In any city, students experience the effects of dynamic earth processes through local climate conditions (such as the urban heat island) or as health consequences of exposure to contaminated air, water, and soil. These tangible impacts on students’ lives have a physical basis in geochemistry that can be used to guide content in general education courses at the college level and motivate students to choose environmental earth science as majors and careers. We have developed a general education course on the significance of environmental earth science to Chicago’s economy and history as part of a project in the NSF program “Pathways into the Geosciences”. The course is offered on the university campus to students from partner high schools in the Chicago Public Schools district who have an interest in STEM, but little to no access to geoscience instruction. Geochemical topics are introduced via use and collection of authentic data, discussion of recent news articles, a local field trip with stops highlighting how climate and contamination are linked to the development of Chicago, visits to our research laboratories, and discussion with alumni who work in environmental consulting companies or government agencies. We will present successful approaches and lessons learned for conveying geochemical concepts in activities on climate change (e.g., origin of Lake Michigan, measurement of local temperature and CO<sub>2</sub>), and contamination of urban air, water, and soil (e.g., industrial metals and metal byproducts, measurement of soil mercury, and environmental justice).<br/>

Introducing geochemical concepts in a dual-enrollment course on climate and contamination in Chicago

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.