This project is creating an on-line instructor's manual and websites containing course modules, datasets, and materials for use individually by faculty and students in courses in physical geology, environmental geology, hydrogeology, and medical geology, or sequentially in an interdisciplinary science course that culminates in a mock trial enacted by students. The modules center around the landmark 'A Civil Action' case in which eight families in Woburn, Massachusetts filed suit against two local industries alleging improperly handled toxic chemicals entered the groundwater system, traveled to two municipal supply wells, and consumption of the contaminated water by local residents caused childhood leukemia and other health disorders. The modules are introducing the scientific methods and geoscience skills that enable students to explore, analyze, and interpret the geologic, hydrologic, and geochemical datasets from the actual trial. With these datasets and other course materials, students are constructing maps, graphs, and diagrams (used later as trial exhibits) to help them formulate and write their own professional opinions as 'expert witnesses' in the mock trial, where they present and defend their opinions before a judge and jury.
The project is fostering critical thinking skills, enhancing basic academic skills (data analysis, computational methods, and written and oral communication), and introducing scientific methods and geoscience skills. The intellectual merit of the project lies in students manipulating the actual trial datasets; creating, interpreting, and explaining the maps and graphs that they created; applying a variety of scientific principles and methods to address a poignant real-world problem; and teaching students how to formulate and defend their own opinions. In the broader view, this project is connecting STEM education to societal problems, demonstrating the role of science in society, particularly in the courtroom and in public health assessments, and documenting the need for professional ethics and standards.
