Protecting Our Lake: A Study on Water Pollution and Solutions (original) (raw)
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DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, 2020
The problems that exist within society are not only economic or political but also environmental. The increase in flooding, climate change, and desertification requires urgent attention, hence the need for coordinated efforts to help solve environmental problems. This study is targeted at students at the secondary school level based on the principle of "catching them young". The paper highlights some of the effects of water pollution, including the direct or indirect effect on humans as a result of the consumption of contaminated plants or animals. As a method of controlling environmental pollution, schools, communities, nongovernmental organizations, and the public should collaborate and emphasis should be placed on the need to conserve our natural resources and the synergy that exists between the environment and water. The study is qualitative in nature and strategies for effective teaching of water pollution in a classroom setting are discussed, which include analogies, pictorial and photo analysis and the use of value clarification. The results of the study are presented under the following headings: (i) students' experience, (ii) reactions and responses, and (iii) intention towards future implementation. The results indicate that students were excited about the developed instructional strategy. Water and environmental education are briefly discussed and its broad aim highlighted, which is to help people comprehend their ecological environment. The paper concludes by recommending that there should be proper monitoring, regulation, and control of the environment to combat water pollution and the media and non-governmental organizations should intensify efforts to create awareness on the dangers of environmental problems.
2011
In this paper, we explore some aspects regarding the introduction of an active learning approach to deal with environmental issues in secondary school during natural sciences lessons. Integrated curricular program and PBL (problem-based learning) are comprehensive approaches designed to engage students in investigation of authentic problems. We used a scenario regarding water as a socio-environmental issue to introduce the hydrosphere curricular topic. Two different ways were used for the presentation of the scenario. Here, we present students’ and teachers’ perceptions about the PBL approach, as well as students’ ideas about water proposed in both cases. Discussion among students was more active, when less input was given. Even though some difficulties arose, PBL approach was appreciated by the majority of students and teachers.
Environmental awareness of water pollution
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International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 2008
This study investigated the environmental learning of a group of senior geography students through a problem-based learning (PBL) field programme to see if the goals of education for the environment could be accomplished. In the PBL field programme, the students were given a problem statement concerning a real-life scenario of an old lady living in a remote village of Hong Kong. During the PBL field programme which also has adopted an action research framework, the students were observed to have identified the problem statement, set hypotheses, constructed the research methods and collected empirical data in an authentic environment all by themselves. This paper reports on the first cycle of this piece of action research. Data were collected both quantitatively and qualitatively via questionnaires, students' reflective journals, field observation notes and group interviews. The initial finding of this PBL field programme reveals that students had acquired more in-depth knowledge and extended their comfort zones in learning. They were able to develop and practice their critical thinking and problem-solving skills while they were working on the problem in the field. Although there was no evidence of sustained self-directed learning among the students, the PBL field programme offered them a framework for developing self-directed learning. An initial conclusion is that PBL in the field can provide a useful framework and direction for EE to accomplish the goals of education for the environment.
2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
He earned his Bachelor of Engineering (Civil Engineering) and Master of Technology (Chemical Engineering) in India. He later joined Texas A&M University and earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Civil (Environmental) Engineering. His research efforts are focused on drinking water quality and issues related to treatment of wastewater using physical, chemical, biological and electro-chemical/kinetic processes. His recent research efforts have been in the area of application of geographic information systems to environmental management and sustainability, causes/effects of salinity in soils and corrosion of metal pipes. Dr. Tewari has keen interest in STEM education, improving diversity in STEM areas, inclusion of hands-on and digital tools in curriculum.
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2009 Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
Stormwater ponds are vital for the control of floodwaters and the reduction in pollution loads reaching larger water bodies. Community awareness programs aim to reduce pollution in runoff from the built environment and this was the theme used to frame a class project which can be expanded to be an informal university wide awareness campaign. The University of South Florida (USF) is located in an impaired, closed watershed and its four stormwater ponds and wetlands area represent approximately 6.4% of the total area. A water quality monitoring program for these ponds is currently not in place and this class project was designed to provide a sustained way to gather that information and share with the rest of the university through the internet on the school's Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) chapter website. The ESW chapter recently initiated a similar program in a nearby economically disadvantaged community, East Tampa, which is currently beautifying three of its stormwater ponds. The Environmental Engineering Laboratory at USF is a required 1 unit course offered in the Fall and Spring semester each year with a total enrollment of 60 students each semester. Students work in teams of 3 to conduct experiments and write reports for a series of labs that explore water quality measurements (e.g. pH, turbidity, DO, hardness, phosphorous) and treatment processes (e.g. chemical precipitation, flocculation and settling, sorption, photocatalytic oxidation). Class lectures not only cover experimental approaches, but also used online videos that addressed issues of sustainability. After the videos, students brainstormed on sustainability as it applies to the laboratory experience and were asked to answer questions on sustainability issues at the end of their written lab reports. They are also required to conduct a group project at the end of the semester that takes advantage of the experience gained in the lab and available resources. Though previous classes developed their own projects, a new structure was examined in 2008 which used the stormwater pond as a theme for an overall class project with each of the 20 groups responsible for a unique set of measurements of a unique parameter using techniques learned in class, but not necessarily included as one of the lab experiments. For example, one group used a Quanta HYDROLAB to collect water quality data in the field and pull water samples from each pond. These samples were then analyzed by the various groups for parameters like alkalinity, nutrient concentrations (N, P), hardness, TSS, TDS, and COD. The students shared this information on a class wiki and each group presented their findings at the end of the semester, paying particular attention to describe the experimental technique used since not all students would have had the opportunity to perform the experiment. The final data set was uploaded to the university's ESW chapter website. This first class project established baseline conditions and subsequent classes will repeat the analyses thereby contributing to a long term monitoring program for the university. Opportunities to interface with other faculty through curriculum and research were explored for a truly integrated project that would include biological sampling and hydraulic measurements.
Education Driven by Problems. One Case Example Involving Environmental Management
Problems are intrinsically cross disciplinary, though the use of education driven by problems may foster habits that are much more connected to the real professional situation then do the typical academic solving mechanism. This paper discusses the advantages of cross-discipl inary education in enhancing horizontal, inter departmental collaboration. Real problems can be discussed also in several levels of comprehension and help university actions from research practices and graduate studies along the Engineering Education chain down to Freshman years and even to outreach actions in the K-12. This paper discusses the advantage of a theme treated in several levels of studies. We report efforts developed in the Centre for Sciences and Technology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in studying the environmental problem of a nearby lake ("Lagoa Project") by using the several problems associated to an important water resource in a urban area.