Brownfield Action
Digital Spaces and a New Inquiry-Based Approach to Teaching and Learning Environmental Science
Visiting the Volunteer Ambulance Corps: In the site history
mode students can visit various locations and interact and gain
information from characters in the BA story. Here Emma Tee
of the Volunteer Ambulance Corps answers questions selected
from a menu.
Brownfield Action was created by
Dr. Peter Bower of Barnard College
and produced by the Columbia Center for New
Media Teaching and Learning
See the Brownfield Action Website
at:
http://brownfieldaction.org
Brownfield Action (BA) is a network-based,
interactive, digital space and simulation in which
students explore and solve problems in environmental
forensics. Students can utilize a host of tools including
laser theodolites, seismic reflection and refraction,
ground penetrating radar, magnetometry and metal
detection, excavation, soil gas, as well as groundwater
and sediment sampling using drilling and push
techniques and chemical tests for contaminants. The
playing field also includes a town complete with
infrastructure (buildings, roads, wells, water towers,
homes, businesses and residents) as well as a history
and storyline. There is a municipal government
complex with workers and officials and relevant
historical documents and permits.
BA Data Model: The BA playing surface is 2000 feet x 3200 feet,
extends to a depth of 300 feet with thirty layers of data, and
consists of over 2 million data points in a three-dimensional, tenfoot grid system
Since 1999 the BA simulation has been used in the
laboratory component of the Introduction to
Environmental Science course taught by Senior Lecturer
Peter Bower at Barnard College and is an integral part of
the semester long BA curriculum. At Barnard students
work collaboratively in teams of two, sign a contract
with a real-estate development corporation to conduct a
Phase One Environmental Site Assessment (ESA),
receive a budget, and then compete with other teams to
discover the hidden realities in the simulation and fulfill
the contract while maximizing profit. Because any
action taken by the consulting team costs money, a
budget and accounting page tracks the use of any of
these tools, the collection of documents, or interviews
with individuals found at the various simulation sites. To
reach a valid conclusion in the form of a professionallevel ESA and maps of the physical site (including
bedrock, water table and topography), student teams
must reconstruct a detailed narrative from diverse forms
of evidence, including socio-historical information
(interviews, permits and other documents) and a
scientific data-set obtained from judicious use of the
available tools in the simulation as well as in the
laboratory (such as sediment size analysis and
permeameter tests). Phase II and II investigations and
reports are also completed.
The reality embedded and to be discovered in the BA
simulation is one of septic fields, underground storage
tanks, and groundwater contamination complete with
underground contaminant plumes. Every investigative
team takes a different approach to finding this reality.
BA forces students to work as a team, make decisions,
and act on their perceptions in the interlocking realms
of theory and practical experience, and provides
practice at tackling the complexity and ambiguity of a
large-scale interdisciplinary science problem. The
organic, evolving, semester-long nature of this
inquiry-based process provides students with a better
understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of
science and its complicated relationship with the
economic, social, legal, and political structures of
society. As such BA is fundamentally civic-minded.
Introductory Video: On a local cable news station Seymour
Buckmeister, the President of Malls-R-Us, Inc., is interviewed
by Frank O’Ryan on Esker County Cable News Access and
explains the plans his development corporation has for building
a mini-mall on the former Self-Lume site and the reason for
hiring a consulting firm to perform an environmental site
assessment before he buys the property.
The BA curriculum replaces fragmented, abstract
instruction with an inquiry-based, integrated,
interdisciplinary, and realistic construction of
knowledge. BA is characterized by civic-mindedness,
teamwork and communication, business awareness,
initiative, problem-solving, and ownership of learning.
Use of the BA simulation is growing and can be
adapted to curriculum and classroom needs of
individual users. The BA simulation is already being
used in the upper level hydrology course and ESA
courses at Lafayette and Connecticut Colleges and in
upper level as well as general science courses at
Georgia State College and University.
News Article - Residents React to Prospect of Mall Plans: Newspaper articles such as this give the student companies important
information about individual residents, the history of the site they are investigating, and other leads to follow.
History - Wedging Nursery: The BA site map is shown here with
the History tab activated and with a student visiting the Wedging
Nursery (highlighted in red). Photos of the nursery as well as the
owner of the nursery (one of the characters in the BA story)
appear and a video may be activated in which the owner answers a
series of automatically posed questions. Students may ask further
questions (again at a price) by activating the interactive question
mode.
Peter Bower, Senior Lecturer, Ph. D.
Dept. of Environmental Science
Barnard College / Columbia University
3009 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10027
pb119@columbia.edu
Magnetometry/Metal-Detection(MMD):
This page shows a zoomed-in portion of the BA site map (see
turquoise box in the inset map under “Map Controls” for
location on the larger site) with the Testing Mode activated and
with a student selecting the MMD tool. Note the red dots (x,y
coordinates) where a MMD test will be run. The student chooses
these grid points by using cross-hair pointers and clicking on
the desired location. The student company will then receive a
readout of any ferrous signal occupying the selected area and
their account will be charged for subcontracting this service.
8/1/2008