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Bringing the Laboratory into the Lecture Hall

Abstract:: As part of their general education studies, all students at the University of Kentucky must take two natural science courses. Many non-science majors choose the biology sequence of courses. Unfortunately these courses are lecture-only courses, and so some students can graduate without ever having had a science laboratory course. In an effort to provide students with some laboratory experience, I have developed / adapted a number of laboratory activities, which I have successfully incorporated into a non-majors biology course (Human Ecology). These activities are carried out in a lecture hall with 300 students in 50-minute time periods. In this chapter, two of these laboratory activities are presented. 1) Soil Testing - students test soil samples for nitrogen, potassium, phosphate and pH; compare the relative fertility of different soil samples; and carry out an inventory of animal and microbial life in soil samples. 2) Water Pollution Testing - students examine the effects of household chemicals on water quality (from Using Fast Plants and Bottle Biology in the Classroom, published by National Association of Biology Teachers, 1994, ISBN #0-941212-17-3).

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Nutrients National Synthesis Project

Abstract:: This USGS site provides access to data sets collected by the National Water-Quality Assessment Program. It features fact sheets, reports, bibliographies, additional data sets and links to other resources about nutrients in streams, rivers and aquifers of the United States. The site briefly explains what nutrients are, how they are used in the agricultural industry, how they react chemically in the environment, some of the transport processes that introduce them to surface and groundwater, and why excessive nutrients create water quality problems.