HELPING STUDENTS MAKE THE TRANSITION FROM NOVICE LEARNER OF GROUND-WATER CONCEPTS TO EXPERT USING THE EXPANDED PLUME BUSTERS SOFTWARE

Environmental and earth science students are novice learners that lack the experience needed to rise to the level of expert. To help address this problem we developed the expanded Plume Busters software, a capstone, problem-based learning, experience, in which the student takes on the role of an environmental consultant. Following a pipeline spill of copper chromate arsenate (CCA) wood preservative, the environmental consultant is charged with locating the resulting plume and cleaning up the contaminated aquifer. Complete remediation must be achieved before the contamination reaches a nearby river and eventually a downstream public water supply.

The software consists of an interactive Java application and accompanying HTML linked pages. The application is a 2-D, finite-difference, ground-water model that simulates movement of a plume from a pipeline break through a shallow alluvial aquifer towards the river. The accompanying web pages establish the simulated scenario and provide students with background material on ground-water flow and transport principles, remediation technologies and site-specific data including well logs, hydrogeologic parameters, background water quality, and plume chemistry. With the plume located, the student uses the Java application to conduct a scoping exercise of how three technologies might be used to design a remediation system that will clean up the aquifer. To make the role-play more realistic, the application tracks cost and time and thus the student must consider these factors in the search for the plume and in the selection of the best remediation design.

Formative assessment is built into the HTML linked pages to help track student understanding and progress. The Java application also maintains a log of actions taken and their results. Students can also enter comments on the results of their actions and are expected to use the log in preparation of a consultant's letter report for the state environmental regulatory agency. The web pages provide the student with an outline to follow and the information to be included in the report, which can serve a summative assessment instrument and while providing practice in technical writing.