Barnard Introduces Innovative Environmental Science Curriculum to Eight Colleges

Barnard introduced its innovative, multimedia environmental science curriculum Brownfield Action to eight colleges on April 11-13 in a seminar aimed at helping other schools adopt the program.

The workshop, led by Peter Bower, senior lecturer of environmental science, drew faculty and other participants from Skidmore, Wellesley, Connecticut College, Trinity University, Spelman, Carleton, Lafayette, and Rhodes Colleges for an intensive two-day seminar funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Center for Educational Technologies. The workshop was offered to faculty and administrative staff at colleges and universities in the Mid-Atlantic and New England states.

Bower said: “We feel that the workshop was successful in that the participants responded to it positively and at least half of them came up with concrete ways of how to integrate Brownfield Action into their science classes. We will follow up with these schools on how to best package this method for their learning needs. We also received helpful feedback on how to further develop the program as a variety of questions on how to best utilize the curriculum relating to different student bodies, class sizes, and overall science programs were addressed by the representatives from other colleges.”

Brownfield Action is the foundation for Barnard’s Introduction to Environmental Science, taught by Bower, who developed the program with Ryan Kelsey of Columbia University’s Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL).

“The seminar was a great opportunity for Professor Bower and me and the CCNMTL staff to share what we’ve learned through the experience of transforming his course through the purposeful use of technology. It was exciting to see so many of the participants enthusiastic about applying what they learned from the seminar to their educational goals at their respective institutions,” said Kelsey.

In class, students learn real-world lessons about cleaning up environmental disasters through Brownfield Action, a digital simulation that takes students step by step through the assessment of a contaminated mock factory. By navigating this CD-ROM and Web-based learning program, students form environmental consulting teams to assess a contaminated site as they use principles of geology, environmental science, physics, and biology, along with historical, legal and political knowledge gained in the classroom. The goal of the program is that students learn to do in the classroom what environmental consultants accomplish in the real world: walk through the site, investigate it, run tests and examine public records.

According to Bower, the Brownfield Action curriculum allows students to retain ideas, concepts and information more efficiently, resulting in more authentic reports, opposed to the traditional textbook methods.

The weekend’s seminar consisted of hands-on workshops and laboratory sessions where the participants were shown how to use the main software and the supporting materials, such as maps and other documents; they were also instructed in how to navigate the Brownfield Action Web site. The participants were also introduced to the wider curriculum, which includes lectures based on contemporary readings, including A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr and Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.

A professional evaluator from the Columbia Center for New Media, Teaching, and Learning will assess feedback from the seminar participants and also will provide follow-up over the course of a year on the impact of this seminar. The Brownfield Action conference was led by Bower and Kelsey in conjunction with other staff members.#

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