Urban Environmental Quality and Human Health: Conceiving a Sustainable Future

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 08.07.05

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Overview
  3. Rationale
  4. Strategy
  5. Background
  6. Notes and Resources - For Teacher
  7. Resources for students (research) and teachers
  8. Pictures
  9. Resources - For Teacher
  10. Bibliography
  11. Appendix A
  12. Appendix B
  13. Appendix C

Considering Case Studies of Chemical Contamination

Jeffrey C. Davis

Published September 2008

Tools for this Unit:

Strategy

The strategy I will use to implement this unit includes guest speakers, field trips, debates, models, textbooks, professional journals, newspapers, research activities, presentations and case studies. In addition to learning about properties of matter and how they behave and impact a community, the students will learn how to analyze situational models and communicate their positions concerning controversial topics. In addition, they will analyze and discuss the responsibilities public and private entities have for the communities with whom they are associated. The organization of these stages is designed to increase the students' background knowledge and build emotional buy-in in.

In Stage III, the students will use their increased knowledge and emotional experience to foreshadow the parts where we discover the behavior of ground water using the aquifer model. Background knowledge increases during analyses in the form of case studies.

The case studies will progress from brief and simple to complex and challenging. The content of the cases will develop from more concise, less ambiguous, professionally written case studies to more complex, real-life contemporary cases, with the last case taking place, during the teaching of this unit. 3 The field trip in the middle of the unit will give the students more concrete experiences in support of the conceptual learning through the case studies. The debates will help teach articulation and persuasion in preparation for the last case.

Stage One

We will start this unit by providing some data on substances/chemicals that have been released accidentally or indifferently discharged and the consequences of the release. 4 After looking at the facts, we will consider culpability and consequence - whether the action was criminal behavior or a civil offence and what an appropriate response is proportionate to the offensive actions. This will give an idea of the scope and scale of the problems these situations can cause. This is also the part of the unit where the teacher will present oral cases as found in the "Background" section of this curriculum unit.

Stage Two

After the introduction with the data mentioned above, I will show a movie, Civil Action 5 in segments, with discussion at critical points. I will give students a study guide 6 for each segment and prepare them for some of the nuance the film offers. Viewing this film will give the students a chance to analyze and discuss different points of view and the process of dealing with the legal system in the context of hazardous waste management. I will ask key questions, leading students to think about ethics and responsibility.

Stage Three

Next, we will use a water table / aquifer model to learn about how substances can and do migrate through the water. The New Mexico Environmental Department has a model that schools can use to teach about the ground water and aquifers in New Mexico. Using the model, students will experience a hands-on activity where they will see foreign substances move through the water table. They will see how excessive pumping can change the water table and alter the aquifer.

Stage Four

After that, we will start our case studies. 7 The first one will commence with the whole class reading the case together. Depending on which case I pick, I will frame some open-ended questions, 8 leading to higher-level discussion.

The next case will start off the same way, except after reading the case together and my asking a few questions, I will put the students into groups where they will continue the discussion, using questions I provide to study the case before returning to the entire class for share and review.

Another case about disaster reparations 9 will follow with a similar process - i.e., we will read it together and I will provide the questions before the groups return to share.

Students will read the fourth case in their smaller groups first. I will give the students study guides 8 for the questions and they will have the discussion alone - but they can ask me questions if they are unsure how to do this alone. After some time, they will reconvene as a whole class and discuss.

The fifth and last case for this part of the unit will be the Vieques story/s. The case will be modified from cases as written by Dr. John Wargo 1 0 The class will read selected parts together. Separate groups will read and discuss separate parts using study guides 8 before coming together for final discussion.

The cases will be chosen and the questions designed to provide a platform for a critical thinking experience through which my students will gain understanding about ethics and rationality. By going through these exercises, they will learn how to get informed about the seemingly endless controversies permeating our lives and subsequently join the conversation.

Stage Five

After working on the case studies, we will take a field trip to Bradbury Museum in Los Alamos. There we will explore the history of Los Alamos, a section on weapons and radiation, and a unit for students to work on projects (hands on). This field trip will take the better part of a day and I will turn over control to the very competent hands of the education department of the Bradbury Museum.

The Bradbury field trip will be followed with a case study on Acid Canyon in Los Alamos. 1 1 In addition to the case identified in note 10, there are sources for related information in the "resources for students and teachers" section of the end notes.

Stage Six

After we do our series of case studies and do our Los Alamos visit and activities, we will host a debate between someone from the public relations / public outreach department of LANL and someone from Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Prior to this activity, students will be prepped on debate protocol 1 2 so they can observe the debate from a more informed perspective.

Stage Seven

In next part of the unit the students will study the Galisteo Basin case. In this part, we will not use a formal case study - rather, we will read a series of articles (local newspapers, partisan websites, and informative information concerning this and similar situations). 1 3 Students will use their experience with case analysis to analyze and discuss the information in the context of our Santa Fe County controversy.

Our class will host a debate between Tecton and Drill Santa Fe (or at least advocates for their respective positions). Students will take notes and ask questions after the debate. After the debate, I will assign students a debate topic. They will work in teams to prepare for a classroom debate. They will have to demonstrate familiarity with their topic and be able to communicate clearly. Teams will be able to assign roles to their members so that a student who is unable to give a speech, for example, can make a valuable contribution and participate in the presentation. The debate topics will come from topics similar to the cases we studied.

Through the course of this unit, students will stop from time to time and consider the main learning points of their work. They will, along with me, decide what the most important parts of the learning are and create a series of quizzes. These quizzes will count toward their grades. They will also be scored by their work with the debate team.

A final report/presentation based on their choice of topic (most likely a follow up study on one of the model background cases) will also count toward their final unit grade.

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