Fort Lewis College
This activity has benefited from input from faculty educators beyond the author through a review and suggestion process.
This review took place as a part of a faculty professional development workshop where groups of faculty reviewed each others' activities and offered feedback and ideas for improvements. To learn more about the process On the Cutting Edge uses for activity review, see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.
This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Collection
Resources in this top level collection a) must have scored Exemplary or Very Good in all five review categories, and must also rate as “Exemplary” in at least three of the five categories. The five categories included in the peer review process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.
This page first made public: Apr 30, 2008
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This lab uses "ant farm" groundwater models to demonstrate groundwater flow and the behavior of wells. The lab is organized so that students have to predict the behavior of the model before observing it.
Introductory physical geology, introductory earth systems science
, interdisciplinary upper level general education courses dealing with water issues.
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
Ideally, students should have read the textbook discussion of groundwater.
How the activity is situated in the course
One out of eleven independent lab projects. Although it works best when it coincides with discussion of groundwater in lecture, it also can work when lab and lecture get out of sync.
See descriptions for each of the activities in this sequence on the course profile page.
Content/concepts goals for this activity
Groundwater flow, behavior of wells when pumped, groundwater contamination.
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
Critical evaluation of preconceived notions, comparing results of tests with hypotheses.
Other skills goals for this activity
Working in groups.
Description of the activity/assignment
Students use analog models to explore the behavior of groundwater. Students calculate porosity of analog materials (cups of marbles and beads), and then observe groundwater flow using food coloring as a dye tracer. They explore the effects of pumping wells and contaminating groundwater through a leaky landfill. One portion of the model allows students to observe the behavior of an artesian aquifer.
Determining whether students have met the goals
Answers are graded based on whether they 1) are consistent with students' observations, and 2) whether they make sense. Students are marked down for proposing tests that involve making the same observations that they were supposed to explain.
More information about assessment tools and techniques.
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