Integrating Place-based Science and Data into Hydrology and Geoscience Education Using the CUAHSI Water Data Center Resources

Abstract:

"All water is local." For geoscientist researchers and educators, this simple statement underlies potentially powerful ways to engage students around hydrologic and engineering concepts. Education research has given us strong insight into how students learn. Place-based education gives students a personal and geographical context to connect concepts and processes to their everyday lives. Data-driven exercises build inquiry and critical thinking skills. With the ubiquity of water, the critical roles it plays in earth systems, and its influence on ecosystems, climate, geologic processes, economies, and human health, integrating water data and place-based exercises into the classroom is an excellent opportunity to enhance student learning and stimulate interest in the geosciences.

THE CUAHSI Water Data Center (WDC), established in 2013, is the culmination of a decade of work to adapt modern web services technology to work on time-series data (such as a gage record or water-quality series), the most common water data type. It provides unprecedented consolidated access to water quantity and quality data across the US (and increasingly across the world). This allows educators to craft learning exercises around key concepts and locations, from rote problem sets to more exploratory investigations. The web services technology used address key limitations - such as difficulty in discovering data, co-locating data, and download options and access- that have been identified as barriers to integrating real data in classroom exercises. This presentation discusses key aspects of the system, provides example exercises, and discusses how we seek to engage the community to effectively chart a path forward for further development of both the technological and education resources.