Solving Environmental Problems through Engineering

Introduction and Rationale

September 2005 was a devastating month for the citizens of New Orleans.  Those who survived Hurricane Katrina had to immediately brave the perils of the floodwaters, and for anyone watching news coverage of the flood, it appeared that people had to wade through a toxic mess of various chemicals and contaminants.  We were told all about the chemical plants, petroleum refining facilities, Superfund sites, service stations, pest control businesses, dry cleaners, old lumber sites, and flooded automobiles that contributed to the environmental toxicity in the water, not to mention the biological waste from humans and animals.  While experts ultimately determined that “the toxic ‘witches brew’ reported in the media.”¹ wasn’t as impactful as everyone suspected, the picture of absolute environmental devastation was clearly painted for viewers.²

Fast forward to May and June of 2019, when most of Oklahoma was deluged with heavy rain.  As a result, many areas along the Arkansas River experienced 200-year flooding events.  Portions of Tulsa were flooded for nearly a month, and the creeks and other watersheds feeding the Arkansas River were flooded as well.  While most of my students generally lived far enough away from the river to not have their lives upended by the flooding, the event and its aftermath dominated the news. At one point, two unmanned barges carrying fertilizer broke free on the river and careened toward a lock and dam.  Local TV stations dedicated helicopter coverage to a dramatic “will they or won’t they” scenario before the barges did eventually crash into the dam and sink, fortunately without compromising the dam.  Similar to the post-Katrina news coverage, this prompted discussions about what (besides the 3,800 pounds of phosphate fertilizer on the barges) was going into the river during the rain and flooding, as well as the impact it would have.³

Both of these occasions were opportunities for people to watch TV and speculate what had been washed into the water, as well as where the contaminants came from.  These events were only two of many natural or man-made disasters that have caused people to be concerned about what exactly is being washed into the river.  However, students aren’t given opportunities to grapple with these concerns and determine how founded they are.  It is important for students to understand what is in our stormwater, at what level its nonpoint source pollutants become problematic, and how we can reduce its negative impacts.  Therefore, this unit looks to address these speculations by providing an opportunity to observe and systematically analyze rainwater and stormwater so that students are better informed, and by allowing students to design and implement solutions for any negative environmental impacts they observe.

School Profile and Student Academic Needs

The two Tulsa, Oklahoma middle schools I teach at have students who are historically underidentified for Gifted and Talented (GT) services.  While the district averages around a 12% overall identification rate for GT students, one of my schools, Monroe Demonstration Academy (in which nearly half the students are Black—twice the district average—and with one-third as many white students as the district average) has a 3% identification rate.  The other school, Hale Junior High (which is nearly 50% Hispanic, as opposed to the district average of roughly one-third) has a 4% GT identification rate.  English Language Learners (ELLs) are also historically underidentified, and that is true for both of my schools:  each school has just one currently-identified ELL student (both are Hispanic) and each school has four or five students who formerly required ELL services.  It should be noted that this is not a matter of which students attend the schools; my buildings also have the highest rates of newly-identified Gifted and Talented students for middle schools in the district.  This means that I serve populations of students who, for some reason or another, were not identified as needing these GT services and access to a more challenging curriculum until several years after their age-peers in other schools were.

As a result of not having been properly identified or served for so many years, many of my students have missed out on literal years of appropriate levels of classroom rigor and challenging intellectual problems.  Therefore, each unit they complete with me needs to be interesting enough to overcome their learned intellectual apathy, and ideally also be an opportunity to hone their inquiry skills, which tend to be sorely underemphasized in schools with traditionally underserved populations.  Practically speaking, this means it is important that I have engaging, inquiry-based lessons whenever possible, and that I provide topics that will allow students’ positive contributions to the world to be the focus.

When they are interested in a topic, GT students tend to become completely engrossed in it.  “The environment” is already of interest to several of my sixth through eighth grade students, though what this exactly means varies greatly, so providing an inquiry-based learning opportunity will potentially help them discover and/or hone their budding passion.  Additionally, the two middle schools I teach at have principals who have been intentionally working to increase student connection to their school and community.  Learning about and designing a solution for an observable environmental issue that will positively impact their school and community is a classic “win-win.”