IMPORTANCE OF WATER EDUCATION IN A SOUTHWEST-BASED, CULTURALLY INFUSED EARTH SCIENCE COURSE

Earth Science in Arizona and the Southwest is a place-based course developed to impart expertise and interest in regional and environmental geology of Southwestern North America to diverse students in a wide range of majors besides geoscience. The course is situated in and focused on Southwestern landscapes, natural environments, and multicultural geography; and directly links principles of Earth science to the resilience and sustainability of Southwestern communities past, present, and future. Geoscientific knowledge and cultural knowledge of the region are treated as consilient. A significant aspect is a capstone project that tasks students to carry out independent research and to leverage their own knowledge, sense of place, and background if they so choose. Each year, student projects contribute to the body of content presented in subsequent years.

As the quality and availability of water are of foremost concern across the arid and drought-stricken Southwest; because water resources are influenced by geologic history, climate, and human activities; and because water is central to place and cultural knowledge of Indigenous and later resident people of the Southwest, groundwater and surface-water systems are key topics. The course explores Southwestern water from hydrogeologic, climatic, and sociocultural perspectives and encourages students to explore ways to protect and conserve water resources. Many students carry out projects related to water, and to impacts from climate change or from uranium, coal, and base-metal mining activities on and near Indigenous lands. As an illustrative case study we present the work of an Indigenous geoscience student (coauthor), both in the course and in an undergraduate research experience that ensued: combining field work, laboratory analyses, and development of bilingual/bicultural materials for public outreach in the student’s traditional homeland.