Conference proceeding
H (sub 2) Oh! Classroom demonstrations and activities for improving student learning of water concepts
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Vol.2012
Dec 2012
Abstract
Research has shown that the use of demonstrations and hands-on activities in the classroom enhances student learning. Students learn more and enjoy classes more when visual and active learning are incorporated into the lecture. Most college-aged students prefer visual modes of learning, while most instruction is conducted in a lecture, or auditory, format. The use of classroom demonstrations provides opportunities for incorporating visual and active learning into the classroom environment. However, while most instructors acknowledge the benefits of these teaching methods, they typically do not have the time and resources to develop and test such activities and to develop plans to incorporate them into their lectures. Members of the Excellence in Water Resources Education Task Committee of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) have produced a publication that contains a collection of activities aimed to foster excellence in water resources and hydrology education and improve student learning of principles. The book contains forty-five demonstrations and activities that can be used in water-related classes with topics in fluid mechanics, hydraulics, surface water hydrology, groundwater hydrology, and water quality. We present examples of these activities, including topics such as conservation of momentum, buoyancy, Bernoulli's principle, drag force, pipe flow, watershed delineation, reservoir networks, head distribution in aquifers, and molecular diffusion in a porous medium. Unlike full laboratory exercises, these brief demonstrations and activities (most of which take less than fifteen minutes) can be easily incorporated into classroom lectures. For each demonstration, guidance for preparing and conducting the activity, along with a brief overview of the principles that are demonstrated, is provided. The target audience of the activities is undergraduate students, although the activities also may be used in K-12 and graduate classes.
Metrics
6 Record Views
Details
- Title
- H (sub 2) Oh! Classroom demonstrations and activities for improving student learning of water concepts
- Creators
- A. Chan-Hilton - Florida State University Tallahassee, FL USA United StatesRoseanna M. NeupauerS. J. BurianW. LauerP. P. MathisenDavid C. MaysMira S. OlsonChristine A. PomeroyB. L. RuddellA. SciortinoAnonymous
- Publication Details
- American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Vol.2012
- Conference
- American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting (2012)
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
- Identifiers
- 991019222767204721