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Highlighting the role engineers have in solving community and global challenges has been shown to positively affect students' engineering identity development. Poor water quality and water scarcity have been recognized as a critical global issue by many organizations, including the United Nations. Students of all ages can relate to the importance of having drinkable water through their experiences with thirst, drought, floods, news stories, or just accidentally swallowing salt water while on holiday at a beach. This talk describes the development and implementation of a series of engineering education activities focused on water quality. These activities ranged from three-minute activities for community outreach events to week-long lessons for engineering freshmen. Younger students were able to readily recognize how using different types of filters and natural media can increase the clarity of water with particulate or color contamination. Middle and high school students were able to design and test filter set-ups and learn about the role of nanotechnology in water purification. They also developed analytical and data analysis skills through qualitative and quantitative water quality measurements. Freshman engineering students learned about the water industry, local and global water issues, and performed water quality sampling around their campuses using portable meters that log data via a cell phone app. The activities and results were then used to meet university-course outcomes related to the societal impacts of engineering, statistical analysis, plotting data, and written communication. By centering learning on a tangible and important engineering challenge, this work provides a flexible framework for learning and problem solving that can be tailored to the needs of students from different age groups and for different learning outcomes.
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Biosand filters for water purification
Hundreds of millions of people worldwide have limited access to safe, clean drinking water. Although for most Americans this problem may seem very far removed from their experience, there are many resources available on the internet that can bring the reality of water scarcity into the classroom. We have found this to be a problem that resonates with many students when they become aware of how it affects people their own age. Experimenting with BSFs is a way for students to participate in solving the problem of water scarcity, poor water quality, and inadequate sanitation that have negatively impacted the health and livelihoods for families around the world. In addition, it can provide students with a voice and empower their capacity in STEM in two ways, first by their authentic engagement in the SEPs, and second, by investigating ways to enhance the efficacy and operation of BSFs that could help those in need of an inexpensive way to purify their water
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- Award ID(s):
- 1827132
- PAR ID:
- 10313890
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The science teacher
- Volume:
- 2021
- Issue:
- March/April
- ISSN:
- 1943-4871
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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