USING A MOCK TRIAL TO DEVELOP SCIENTIFIC LITERACY AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN AN INTRODUCTORY ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY COURSE

In 1999 and 2000, students in an introductory, environmental geology course (65 students) conducted a mock trial that examined evidence related to an actual legal case presented in the story A Civil Action, by Jonathan Harr. This book recounts the lawsuit brought by eight families from Woburn, MA who charged that two industrial companies illegally dumped trichloroethlene and other industrial waste, which subsequently entered the groundwater, contaminated two municipal water supply wells, and caused their children to contract leukemia. A Civil Action provided a framework for teaching basic geologic principles that relate to groundwater movement, human water supply, and connections between industrial contamination and health problems.

Students worked in “expert teams” hired by one of the opposing sides of the law case, Anne Anderson et al. vs. W.R. Grace & Co. and Beatrice Foods, Inc., and were subpoenaed to testify as expert witnesses. The groups collected scientific data from the literature, technical reports, newspaper stories, and internet in subjects of groundwater geology, contaminant chemistry, medicine, and statistics. Collaboratively, each group developed an argument, which they testified and defended orally in front of a Judge (a retired lawyer) and a jury during a three-hour trial. Groups of attorneys (students from the class) worked with expert teams to develop questions for testimonies and cross-examinations. In lieu of witness depositions, each team distributed a list of witnesses, a summary of intended testimony and copies of references, kept on reserve at the library. This allowed opposing sides to prepare for cross-examinations. Following the trial, each student authored an individually-written argument supported by her group’s research, and provided a written analysis of the argument, based on how her group’s testimony faired during cross-examination. The mock-trial provided a format for oral debate and research of scientific concepts. It facilitated teaching how to develop and defend ideas and to understand the limitations of scientific data in and out of the courtroom.