286-6 Close to Home: A Collaborative, Interdisciplinary Initiative using Field-Based Environmental Chemistry to Enhance STEM Learning Outcomes

Session: Balancing Tradition and Innovation: Evolving Geoscience Curricula for a Changing World, Part II

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A central feature of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) is helping students explore research questions where the outcome is unknown. CURE-based approaches are especially valuable for undergraduate students in STEM, as this type of active learning can include literature review, project design, sample collection, data analysis/visualization, and hypothesis testing that represent critical aspects of how ‘real science’ is undertaken outside the classroom. CURE-based approaches can be enhanced when coupled with other high-impact practices such as field work, a traditional part of the geoscience curriculum that is not often linked to other STEM disciplines. Field work, especially for universities located in urban settings, enhances a CURE-based curriculum by introducing students to the unfamiliar challenges associated with dynamic natural systems.

Since 2016, the Departments of Chemistry/Biochemistry and Environmental Science and Sustainability at St. Mary’s University, located on the westside of San Antonio, have collaborated to offer a course in Field-Based Environmental Chemistry. A center-piece of the course is student-led characterization of physicochemical conditions for urban creeks in the Upper San Antonio River watershed. Initially developed as a two-semester course focused on characterizing soils and surface waters at a city park under development downstream from the urban core, subsequent offerings have been shortened to a one-semester curriculum that works better with student schedules. With a shorter timeline, the focus has shifted to evaluating stream chemistries near the St. Mary’s campus. Spanning the 2020-2022 COVID-19 pandemic, we have offered the course using both in-person and virtual instruction methods.

Working together in small, collaborative groups, Chemistry and Environmental Science students are introduced to industry standards for environmental site assessment, as well as field and laboratory analytical methods. Guided by the instructors, students take the lead in developing and implementing field sampling strategies and laboratory methodologies. In summarizing the chemical conditions for the study area, students practice key skills such as QA/QC, data analysis/visualization, presenting to peers, and report preparation. Through this interdisciplinary CURE-based process, students also share perspectives across STEM disciplines, and develop a broader appreciation of the challenges associated with both field and lab work. Environmental Science students learn about the challenges of producing high-quality laboratory results, making the analytical process less ‘black box’, while Chemistry students experience their discipline in a dynamic, natural context.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

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