The topic of Environmental Toxicology had been in the curriculum for years and, then with the implementation of an environmental chemistry major, became part of the majors curriculum. The prior methodology was a traditional lecture-based course with exams and a final. After having a very rewarding and successful experience teaching bioethics to freshmen by cooperative learning the speaker adopted these methods in the advanced major course. There were still required textbooks, but one of them covered only contemporary issues in environmental areas. The students did pro/con debate presentations of these issues and were required to include aspects more timely than the publication date of the textbook. Lectures from the fundamentals book were presented, but the students were expected to incorporate that learning in their presentations. Most important, there were usually four to five outside experts in the area who presented guest lectures to the class, several from our own faculty. The students came away more engaged, informed and excited about the subject and continued to stay current on these topics. Self-learning from the fundamentals text worked well since most, but not all, were juniors and seniors. We drew students from environmental science majors as well, who were not as fluent in analytical and organic chemistry; however, they were teamed up with advanced students and guaranteed a quick lecture on those topics on a need-to-know basis. As a complement to this course, our university offers interterm international travel classes. We teamed up with the environmental science faculty at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and brought 6-10 students for two weeks just after Thanksgiving. There were lectures, talks, field trips and some field experiments that the students performed, many of whom were non-science majors. The mixture of disciplines, cultures and the advantage of an intensive 24/7 approach to the course provided a beneficial experience.

Teaching environmental toxicology by cooperative learning methods: Capstone travel course on the environment of Thailand

249th National Meeting (2015)

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