taken to accomplish course goals. These courses regularly meet their total registration allotment and generate much conversation on campus. Student Engagement and Involvement Initially some resistance was experienced because of the distinctiveness of the course design and intimidation regarding science education in general. Offering a science course with no standard textbook also induced much fear into the students enrolled. To help assuage their fears, a series of modules have been developed which ensure a standardization of content and provide a body of knowledge to which students are held accountable. These modules allow much flexibility to how the course will be delivered, which necessarily varies based upon instructor and student interest as well as with current events and opportunities. Students 57

report to the lab once a week to engage with data and engage in investigation focused on publically available data (commonly known as “big data”) or to collect data and contribute to a civic problem. Flexible assignments have helped to overcome much of the student’s initial fears related to taking a science course. Many diverse assignments ranging from collecting and analyzing data; reading, writing and reporting; to logging and presenting data/content provide many opportunities to earn points upon which their final grade is based. Partnerships for Success Each semester offers a unique context within which students will seek to understand and contribute to some area of public concern. This aspect of the course has necessitated a strong reliance upon establishing and maintaining partnerships with other entities. Particularly, collaborating with informal science education entities such as museums, children’s exhibits, zoological parks, aquariums, science conferences, afterschool programs, science clubs or fairs, and so forth provides a convenient avenue through which to engage students in a way that highlights the responsibility of scientists and their civic importance. To date, the most robust partnership has been with the Jackson Zoological Park. The historical Jackson Zoological Park (http://jacksonzoo.org) is one of the oldest zoos in the country at nearly one hundred years old. It is located in one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Mississippi and exists as a critical economic, educational, and recreational anchor for that community and the greater Jackson metro area being in close proximity to downtown Jackson, Jackson State University, and Belhaven University. It is home to over 380 animals comprised of 125 species, fourteen of which are endangered. The Jackson Zoo is a private not-for-profit entity committed to conservation and education. The zoo grounds are leased from the city of Jackson and cover 110 acres of urban habitat and park areas with 54 developed acres open to the public. The zoo receives 127,000 visitors annually, one-third of which are school age children. Many of the exhibits of the Jackson Zoo are new, but many were originally built starting in 1919 through the 1930’s by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The Zoo has developed a vision for improvement as part of the new strategic master planning currently in-progress for improvements to the zoo. This master plan is arguably the reason an opportunity for a partnership exists. This is an important aspect of partnering. The university should satisfy actual needs of the community partner. The Partnership with Mutual Benefits Belhaven University and the Jackson Zoo have been working to develop a mutually beneficial partnership. Initially, the prospect of having a large number of individuals with spare man-hours to contribute to data gathering efforts intrigued the zoo as they were seeking to develop a future plan for growth and development. This master plan served as the impetus for the engagement with the zoo. Belhaven University also benefited from the partnership in that a platform for engaging students in scientific studies was readily available and in showing the importance of scientific thinking to the local community. The development 58

of an official document detailing how the two entities would interact and what specifics were involved was initiated by a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Jackson Zoological Society, Belhaven University’s Division of Natural & Applied Sciences, and Biotactus, LLC (a local science-education business that provides field-based educational opportunities for K-12 and college students) (13). This formal partnership, with an established deliverables approach, was established to provide the Jackson Zoo with high-quality operational data that has been utilized by the zoo to help influence the ongoing zoo master plan development project. Belhaven provided scientific expertise, student man-power through lab-based majors and non-majors science courses, and access to state-of-the-art research-grade scientific instrumentation. In return, Belhaven faculty and staff utilized the grounds, educational facilities, and professional expertise of the Jackson Zoo to engage undergraduate science majors and non-majors alike in research projects of civic importance. The Division of Natural & Applied Sciences at Belhaven University in conjunction with the Biology Club and Student Members of the American Chemical Society designed and carried out a series of prioritized preliminary research projects that established the base-line environmental quality and functionality of the zoo and surrounding grounds focusing on several primary areas of concern. Namely, abiotic issues of energy, water, and waste as well as the biotic issues of invasive species and the value of a zoological park as an urban ecosystem that supports native flora and migratory birds. The fourth area deals with natural biota of the zoo grounds and is focused on the living landscape focusing on invasive plants in and around zoo exhibits. Man-power for these projects was provided by Belhaven University student volunteers who were taking courses in Ecology, Analytical Chemistry, General Chemistry, and general education sections of Science & Culture. The objective of the initial phases of this preliminary research project was to establish base-line data for the zoo to influence its upcoming master plan and to engage undergraduate science majors and non-majors at Belhaven in real-world research projects of civic importance. The following preliminary research projects were performed by Belhaven University faculty, staff, and students on the zoo grounds over a 2-year time period between the years of 2015 and 2017. The deliverables included electronic and hard copies of a series of maps, data tables, and graphs; descriptions of the experimental methodology; and photographs and videos of students and zoo personnel involved in the project. In order of priority they were: 1) Mapping: The Jackson Zoo grounds and natural resources were mapped using state-of-the-art Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) software (ARC-GIS) used in conjunction with handheld GPS units. The deliverable of this project was made available as a series of shape files of the zoo grounds with individual map layers including the shapes and locations of all exhibits, offices, green spaces, water impoundments, energy and water sources, waste receptacles, buildings, and a watershed map of the park showing water run-off into the surrounding community. These maps also included thermal heat maps of the zoo animal exhibits and enclosures. 59

2) Energy: Two preliminary energy related projects were proposed but only one was carried out due to constraints of access. The first energy-focused effort included mapping the thermal heat signature of the park, inside exhibits and on the park grounds, using hand-held GPS linked thermometers and solar radiant energy meters and spectrometers. In the second, the electrical energy consumption of the parks was proposed to be examined at different times of the day over the course of a year by making individual readings off of the known energy meters located on the park grounds. This proposed work is still in the planning phase and is a focus for the 2018-2019 academic year. 3) Water: Two water studies were conducted. In the first, each water impoundment and feature in and around the park was monitored for primary water quality. The parameters were determined using basic field test equipment and kits which allowed for testing: pH, temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen (DO), hardness, phosphates, nitrates, nitrites, fecal bacterial testing, turbidity, algae content by fluorescence and petroleum-based volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The primary water feature examined included the moat around the chimpanzee island exhibit which had a known leak and a creek that runs through the park that drains from an unknown location into a drainage creek located in downtown Jackson. Those studies are currently still underway and have interesting outcomes for sustainability of the zoo and surrounding urban neighborhoods. In the second phase of this water study, water utilization was proposed to be determined by collecting primary data at each water meter and if appropriate, given the available funds, individual in-line water meters would be installed on all water faucet sources. Similarly to the above mentioned electrical study, access to these meters has proven to be somewhat problematic and is a focus for a later study. 4) Waste: The first waste effort involved an exploration of the solid garbage waste of the zoo. The location of all waste receptacles was mapped, including their overall weight and number, and examined for their recyclability. The goal of the effort was to minimize unnecessary concessions waste and to explore how the zoo might increase their “green” efforts in a way that the public can easily understand. The second waste project related waste to the water study and involved an exploration of the water runoff from animal exhibits and holding facilities. This was focused on establishing the nutrient runoff and what, if any, areas in the zoo might be deemed potential point-sources of pollution for the surrounding community. 5) Biological Mapping: Students of Biology identified and mapped clusters of invasive plant species in and around zoo exhibits. These species detract from the ecological value of the zoo grounds for native plants, insects, birds, fish, and other animals as well as detract from the aesthetic beauty of the grounds. Examples of invasive plants include Chinese tallow, privet, aquatic weeds, etc.

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Results and Discussion Selected Study Outcomes: Heat Mapping The original and most complete study conducted at the Jackson Zoological Park was focused on a series of detailed thermal heat maps of the zoo grounds with a focus on the animal exhibits and zoo patron facilities. For these experiments, students were introduced in the Science & Culture course series to the principles and operation of Garmin hand-held GPS units and hand-held infra-red thermometers. The thermometers were calibrated during class time and the distance dependence, accuracy, and precision of their readings were assessed. Students were taken to the zoo over several laboratory and class periods to design their own study. In essence, each group was given a different set of features to measure, the surface temperatures of which correlated to their latitudes and longitude coordinates. Data were tabulated in master Google Docs spreadsheets and were plotted as seen in Figure 1. The data were also compiled and visualized using Google Maps, processed by participating computer science faculty and students for the generation of heat maps such as that shown in Figure 2. The red areas in the figure show warmer temperature locations and the blue areas cooler locations. From these studies it was concluded that many of the animals’ enclosures required more shade as did several of the playgrounds. The recommendations to the zoo were bench marked against the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) recommendations and other conservation documents. The data collection resulted in donations that helped provide much needed shade in the park. One unexpected outcome of that same study was the observation that a barn exhibit, which is open air, was as cool as several air-conditioned spaces even on the hottest days of the year. This result was used to modify aspects of the proposed master plan to include more structures similar to the barn instead of relying on expensive climate control. Selected Study Outcomes: Water Studies Involving “Town Creek” Water quality studies were focused primarily on the creek that runs through the center of the Jackson Zoo grounds. The primary issues associated with the “Town Creek” assessment were focused on nutrient runoff into and out of the zoo, as well as, the possible existence of point source pollution. At the time of conducting this study there was a concern over potential lead contamination in older municipal facilities in the downtown Jackson area. Students enrolled in the courses Science & Culture I: Physical Sciences for a Sustainable Society, Quantitative Chemical Analysis, and Chemical Instrumentation all participated in these studies. In addition, students from the Math Department worked alongside Math faculty to map the water features on the zoo grounds. Sample locations were mapped and samples were collected over multiple days throughout the semester. Basic water quality parameters were collected using field-kits in conjunction with the Belhaven Shimadzu Instrument Laboratory which houses several modern pieces of analytical instrumentation including Shimadzu brand FT-IR, a TOC/TC/TIC analyzer, GC-FID, GC-MS, EDX, and HPLC instruments as well as other basic analytical potentiometric instruments (pH and conductivity). 61

Figure 1. Combined temperature study from data collected by students on a single day at the Jackson Zoo. One interesting outcome of this set of studies was the identification of nutrient run-off from a large pile of zoo-animal manure which was contaminating the creek exiting the park and running into a municipal storm drain. The problem was fixed by zoo staff by moving the manure pile to a lower spot from its original elevated position. In addition, some students assessed the economic value of that same manure pile to be worth many thousands of dollars per year. These students prepared an economic assessment of the manure which was accompanied by a total nitrogen, phosphorous, and carbon analysis by weight in comparison with commercial fertilizers. The zoo is considering working with state and local partners to check into the possibility of utilizing the manure to increase their economic sustainability by selling the prepared product to local gardeners as a rich source of natural composted fertilizer. Since minimizing the pile of manure, no detectable nutrients have been measured in the creek system. One interesting 62

discovery was made by a faculty member who identified an open storm drain outside of the zoo grounds, hidden by tall grass, which was located in an area that children routinely use when walking home from school each day. The open man-hole cover was reported to Jackson authorities by Zoo personnel. Advanced chemistry majors taking Quantitative Chemical Analysis and Chemical Instrumentation courses performed careful lead studies of the all of the public drinking fountains and accessible water containment features. These studies were performed using established EPA methods. No detectable lead was found anywhere on zoo property which was a great relief to zoo patrons and personnel. Although Belhaven is not a certified lead testing facility, the student involvement confirmed professional results. These experiments were also conducted at other parks and public water fountains in the Jackson Metro Area. No lead was found in any of the samples compared to appropriate standard controls which included results from the method of standard addition.

Figure 2. Thermal heat map of a temperature study from temperature data collected by students on a single day at the Jackson Zoo. Darker areas correspond to animal habitats significantly hotter than ambient temperature and lighter are cooler areas. The hottest areas were the black bear (area 4), the amur leopard (area 3), and playgrounds (areas 1-2, 6-7). 63

Selected Study Outcomes: Water Studies Involving the Chimpanzee Moat By far the most important work that students assisted the zoo in was the assessment of a large-scale leak to the moat lake that surrounds the chimpanzee island habitat. The Jackson Zoo has been forced to refill the water in the moat periodically in order to maintain the water at an acceptable level. Research students from the Belhaven Chemistry Department conducted an initial study of the moat which included a detailed inspection of various storm drains that run in and around the moat. It was determined that there were several identifiable leaks which were contributing to the large volume loss of water. As a result of that initial study, a professional geoengineering company became involved and, with student help, conducted a very careful water study which included extensive cleanup of the exhibit site along with ground-penetrating radar and water gauge monitoring over several days. Combined, these results led to the establishment of the cause of the water loss and a temporary fix to the problem resulting in a reduction of lost water (and resulting water bill) to the property. Selected Study Outcomes: Other Scientific Studies and Meta-Analysis In addition to those studies mentioned above, students also conducted experiments on a wide-range of topics including: waste assessment, working with education faculty to develop zoo-based lesson plans for grade-school students, sound pollution levels as assessed using smart-phones, emergency response, business analysis, marketing studies, economic projections, invasive plants, bird studies, soil analysis, air quality using GC-MS, and playground design. The most interesting of these projects, according to zoo personnel, was the dance routines that fine arts dance majors choreographed based on watching the movements of animals in the zoo. Most notably were the dances interpreting the giraffe, tiger, river otters, and flamingos. Students filmed their routines and danced them for the dance department. Figures 3 and 4 present a meta-study of the total number of data points collected over the course of a semester (Figure 3) and during at 2-year period (Figure 4). As is evident, the efficiency of data collection has increased each semester we have taught the course which indicates that the culture of the class is improving overall efficacy of the pedagogical model being employed. Dissemination of Results All students taking the Science & Culture courses, which includes all traditional non-transfer students at Belhaven University including science majors, are required to prepare a group field and laboratory presentation. Each presentation includes a paper written in scientific manuscript format including figures, tables, statistics, and analyses. In addition, each group must prepare a scientific oral or poster presentation of their project. These presentations are given during so-called “Shark Tank Week” during the first week of final exams. Groups that present their projects and results most effectively to a panel of “sharks” (judges only, as funding always remains scarce) can compete for various prizes 64

awarded by donors to Belhaven and the zoo. Awards have ranged from Belhaven and Jackson Zoo memorabilia, to cash prizes and Amazon gift cards.

Figure 3. Meta-data analysis of the total number of data points collected by 153 students for several specific scientific studies over the course of a semester. The y-axis is presented in log units. The total number of data point was >270,000 and were in the form of temperatures, pictures, analyte concentrations, sound studies, cell phone signals, spectral data and others. 65

Figure 4. Meta-data analysis of the total number of data points collected by approximately 375 students over the course of 4-semester during the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic years. The y-axis is presented in log units. The total number of data point was >270,000 and were in the form of temperatures, pictures, analyte concentrations, sound studies, cell phone signals, spectral data and others. The biggest problem encountered in the course is how to document and make sense of all of the data that has been stored on several Google Drives. The authors are currently working with computer science faculty and students to stream-line data collection through the development of web-based applications that prevent data entry errors and also greatly expedite the analysis of the data for the purpose of reporting back to the Jackson Zoological Society in a more formal report driven format. Current efforts of reporting have primarily been in the form of verbal communication which is disadvantageous for zoo personnel. In spite of these difficulties, the partnership has received a fair amount of attention from local, regional, and national media and other organizations. During the initial 2 years of the partnership, Belhaven faculty and zoo staff have co-collaborated on nearly a dozen posters, presentations, interviews, and webinars featuring the work. Most notable of these was a segment of an episode of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) program “Mississippi Roads” entitled “Belhaven Green Chemistry” which originally aired on October 31, 2016. That episode has since aired multiple times and has been seen by countless Mississippians. 66

The partnership also received support from the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement (NCSCE) and SENCER to send faculty and staff from the Belhaven University Division of Natural & Applied Sciences and the Jackson Zoo to attend the 2016 SENCER Summer Institute (SSI). This was a real highlight of the partnership and also resulted in a subsequent webinar hosted by chapter authors G. Reid Bishop and Beth Poff (14).

Outcomes, Challenges, and Future Directions Detailed analysis of student responses and grade distributions from the Science & Culture course series which includes BIO 125 and PHY 125, which were the courses most engaged in the Zoo partnership, revealed that these new general education science courses designed around the civic engagement-based SENCER model were very successful. This is based on positive student feedback, an overall increase of 25% in average GPA compared to previous requirements, the numbers of students recruited from the course into STEM fields, and finally a decrease in the number of Belhaven students taking science courses at other institutes of higher learning (student retention). Without question, the partnership resulted in mutual benefits to both the Jackson Zoo and Belhaven University students. Other positive outcomes include: an increased number of college age students visiting zoos, in general, and the Jackson Zoo in particular; increased exposure of potential patrons and students to both Belhaven University and the Jackson Zoo; acquired professional assistance by the Zoo in issues with scientific foundations and solutions; access to a great outdoor classroom for Belhaven students; and real world experiences for science students, opportunities to present that work at scientific meetings and publish articles. A “back of the envelope” calculation estimates that the zoo has been the beneficiary of nearly 16,000 man-hours of faculty and student science-based service. Some of the great challenges related to efforts such as this have involved the logistics of transporting students back and forth to the Jackson Zoo. Although the distance is quite short (