Brownfield Action: Dissemination of a SENCER Model Curriculum and the Creation of a Collaborative STEM Education Network

Authors

Peter Bower, Barnard CollegeFollow
Ryan KelseyFollow
Joseph Liddicoat, Barnard CollegeFollow
Doug M. Thompson, Connecticut CollegeFollow
Angelo Lampousis, CUNY City CollegeFollow
Bret Bennington, Hofstra UniversityFollow
Bess Greenbaum Seewald, Columbia Grammar & Preparatory SchoolFollow
Arthur D. Kney, Lafayette CollegeFollow
Saugata Datta, Kansas State UniversityFollow
Lawrence D. Lemke, Wayne State UniversityFollow
Briane Sorice Miccio, Professional Children’s SchoolFollow
Tamara Graham, Haywood Community CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Abstract

Brownfield Action (BA) is a web-based environmental site assessment (ESA) simulation in which students form geotechnical consulting companies and work together to solve problems in environmental forensics. Developed at Barnard College with the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, BA has been disseminated to ten colleges, universities, and high schools, resulting in a collaborative network of educators. The experiences of current users are presented describing how they have incorporated the BA curriculum into their courses, as well as how BA affected teaching and learning. The experiences demonstrate that BA can be used in whole or in part, is applicable to a wide range of student capabilities and has been successfully adapted to a variety of learning goals, from introducing non-science-literate students to basic concepts of environmental science and civic issues of environmental contamination to providing advanced training in ESA and modeling groundwater contamination to future environmental professionals.