ENGAGING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN SCIENTIFIC THINKING USING A LABORATORY FLUME TO CREATE ANALOG MODELS OF GEOLOGIC PHENOMENA

A 16-foot recirculating sediment-transport flume was installed at Winona State University in late November 2006. Since that time, three distinct undergraduate student groups (geoscience majors, students from other sciences, and non-science majors) have used the flume to conduct experiments and to visualize basic geologic phenomena. We report here our preliminary experiences in engaging upper-level undergraduate geoscience majors with this equipment.

Because students had no previous opportunity to work with this new equipment, we offered a class designed to help students overcome any pre-existing fears associated with operating mechanical equipment, and to engage students in experimental design and basic research. Only six undergraduates (one sophomore, two seniors, and three juniors) enrolled. Due to time constraints, faculty had little opportunity to design and test curriculum, so we employed a learning strategy in which the students and faculty agreed to “adapt on the fly”.

Students started by recreating sediment-transport experiments designed to develop bed-phase diagrams (Southard and Boguchwal, 1990). Students quickly lost interest in reproducing these “classic” experiments and expressed greater interest in creating new models. Students were asked to design learning opportunities and resources for other students in two lower-division classes to help them understand basic principles associated with ripple formation and wave motion. Students took this responsibility seriously and devoted considerable effort to the design and presentation phases of these assignments, which we summarize here. These activities helped students gain confidence in using the flume and in communicating their learning to others. Following these presentations, students worked in pairs to design and test analog models that explored a topic of their own interest. These included using the flume to visualize contaminant transport in unconfined and confined aquifers and to explore mixing in fresh- and salt-water environments and its connection to climate change. Results are summarized here. Students self-reported that this strategy helped them build confidence and forced them to take ownership in and responsibility for their learning, which they believe will transfer to the rest of their college careers.