Using Available Resources to Enhance the Teaching of Hydrogeology

Teaching the concepts and fundamentals of hydrology and hydrogeology, particularly to undergraduates who have limited field experience, presents a challenge. Many innovations from working models to computer simulations have been used to improve visualization of the subject and to add a practical applied component to training. Recently, as a result of a partnership with private firms, two monitoring wells were completed on the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus to augment several previously installed porous-cup lysimeters. These enabled a graduate student to sample vadose and ground and surface water from a variety of streams, ponds, and seeps and to characterize the surface and subsurface water resources of the 700-acre campus. The investigation revealed a number of relationships such as the high sulfate concentrations in one of the monitoring wells, elevated concentrations of chloride in several surface water bodies, and an unexpectedly low concentration of ions in a pond on the campus golf course. The results of the study, and the convenient sampling sites available on the campus, are being used to strengthen the science curriculum. Students now have opportunities to obtain practical experience with water-quality sampling and analysis instruments and to improve their applied technical skills. They may also develop an appreciation of the difficulties involved with field sampling and measurement, and an understanding of the importance of proper handling of samples and accountability issues of sample collection and analysis.