A MULTIMEDIA CD-ROM FOR TEACHING GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION ISSUES

Interactive multimedia CD-ROMs have become an important teaching tool in the past few years. Their ability to give instant access to videos, animations, sounds, and images puts them far ahead of the Internet for use in the classroom as a presentation tool and for individual use by students without the fastest home computers. We will present our progress on a CD-ROM for teaching students about groundwater contamination issues. The target audience consists of non-science majors enrolled in introductory geology or environmental science classes. Selected groundwater issues include underground storage tanks, landfills, septic systems, agricultural pollution, and karst issues. Each issue is covered in a separate lesson and presented as a case-based scenario for a member of the general public. In other words, cases are presented that show non-science majors how groundwater contamination will affect them in their adult lives. A professional hydrogeologist answers questions and guides students through each lesson. Every attempt is made to present the relevance of groundwater contamination to non-science majors. A demonstration of the CD-ROM lessons and practice will be given.