Department ___Geoscience / Science Education _________________________ Date ___February 1, 2003___________

___201______________ ___Investigative Science I: Earth—The Water Planet______________ __4_________

Course No. Course Name Credits

This proposal is for a(n) __X___ Undergraduate Course

Applies to: ______ Major ______ Minor

_____ Required _____ Required

_____ Elective _____ Elective

University Studies (A course may be approved to satisfy only one set of outcomes.):

Course Requirements:

_____ 1. College Reading and Writing _____ 1. Humanities _____ 1. Critical Analysis

_____ 2. Oral Communication _X __ 2. Natural Science _____ 2. Science and Social Policy

_____ 3. Mathematics _____ 3. Social Science _____ 3. a. Global Perspectives

_____ 4. Physical Development & Wellness _____ 4. Fine & Performing Arts _____ b. Multicultural Perspectives

_____ 4. a. Contemporary Citizenship

_____ b. Democratic Institutions

Flagged Courses: _____ 1. Writing

_____ 2. Oral Communication

_____ 3. a. Mathematics/Statistics

_____ b. Critical Analysis

Provide the following information (attach materials to this proposal):

Please see "Directions for the Department" on previous page for material to be submitted.

Department Contact Person for this Proposal:

__Cathy Summa_________________________________ __457-5269______ __csumma@winona.edu_________

Investigative Science I: Earth—The Water Planet is a new course, designed specifically for

elementary education majors. The course will be taught in relatively small sections (< 40

students/section), and will be required of all elementary education majors. The course will meet in

a two-hour block three times weekly, in an effort to better combine lecture and laboratory

material. This course will integrate content material from each of the natural sciences so that

students develop an in-depth picture of the significance of water on Earth.

Development of this course is supported by a grant from NASA, which seeks to encourage

The primary focus of this course is to provide students the opportunity to understand how

scientists approach and solve problems, and to give students the opportunity to engage in

scientific study for themselves. Students will be taught the scientific method, and then will

be expected each day to apply that method to understanding problems as related to water in

their environment. Additionally, they will be taught the unique methods employed in

interpreting and solving problems in each of the natural sciences, and how the integration of

scientific disciplines can help to better understand complex issues. Students will be required

to pose scientific questions, collect and analyze data relevant to solving problems, and

Students will be challenged to apply concepts learned in class to solve problems posed by the

instructors and by themselves. Each course unit will be tied to a question related to water in a

students daily life. The goal is to help students begin to look at their world as scientists look

at it, and to help stimulate students natural curiosity, so that they become enthusiastic about

teaching science in their future classroom. One example of a unit-leading question might be:

"why are their always spots left on the shower door?" Students will design an experiment that

leads to solution of the problem, via a guided inquiry approach. All problems will be somewhat

simplified so that they can be solved using everyday materials that would be appropriate to use

in an elementary classroom, but will nonetheless represent the application of real science. We

believe this technique will make our preservice teachers more enthusiastic about and likely to

Students will be given regular problem sets in this course, that require them to work with

simple mathematical and/or physical relations to solve scientific problems. For instance, we

expect to concentrate on such issues as scale, to give students a way to see complex

relationships more realistically as compared to their everyday experiences. As related to the

question of water spots (above), students might design an experiment in the lab that enables

them to measure the volume of "spots" left on the shower door, and then calculate a reasonable

estimate of the volume left after their own shower. Following that calculation, they will be

asked to estimate (calculate) the volume of salt/gallon, and extrapolate that figure to the

entire water system in Winona.

In addition to mathematical reasoning, students will be asked to make almost daily use of

inductive reasoning to solve realistic scientific problems. After learning about processes on

Earth that require water to proceed, students will be presented with data and observations

from other planets. They will then be asked to reason out solutions based on these

observations and similarity of processes.

The development of such mathematical and inductive reasoning skills is a stipulation of the

Students will be engaged daily in collaborative and independent problem-solving activities. This

will be accomplished via formative assessment activities associated with each lecture topic

such as the think-pair-share or concept mapping techniques. Independent learning is ensured

by assigned problem sets, quizzes, and in-class exams. Collaborative learning is ensured by

required laboratory teams, where each group member has an assigned (but rotating) roll, and is

Previous grants obtained by the faculty group involved in this program have supported the

purchase of a collection of CD-ROM’s relevant to course material. The WSU Library has also

supported this program by purchasing a large collection of science-education material.

Numerous internet sites related to water issues are available, many of which provide real-time

data. Students will be both encouraged to use these resources to aid their studying, and

required to use these materials as parts of their projects. These tools, coupled with homework

assignments that require students to search for and access particular NASA- or other

government agency-sponsored web resources, allow students the opportunity to become

familiar with the use of technology and information science in the context of water resources

Students in this course will be presented data relating to various aspects of water. Some of

these data are potentially conflicting. Students must sort through the information, and by

applying the scientific method, come to a reasonable interpretation of the data. Student

predictions will be checked against those of the "experts" and of their own experiments so

that conflicting data may be evaluated to give students a better sense of how scientific data

One of the main goals of this course is to help students recognize and correct the

misconceptions they hold regarding science. In the context of this course, misconceptions

addressed range from helping students recognize science versus pseudoscience, to helping

students understand the scientific causes of particular problems versus "folklore". Discrepant

demonstrations will be used whenever possible to force students to recognize and confront

their misconceptions; these will be followed by class activities designed to help students

overcome and replace these misconceptions with accurate representations of scientific

concepts. Examples include such topics as the state of matter (water as solid, liquid, and gas),

All students enrolled in this course will be required to participate in the laboratory. We hope

to "blur" the line between discrete lecture and laboratory experiences by integrating topics and

activities naturally throughout the semester. We expect that students will be engaged in hands-on,

investigative activities during each class session. We have purposely scheduled the class to meet in

three two-hour blocks, in part to force the instructors to design ‘lab’ activities to accompany class

each day. Each laboratory exercise asks students to investigate and collect data, and then to

interpret their results in the context of course material. Their final results are reported in a

variety of ways, including written reports, completion of data analysis sheets, and short

interpretations of spreadsheets.

The purpose of this class is to become familiar with the fundamentals of science in a

manner that also prepares you to teach science in your future elementary classroom. It is

important that elementary students be allowed and encouraged to explore their world, and

that teachers of students at this young age support their curiosity. Too many students come

to college claiming to hate science. When pressed, many say that they had a miserable teacher

in their k-12 years that didn’t answer their questions, or that made them memorize a textbook.

Science is so critically important to understanding our world, that we want the future teachers

of our nations children to be enthusiastic about science so that their future students will

likewise be passionate about science.

One of the easiest ways to engage children in science is to help them understand the

things in their everyday world. To that end, we will explore the science of water. Since water

is central to life on our home planet, and because you can be pretty certain you’ll find water in

the school you’ll teach in someday, we decided to study water. The human body is roughly 75%

water; the surface of planet Earth is roughly 75% water covered; water is critical to life, as

well as to many of the processes that happen all around us on this planet. This course will help

you understand some of those processes, and give you the tools you’ll need to figure out the

rest of them. Most importantly, this course will help you learn how to engage kids in exploring

their world, by designing and conducting simple, cheap, and safe experiments that can be

Course activities described throughout the remainder of this syllabus will be coded to the

above list of outcomes by the corresponding letter. These outcomes will be integrated throughout

course content—each new topic will be presented in a manner in which the student will be able to

understand and apply the methods by which scientists approach and solve problems in the natural

sciences, using inductive reasoning or mathematics (outcomes a-c). Common scientific

misconceptions will be identified at the start of each topic, and class material will be directed

toward correcting those misconceptions (outcome g). You will be asked to work collaboratively on

certain in-class activities and independently on homework and exams (outcome d). In-class and

homework assignments will require that you work with the internet, textbook CD-ROM’s, and other

sources to critically evaluate scientific information as it relates to Water (outcomes e, f). During

class meetings, you will have the opportunity to engage in hands-on scientific investigation of

phenomena related to water on Earth and other planets, and will be required to analyze and report

the results of your investigations (laboratory outcome). You will be required to participate in field

activities, both during class time and outside of class meetings, primarily as a way to collect data

relevant to class investigations (laboratory outcome). Specifically, we will be working at field sites

along the Mississippi River, Lake Winona, and Garvin Brook. In addition, there will be a required

Saturday field trip to Forestville State Park/Mystery Cave. This trip will leave WSU at 7 AM and

return by 7 PM. The course fee you paid upon registration will cover your transportation on this

trip; you will be responsible for providing your own food and drink, More information will be

information, on exams. You should strive to achieve as complete and sound a scientific

interpretation as possible, by trying to integrate information across discrete chapters of the

text.

Because scientific understanding does not usually progress in a vacuum—it is through

discussions and arguments with colleagues that most advances stem—we encourage you to work

in groups and to discuss your ideas and to work through confusing concepts with your

classmates. One of the best ways to study and understand and learn is to form a small study

group—quiz one another. Make up questions that you think we’d ask on the exam, and be

certain you can answer them. If you can accurately explain a concept to your peers, then you

can feel comfortable that you understand it. If you’re confused in doing this, you’re likely to

Class attendance is essential for success. You are responsible for knowing what is covered

and assigned in class regardless of whether or not you are present. You will also be working in

teams to complete in-class activities and laboratory investigations. Each team member will be

assigned a specific role; your absence will impair your teams ability to complete their tasks. You will

have team activities every day in class, so your absence any day will hurt your entire team. Teams

will be required to develop a way to handle absences. Assignments will not be accepted on papers

torn out of notebooks; all assignments must be neat, legible, and on paper with clean edges. We will

not regurgitate a lecture during office hours simply because you chose not to attend class. Videos

shown in class will not be made available outside of class. Attendance and participation will be

considered in determining your final grade.

Cheating of any kind will result in a score of zero for that exam or assignment (which cannot

be dropped in the computation of your final grade), and you will be reported to school authorities.

If you discuss an assignment with someone else, you are both expected to write up your answers

individually and in your own words. It is a violation of academic honesty (in other words, cheating)

to turn in answers copied from another students paper, even if you worked together to achieve the

There will be two lecture exams during the semester. These exams will be in part

comprehensive, but will concentrate largely on the material covered immediately prior to the exam.

Each exam will be worth 20% of your final grade.

The final exam will be comprehensive, and worth 20% of your final grade. If you understand

the material covered on each of the lecture exams, you will be in good shape for the comprehensive

portion of the final. Everyone is required to take the final exam. Students are expected to work

individually on all exams, and to leave space between yourself and other students in the class

whenever possible.

Your laboratory performance will be worth 30% of your final grade. Laboratory performance

will be evaluated by rubric scoring of your laboratory report and experimental design.

The final 10% of your grade is based on class participation as determined by your team

evaluation. Each team member will evaluate all team members each time a laboratory report is

turned in. Team evaluations will be based upon attendance and participation, contribution to the

group projects, and contribution to group learning.

Because this class counts for general-education laboratory credit, you must PASS the lab

portion of the class with a grade of "D" or better. If you fail the lab, you will fail the class,

despite your performance on lecture exams.

In the event that a snow-day falls on the same date as a scheduled exam, the exam will be

http://course1.winona.edu/csumma

Fall 2003 PA 102 MWF 1-2:50 PM

AAAS Benchmarks for Science Literacy, Project 2061, 1993, Oxford University Press, 418 p.

Laptop; colored pencils, Winona West Quadrangle topographic map, ruler, laboratory notebook.

A. Stream types (Braided vs. Meandering)

B. Gradient, velocity, and channel morphology

A. connection to surface water

A. circulation

B. relation to ocean circulation (el niño vs. la niña)

A. Flow characteristics (laminar vs. turbulent)

B. Flow through porous media

C. Types of stream load (bed load, suspended load, dissolved load)

A. relation to sediment transport

B. relation to ecology

C. relation to erosion and channel stability

A. Hardness

B. Salinity

A. relationship to dissolved load

A. pollution / contamination issues

B. sinktop filters vs. water treatment mechanisms

A. microbial communities

A. bacteria vs. viruses

B. other microscopic organisms in water

A. relationship to contaminants

B. importance of water to supporting macroscopic life

A. water as a greenhouse gas

B. other greenhouse gases

C. global warming