Article pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Developing and Implementing an Interdisciplinary Air Pollution Workshop To Reach and Engage Rural High School Students in Science Alena Kubátová*,† and Daphne E. Pedersen‡ †
Department of Chemistry, ‡Department of Sociology, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, 58202 United States S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: The low interest of the U.S. students in sciences is an ongoing issue. One approach to promote the sciences is outreach activities, often targeted at grades K−12. Yet, a limiting factor in these outreach initiatives is their long-term feasibility, especially from an economic perspective. Another challenge is how to introduce scientific information during brief periods of exposure. Furthermore, different problems may be encountered based on the geographic location of students. In populated urban communities, there are typically greater resources available than in low-density rural populations. With these challenges in mind, we describe an outreach initiative targeted to rural high school students. The workshop has been used for four years, and the network of participants is growing as interest spreads. This article can serve as a model for workshop development across various content areas. Such workshops can provide a useful recruiting tool while exposing students to the sciences. KEYWORDS: High School/Introductory Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary, Public Understanding/Outreach, Hands-On Learning/Manipulatives, Atmospheric Chemistry, Gas Chromatography
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tudents are engaged by the experiential learning and research opportunities in chemistry. However, fewer and fewer students are attracted to the sciences today.1 In addition to using solid pedagogical strategies in classrooms and laboratories, faculty must actively recruit students. Outreach programs are a good avenue to “bring the science to the students” by organizing visits and running workshops and demonstrations at high schools.2−5 However, this approach has several limitations. It is usually not possible to bring more than one science expert to a school at a time, the availability of scientific tools and equipment is limited, and the participating students remain unexposed to university settings. This last limitation may be of specific concern in rural areas that are isolated from university campuses. Students from small towns with fewer than 5,000 residents may be intimidated by an urban college campus.6 Even a mid-size campus (∼14,000) such as the University of North Dakota (UND) may be considered large and intimidating. These concerns are real and serious; yet may be overcome once students experience the friendly atmosphere that is so characteristic of many college campuses. With these concerns in mind, we decided to approach student recruitment by utilizing an annual workshop held on the university campus. The workshop specifically targets students from rural high schools. As many students are aware of environmental issues, we decided to appeal to them by creating an Air Pollution Workshop: Chemistry versus Dust. The workshop builds on our collaborative expertise in atmospheric sciences and includes faculty members from multiple departments. © 2013 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
PROGRAM COMPONENTS AND DESCRIPTION
Overview
Two workshops on consecutive days are organized each year during the university spring break. This guarantees that the facilities and most of the faculty and graduate student facilitators are available. In addition, the area high schools do not have spring break at this time and students are available to attend the workshops. Each one-day workshop has the capacity of approximately 80 students and area high schools bring their students to the UND campus. An outline of the workshop program is shown in Table 1. The scheduling details have been critical to ensure smooth operation and the active participation of students. The timetable includes transport and time needed to walk to the tour site (10 min). The room used for lectures and demonstrations can be reached in a 5 min walk. All presentations were located on the same floor, facilitating convenience and efficiency. The workshop begins with the collection of liability forms. Students are then assigned to small groups for participation in the tour and demonstrations later in the day. This is followed by a series of lectures by faculty who are active in atmospheric science research. On the basis of student feedback, the optimal length of lectures was determined to be 15 min. To keep students’ attention, demonstrations are held between lectures, especially well-known chemical demonstrations such as the mild “explosion” of a balloon.7 Published: March 19, 2013 417
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Table 1. Workshop Program and Rotations of Groups A and B through the Presentations and Tour Time
Preliminary Activities
Organizers
8:45−9:00 a.m.
Arrival, receive liability forms, assign participants to one of 8−10 groups, provide name tags Demonstration: How much CO2 can be absorbed in the ocean? Lectures and Demonstrations
Students and coordinator Facilitators and faculty from Chemistry Presenter
Time 9:00−9:15a.m. 9:20−9:35 a.m. 9:40−9:50 a.m. 9:55−10:10 a.m. 10:15−10:30 a.m. 10:30−10:45 a.m. 10:50−11:00 a.m. 11:00−12:00 p.m. 12:10−12:50 p.m. 01:00−2:15 p.m. 10:50−12:05 p.m. 12:10−12:50 p.m. 12:50−1:00 p.m. 1:00−2:00 p.m.
Air PollutionWhy Do We Care? Energy and Pollution Control Demonstration: Which gas is which? Air Quality ModelsHow to Predict the Future Airborne Atmospheric Research Divide student groups into two major groups: A and B Group A Transport to the tour site Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) tour of the Hydrogen Center Lunch Demonstrations in Chemistry (in 4−5 groups) Group B Demonstrations in Chemistry (4−5 groups) Lunch Transport to the tour site EERC tour
Faculty from Chemistry Faculty from Chemical Engineering Facilitators and faculty from Chemistry Faculty from Chemical Engineering Faculty from Atmospheric Sciences
EERC representative Facilitators and Faculty from all presenting departments Facilitators and Faculty from all presenting departments
EERC representative
mock science investigation using four balloons filled with argon, nitrogen, helium, and hydrogen (hydrogen was for safety reasons, mixed with helium). The experiment ends with an invigorating explosion of hydrogen, catching the students’ attention and drawing them into the workshop. The hands-on demonstrations in the late morning or early afternoon (Box 1) are carried out in groups of 10 students, with
Topics and Tour
The morning lectures (listed in Table 1) start with the topic of air pollution, its relation to global warming, and particulate matter formation. Students are also introduced to how scientists work in different fields and with varying expertise participate in collaborative research on these issues (i.e., demonstrating to students the variety of fields in the sciences and their interrelationships). The second lecture focuses on energy issues, describing the importance of research that produces both environmentally clean and economically sound solutions. After a short demonstration (described below), a third lecture is given by a researcher with expertise in atmospheric modeling that demonstrates the necessity of data acquisition to correctly model atmospheric processes. Finally, an applied lecture describing aircraft sample collection and characterizing particulate matter, paying particular attention to calibration and measurement accuracy, ends this segment of the workshop. After the morning lectures, the students are divided into two major groups. The first group, A, participates in a tour in the nearby Hydrogen Center in the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC). The second group, B, participates in demonstrations located in the chemistry building. The tour to EERC (a university affiliated research institution but with independent funding) has been described as a novel experience by students and exposes them to state of the art equipment and research facilities devoted to commercial applications.
Box 1. List of Hands-on Demonstrations Cloud in a Bottle Aerosol Number Concentration Measurements Chromatography of Color Markers Determination of Wood Smoke in Air Pollution Air Pollution on the Web How Much CO2 It Takes To Fill the Balloon students typically working in pairs. Each activity takes place in a different laboratory and lasts no more than 15 min, as the time duration is critical to keeping the students’ attention. The facilitators of these demonstrations are mainly graduate students from the participating departments. The strategy employed in the demonstrations is to provide essential explanations of operating principles through basic science experiments and use of advanced instrumentation. For instance, the experiment called a “Cloud in a Bottle” is coupled with a demonstration on a condensation nuclei counter (CNC; i.e., an instrument for air particle concentration measurements). During the demonstration students learn several basic facts about clouds; namely, what affect they have on global warming and cooling and what types of clouds may be observed. This is followed by an experiment performed by facilitators demonstrating the process of cloud formation (instruction sheet for facilitators is included in Supporting Information).8 In brief, facilitators introduce wood smoke particles into a plastic bottle with residual water, thus enabling condensation; a reduction of pressure (using a bicycle foot pump) leads to cloud formation. In the next demonstration using a CNC, students are able to measure the number of liquid-phase particles and their increase when a piece of wood is burned. In this presentation, it is
Demonstrations
Two demonstrations are carried out during the morning session by facilitators. A detailed description of these experiments is provided in the Supporting Information. While waiting for all the students to arrive at the beginning of the workshop, the first demonstration, “How much CO2 can be absorbed in the ocean?” is presented. This is a classical general chemistry experiment showing the acidification of water in the presence of CO2.7 The process of acidification is explained using the saturation of oceans with CO2 and its impact as one example. An even more popular experiment was the balloon demonstration, “Which gas is which?”, presented in between the series of lecture presentations.7 This demonstration is performed as a 418
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critical to explain what the actual volume of 1 cm3 represents. Typically, students have expressed that they are amazed to learn that there can be thousand of such particles in 1 cm3. Students also learn that the operation principle of the CNC is based on the condensation of butanol on the surface of particles, thus ensuring their growth and subsequent laser measurement. Two linked chromatography labs employ the same strategy, starting with basic facts and following with the use of modern scientific instruments. In the first demonstration, the principle of chromatography is shown as a separation of marker colors on filtration paper with isopropanol as a mobile phase. In the subsequent gas chromatography (GC) lab, several GC instruments are available. Students divide into groups of three to analyze wood smoke and work with concepts of separation and retention time. Another demonstration carried out is “Air Pollution on the Web”. The chemistry department PC computer lab is used to give each student individual access to various Web sites with atmospheric data. The session ends with an interactive online game that models city pollution. The goal of the game is to survive as long as possible under significant pollution generated by essential urban activities.9−11 The last demonstration, calculating how much CO2 is required to fill a balloon, is less related to air pollution but still provides students with an understanding of different physical states of carbon dioxide. Students work with dry ice and are able to observe CO2 sublimation. They compare the density of a CO2 filled balloon to one that is filled with air (by their response to gravity), and confirm that warming of the gas causes further expansion of the balloon.
Table 2. Demographic Data for Workshop Participants 2009 Number of students Respondents to pre-survey Respondents to post-survey Gender Female Male Grade
