Mabee, S.B. and L. Brown. Dedicated hydrogeology/geophysical field laboratory for enhancing undergraduate education (submitted to Journal of Geoscience Education).

A dedicated outdoor field laboratory has been constructed on the University of Massachusetts campus to provide students with practical, hands-on experience in the application of groundwater and shallow geophysical research techniques. The field laboratory consists of two components: a well field and a geophysical test site. The well field has a four-inch pumping well and six, two-inch observation wells drilled into a leaky confined aquifer. Students can do well-constrained hydrogeological investigations, including step test and pumping test analyses, slug tests, and learn proper techniques for water-quality testing. The geophysical test site is comprised of various objects (steel and plastic drums, steel and plastic pipes, cables, and metallic debris) buried at known depths. Students can use different geophysical techniques (ground penetrating radar, electromagnetic induction, earth resistivity, seismics, and magnetics) to decipher the location, depth, shape and type of each object. The dedicated field laboratory benefits undergraduate education by: 1) providing an active research-based learning environment; 2) affording opportunities to collect, analyze, and interpret field data in a real situation; 3) providing a well-constrained environment for assessing student learning and performance; and, 4) including disciplines beyond geosciences such as environmental science, and civil and environmental engineering.

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