H2OH!: COLLECTION OF CLASSROOM DEMONSTRATIONS AND ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING STUDENT LEARNING OF WATER CONCEPTS

Research has shown that the students learn more and enjoy classes more when visual and active learning are incorporated into the classroom. Most college-aged students prefer visual modes of learning, but most instruction is conducted in a lecture, or auditory, format. The use of classroom demonstrations and hands-on activities provides opportunities for incorporating visual and active learning into the classroom environment. While most instructors acknowledge the benefits of these teaching methods, they typically do not have the time and resources to develop and test such activities and to develop plans to incorporate them into their lectures. Examples of demonstrations and activities that can be used in water-related undergraduate and graduate classes are presented. Hydrogeology topics include activities on porosity, specific retention, layered hydraulic conductivity, head distributions in aquifers, well hydraulics, molecular diffusion in porous media, groundwater contamination, and NAPL ganglia. The authors developed these activities for their recently-published book, H2Oh! Classroom Demonstrations for Water Concepts, which contains a collection of forty-five peer-reviewed demonstrations and activities that can be used in water-related classes with topics in fluid mechanics, hydraulics, surface water hydrology, groundwater hydrology, and water quality. Select classroom demonstrations will be highlighted, along with discussions on incorporating these engaging activities into the classroom.