Field Trips Put Chemistry in Context for Non-Science Majors | Journal

Chemistry for Everyone

Field Trips Put Chemistry in Context for Non-Science Majors Keith E. Peterman Department of Physical Sciences, York College of Pennsylvania, York, PA 17405; [email protected]

Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society is a project of the ACS that provides a non-traditional text for non-science majors (1). The stated goal is to “establish chemical principles on a need-to-know basis within a contextual framework of significant social, political, ethical, and economic issues.” I have found that field trips, when used in conjunction with these published ACS resources, significantly enhance student learning and contribute to a real-world understanding of the interrelationship of chemistry and societal issues. Field trips help students “weave” chemistry into the fabric of social, political, economic, and ethical issues within their communities.1 Although field trips are relatively common in some biological and earth sciences courses, they appear to be seldom used in chemistry courses. Published articles in this Journal focus primarily on field trips for secondary students (2, 3) and courses for science majors (4–6). One author notes that field trips rank high on the list of attractive features for general education chemistry courses for non-science majors but includes only one field experience in the course, a water sampling lab (7). One college found that field trips add a “surprisingly humanistic aspect” to their “Chemistry and Society” course when they integrated four or five field trips per semester as an integral part of the course (8); however, two decades later, their field trip component has been reduced to two per semester (9). Furthermore, online Chemistry in Context resource suggestions (10) make no mention of field trips and only one sample course syllabus (11) notes a field trip, but this syllabus does not indicate the destination or the purpose of the field trip. Field trips promote learning and are recommended if field locations are easily accessible and at nearby locations and if they can be organized with minimal cost of time and money (12). The field trips described in this article meet these criteria; locations are accessible, most trips can be completed within a scheduled three-hour laboratory time period, and they can be conducted at minimal cost by using college vans with certified student drivers for transport. Arranging field trips during laboratory periods keeps student cohorts at manageable levels, typically 20 students per laboratory section. My students are required to submit post-field trip written laboratory reports for each field trip. Assessments are based on most frequently articulated student appraisals and evaluative statements in their laboratory reports.2 Outcomes are expressed as a summary list that captures the essence of these appraisals and statements. Field Trips as Laboratory Exercises Lecture and laboratory experiences should be complementary. The purpose of the text and lecture is to examine select chemistry and technology issues with broad societal implications. The purpose of the laboratory is to provide experiences relevant to those topics (13). In my course, field trips represent one-third of the laboratory experiences and are designed to

provide a physical connection between classroom discussions and chemistry in “the real world”. Most of the remaining laboratory experiences are traditional time-tested laboratory exercises that allow students to conduct hands-on experiments, collect data, and draw conclusions based on their data, thus gaining an understanding of the scientific method. All field trip destinations are directly linked to topics in the Chemistry in Context text. Sites are selected based on regional availability, accessibility, and ability to connect with select classroom discussions. The field trips described in this article are presented in chronological order as they occur during the semester. York County Resource Recovery Center The York County Resource Recovery Center is a wasteto-energy facility that converts municipal solid waste into electricity. It is a field trip friendly community resource that encourages tours. I link this field trip to the lecture topic “Energy, Chemistry, and Society” (14). Prior to the field trip, we review a classic diagram of a power plant that shows the conversion of heat to work to energy (15). Garbage is the potential energy source in the resource recovery facility. The text provides a detailed description of Hennepin County, Minnesota Resource Recovery Facility (16). However, the textbook picture and description are no match for the actual experience of stepping on to the tipping floor of our own local facility and seeing the massive quantity of garbage from which usable energy will be recovered. The tour begins in an education center with numerous displays ranging from “red wiggler” composting worms to metal coins recovered after incineration ($50,000 to $150,000 per year is recovered in coins; unknown quantities of paper currency are incinerated). The tour leader explains that this is a “resource recovery facility”, not just an “incinerator”. Both material and energy are recovered. The tour leader uses visuals to explain the entire process that begins with screening incoming garbage trucks for radioactivity and ends with electricity delivered to the grid. Students note the similarity of this diagram with the power plant diagram they reviewed in class prior to the tour. Before entering the plant, safety regulations require everyone to don hard hats and goggles. The tipping floor is a moderately odiferous, mammoth platform where trucks discharge their loads. After inspection, the garbage is pushed by a front end loader into a football-field sized, 12 m deep pit. The visual is striking. An overhead crane transfers the garbage, that is, the energy source, from the pit to charging chutes. As we walk through the facility, we can observe each step in the energy transformation process from fuel (garbage) to heat to super heated steam to turbine driven generator to electrical energy. Students will later note the similarity of this facility to other steam-driven electrical generation facilities that use coal, petroleum, or nuclear fuel as the primary energy source.

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Resource recovery includes separating metal from bottom ash following incineration. Recovered coins are returned to the U.S. Treasury for credit, metal is sold to recyclers, and bottom ash is recycled into an aggregate material used for construction applications. Outcomes include

• Learned how garbage can be turned into electrical energy

• Learned that a Resource Recovery Facility is not just an “incinerator”

• Learned about environmentally sound measures to detect and to control pollution

• Discovered that there were alternatives to dumps or land fills for garbage

• Were astounded that for every 100 trucks that come in, only 10 are needed to remove the waste

• Modified political position from uninformed opposition to an openness for further investigation and research before forming an opinion

Springettsbury Wastewater Treatment Facility The Springettsbury Wastewater Treatment Facility is a large open complex that lends itself well to a walking tour following each step of the water treatment process. I link this field trip to lecture topics concerning “The Water We Drink” (17). Polling my students each semester, I find that not a single student knows the source of our municipal drinking water. Most believe that our drinking water comes from a relatively pristine man-made reservoir. All are surprised to learn that their municipal water is drawn directly from a far less pristine stream. In like manner, few have given consideration to what happens to the water they have consumed. A wastewater treatment facility provides an excellent example of water recycling and purification. Before our walking tour of the facility commences, a plant operator explains the flow scheme on a large visual in the conference room. The walking tour begins with students peering down into a culvert accepting 15 million gallons per day of raw domestic and industrial sewage from nine different municipalities. At this point, mechanical treatment removes large objects such as rags and diapers. The next stop is a pumping station that pumps the sewage to a higher elevation area where additional mechanical treatment removes grit, sand, and other smaller particles. From here, the sewage is gravity fed through the remaining steps. Students follow the wastewater flow through the facility. They observe how dissolved biological matter is progressively processed and separated from the wastewater. The most challenging part for some students involves walking across open grates that traverse aerated aerobic digesters. A few students find the odor too foul or the open grates too intimidating to traverse the digesters. They note with interest how additional water is removed from the sludge and the sludge is treated to produce recyclable biological solids that will eventually end up as agricultural fertilizer or compost. The final stop, where the water is chlorinated, then aerated, and discharged into the

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stream, is eye-opening. Students recognize that, although their municipal drinking water is drawn up-steam from this wastewater discharge, down-stream communities will rely on this as a drinking water source. Outcomes include

• Learned that the wastewater treatment facility merely speeds up the natural process

• Learned how wastewater and solid waste are treated to prevent disease and maintain a clean environment

• Learned that the biological sludge is treated and used as an agricultural fertilizer or compost

• Learned that this facility had many governmental regulations

• Learned how a community’s health is maintained with proper sewage management

• Learned how water can be recycled (with shocking realization that wastewater becomes downstream drinking water)

Washington, DC, Senate or Congressional Offices The primary purpose of the Washington, DC, field trip is to connect our classroom discussions with our political process. By this point in the semester, students are beginning to see chemistry in the context of broader political issues. Some of these include the Montreal Protocol (18), the Kyoto Protocol (19), United States dependency on fossil fuels and alternative energy sources (20), the Safe Drinking Water Act and its amendment (21), and the Clean Air Act Amendments (22). This field trip directly connects students with the source of these federal acts and legislative decisions to sign or not sign international protocols. We meet with a different senator or representative each semester in order to maintain a political balance in the course. We typically meet for 45–60 minutes with one of our legislators or their legislative assistants to discuss issues related to science and public policy. I provide the legislative office with a list of preferred topics for discussion prior to our meeting. A formal presentation is followed by an informal question and answer session. Students are required to prepare at least one written question for the legislator prior to leaving for the field trip. A secondary purpose of this field trip is to introduce students to the physical environment of Washington, DC. At our request, the legislative office arranges for a 60-minute guided tour of the Capitol with interns leading groups of 8–10 students. This is especially informative because students’ peers from other universities lead the tours. Following the meeting and Capitol tour, students are allotted three hours of free time to explore the Capitol Mall, memorials, or Smithsonian museums of their choice. For safety reasons, all students are requested to remain in small groups. No student is permitted to wander alone. We depart from a prearranged destination on the Capitol Mall. When I first organized this field trip, I was surprised to learn that most of my students had never visited Washington, DC or had not visited it in a very long time, in spite of its close

Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 85 No. 5 May 2008 • www.JCE.DivCHED.org • © Division of Chemical Education


proximity to York College. Furthermore, most students had little or no contact with their federal, state, or local elected representatives. Students express a real appreciation for this field trip and the opportunity to directly interact with an elected legislator. Outcomes include

• Learned about our political process and the relationship between science and public policy

• Learned how laws and bills are enacted

• Learned about the importance of an individual’s local involvement in the political process

• Discovered that answers to questions were in some cases too general, vague, or politically correct

• Learned new and interesting facts about our nation’s history

• Learned about legislative student internship possibilities

Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant As the site of the worst nuclear accident in the United States, Three Mile Island (TMI) provides an excellent case study of the societal divide over nuclear power. Those who remember the accidents at TMI and Chernobyl often hold unfavorable views of nuclear power. Those who were born after the accidents tend to be more open to nuclear power as a current and future energy resource. This field trip is typically our last laboratory activity for the semester and is directly connected with the lecture topic “Fires of Nuclear Fission” (23). Prior to the field trip, we review the diagram for a nuclear power plant (24). Students readily grasp the similarities between a nuclear power plant and other power generation facilities they have studied, including the York County Resource Recovery Center field trip earlier in the semester. The major difference in these facilities is the energy source. Increased security concerns no longer allow drive-around tours of TMI; however, the plant can be viewed from a nearby visitor’s center. In the visitor’s center, a TMI representative provides a detailed explanation of the nuclear generating facility, the TMI accident, and current operating and safety procedures. The Center hosts a large wall mural clearly showing the reactor buildings and cooling towers for both the functioning Unit 1 and the decommissioned Unit 2 where the accident occurred. The technical description of the 1979 partial meltdown of Unit 2 expands well beyond information provided in our text (25). Scale models of a reactor dome, reactor core, fuel and control rods, and other nuclear components enhance learning. In an adjacent building, students are invited into a control room simulator where operators are trained. Students make a direct connection between TMI and the previously visited Resource Recovery Center’s electrical generation facility. Having already noted similarities in power generation diagrams, they also observe that the TMI control room, although larger and more complex, is similar to the York County Resource Recovery Center’s control room. In like manner, the TMI cooling towers, although more massive, function similarly to the Resource Recovery Center’s cooling towers.

Outcomes include

• Better understand how nuclear power is generated

• Better understand how nuclear waste is handled

• Were surprised that nuclear wastes are currently stored on site

• Were surprised that such a small quantity of nuclear fuel can produce so much energy

• Learned about the licensing process

• Learned interesting facts and details about the Unit 2 accident

• Learned that operators received extensive and ongoing training

Site Selection, Scheduling, and Organization The sites I select for field trips must provide a direct link with Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society published materials. Other than the congressional offices in Washington, DC, site locations must be accessible, be able to provide a quality field experience that fits within a three-hour laboratory time block, including driving time, and be able to accommodate a laboratory sized cohort of 20–24 students. Once contacts have been made, it is relatively easy to schedule field trips in subsequent semesters. If one of my routinely scheduled field trips cannot be arranged, I select another comparable field site; an example of one recent substitution was the Brunner Island coal fired power plant (26). You can refer to the Chemistry in Context text for field trip suggestions by considering pictures (labeled as figures) imbedded within each chapter. For example, in Chapter 4: “Energy, Chemistry, and Society”, the criteria I have listed for selecting field trip sites may allow you to visit an oil refinery (Figure 4.14) (27) or a newly constructed corn-to-ethanol facility (Figures 4.20 and 4.21) (28). It would not be feasible to visit the Three Gorges Dam in China (Figure 4.25) (29) but it may be reasonable to visit a hydroelectric dam within your region. The three local field trips discussed in this article should allow comparable field trips for many colleges and universities in the United States. Wastewater treatment facilities are widely distributed throughout the country. Although less widely distributed, waste-to-energy plants and nuclear power plants can be found in many states. The Integrated Waste Services Association (IWSA) Web site provides a state-by-state directory of the 89 operating waste-to-energy plants in 27 states scattered from coast-to-coast, and in Hawaii and Alaska (30). Operating nuclear power reactors can be found in 31 states; however, most are east of the Mississippi River. These reactors are listed by name and location at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Web site (31). I use York College vans for transportation and schedule them prior to the beginning of the semester to avoid conflicts. Students enrolled in my course can become “certified student drivers” for field trips by submitting their driver’s license information to our Public Safety office, taking a brief course, and passing a van field driving test. To schedule a field trip, it is best to contact the company representative who is responsible for community outreach or


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education. Company representatives I contact for the local field trips described in this article are

• York County Resource Recovery Center: Manager of Community Services Division

• Springettsbury Wastewater Treatment Facility: Director of Wastewater Treatment

• Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant: Communications Manager

The Washington, DC, field trip is somewhat more difficult to organize than local field trips. I generally combine several laboratory sections for this full-day field trip. I ask the students at the beginning of the semester to organize their schedules and contact their professors concerning any classes they may miss. For scheduling purposes, it is best to begin with your representative’s local office or your senator’s nearest in-state office. The staff in these offices will normally provide an email address or telephone number for the contact person who can schedule a meeting. Although we use college vans for all local field trips, a commercial bus transports us to Washington, DC. The commercial bus is more expensive but much safer than multiple student driven vans and it allows the entire group to be directly offloaded at the legislator’s office. It is not essential to travel to our nation’s capitol to achieve the primary goal of the Washington, DC, field trip that is to connect classroom discussions with our political process. In a recent semester while I was on sabbatical, an adjunct faculty member teaching my course arranged a successful field trip to meet with two of our state legislators in our state capitol, Harrisburg, instead of traveling to Washington, DC. Where it is not feasible to arrange a field trip to Washington, DC, I recommend that faculty consider field trips to meet with their state or local legislators. Many Chemistry in Context topics are directly linked to state and local political issues. Conclusions At the end of each semester, students provide course feedback in the form of student observations. These observations are anonymous and faculty members do not receive the forms until after grades are submitted for the semester. Nearly every student comments on the relevance and value of the field trips. Feedback includes

• Good learning experiences

• Fun, interesting, and informative

• Effective method

• Exciting to take class concepts and see how they work in the real world

• Really tied all the subject matter together

• Brought life to the course

• Better idea of what we were studying and how it is applied to real life

• Mixture of labs and field trips was great

• Enjoyed and enhanced the learning

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A recent independent survey collected data from students in my course to assess student perceptions of learning from traditional time-tested laboratory activities and from field trips. It was found that the majority of students felt that field trips were better educational experiences than were traditional laboratory exercises and recommended that the field trip portion of the class should be expanded.3 This is not to suggest that field trips should entirely replace traditional laboratories that allow students to draw conclusions from laboratory data and gain an understanding of the scientific method. Field trips can however complement traditional laboratory experiments by providing real-world learning situations that help put chemistry in context for non-science majors. Notes 1. The term context in the text title is derived from Latin meaning “to weave”. The objective is to weave complex connections when Applying Chemistry to Society. 2. Data were collected from three semesters (spring 2005, fall 2005, and fall 2006) of written student field trip laboratory reports. 3. Unpublished honors project by Jacob Mendoza. Survey and assessment of data for the Chemistry and Society course, spring 2007 semester.

Literature Cited 1. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006. 2. Feliu, A. L. J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78, 15–16. 3. Ball, J. J. Chem. Educ. 1993, 70, 656–657. 4. Hartman, J. S. J. Chem. Educ. 2005, 82, 234–239. 5. Stokes, J. C.; Lockhart, W. L.; Barnes, L. M. J. Chem. Educ. 1976, 53, 370. 6. Siggia, Sidney. J. Chem. Educ. 1968, 45, 680. 7. Séquin, M. J. Chem. Educ. 2005, 82, 1787–1790. 8. Breedlove, C. H., Jr. J. Chem. Educ. 1985, 62, 778–779. 9. Montgomery College. http://www.montgomerycollege.edu (accessed Jan 2008). 10. Gillette, M. L. Chemistry in Context Instructor Site. http:// chemincontext.eppg.com (accessed Jan 2008). 11. Jenkins, D. Chemistry in Context Instructor Site. http://chemincontext.eppg.com (accessed Jan 2008). 12. Garner, L. C.; Gallo, M. A. J. Col. Sci. Teach. 2005, 44, 14–17. 13. Steehler, G. A. Chemistry in Context Laboratory Manual: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006. 14. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; Chapter 4. 15. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; p 174. 16. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; pp 205–206. 17. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; Chapter 5.

Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 85 No. 5 May 2008 • www.JCE.DivCHED.org • © Division of Chemical Education

Chemistry for Everyone 18. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; pp 100–108. 19. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; pp 157–161. 20. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; pp 187–205. 21. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; pp 256–257. 22. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; Chapter 6. 23. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; Chapter 7. 24. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; p 318. 25. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.;

McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; pp 322–324. 26. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; Chapter 4 and Chapter 6. 27. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; p 194. 28. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; pp 204–205. 29. Eubanks, L. P.; Middlecamp, C.; Pienta, N.; Heltzel, C.; Weaver, G. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 2006; p 208. 30. Integrated Waste Services Association (IWSA) Home Page. http://www.wte.org (accessed Jan 2008). 31. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Home Page. http:// www.nrc.gov (accessed Jan 2008).

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