This project enables faculty to design laboratories in an introductory environmental science class that raise the scientific literacy of students with little or no scientific background through applying the pedagogy of learning. New equipment supports the creation of four laboratory exercises. These exercises are designed so that students apply the scientific method using recently developed data collection technology and computer software. The laboratory exercise sequence starts students at a relatively low conceptual level at which learning occurs through manipulating physical objects to observe cause and effect relationships. It concludes with a sampling exercise that involves students with a more intellectually sophisticated level of conceptual and analytical thought. The emphasis placed on intellectual development in this series of laboratory exercises is unique and highly useful in developing scientific literacy. The new equipment introduces scientifically illiterate students to (1) cause and effect relationships in science through the use of a ground water model and computer simulations that allow students to manipulate variables and watch the results, (2) methods of collecting and analyzing data that range from qualitative observations to the use of state-of-the-art environmental sensors and computers, and (3) effective communication of their discoveries and excitement in a written and mathematical form.
