- There are few better laboratories than our natural world.
- For Dr Douglas Sims of the College of Southern Nevada (CSN), USA, this includes rivers.
- Rivers can also be crucibles for kindling student interest in STEM subjects.
- Through first-hand research, students studied levels of ‘forever chemicals’ in 16 rivers. They discovered a sobering yet encouraging reality of science.
- Such transformative learning through hands-on-research at CSN enables students to succeed, achieve, and prosper.
There are probably few better ways to kindle within students a connection with science, technology, engineering, or mathematics than by exploring the vast and beguiling laboratory that is our natural world. While valuable modes of information transfer, school classrooms and the media cannot beat complete immersion in a subject of study, and nature is bountiful in that regard. However, there is a way to add extra energy to the learning: if the subject under scrutiny has meaning. The outcome is transformative learning.
Douglas Sims, the Dean of the School of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics at the College of Southern Nevada (CSN) in the United States, knows this very well, which is why he finds rivers perfect laboratories for students to get hands-on, or rather, hands-in.
Dr Sims helped students hold a metaphorical stethoscope to some of the country’s rivers, looking for the telltale trace of what could be harming them.
Rivers are more than moving bodies of water. They connect and separate people, and just as they meander within and between towns, cities, and states, they link Americans sprawling interior with its vast coastline, and connects to the nation’s past. Rivers are, in many ways, the pulsating veins of America’s identity and are intertwined with the American way of life.
They are also critical for life. According to the United States Geological Survey, nearly 85% of the country’s drinking water originates from surface waters such as rivers and lakes. It makes sense that their health should be of utmost importance. There’s growing concern that all is not well, so Sims helped students hold a metaphorical stethoscope to some of the country’s rivers, looking for the telltale trace of what could be harming them.
The curse of ‘forever chemicals’
Most rivers that weave through urban settlements carry the residue of the towns and cities they touch. Of particular interest to Sims are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Unfortunately, many rivers globally and within the US are being polluted with known and unknown PFAS compounds. These are a broad range of artificial substances used in products like non-stick cookware, cardboard coatings (think: disposable coffee cups and takeaway food containers), adhesives, waterproof clothing, and personal care products. They’ve earned the epithet ‘forever chemicals’ because of their reluctance to break down in the environment. While the US no longer actively manufactures certain PFAS, they are still widely used, sooner or later finding their way into the country’s waterways. The question is: to what extent, and are they doing any harm?
In 2022, Sims led teams of students to study how common these PFAS chemicals are in 16 rivers in the Western United States and to try and figure out where these chemicals are coming from and what risks they might pose to the environment.
If the students wanted a real taste of science in action, Sims asserts it was important that they immerse themselves in the task, so they were involved at every stage, including planning, sampling, instrumentation, data review, and manuscript preparation. He had a scientist’s calculated hunch that the students would find the experience enlightening, empowering, and hopefully, a little shocking.
A sobering yet encouraging reality
Between October 2022 and March 2023, the students collected water samples from almost 200 sites across 16 rivers and analysed them for 7 different PFAS compounds. Knowing that the primary sources of PFAS in surface water include effluent from wastewater treatment plants, stormwater run-off, and emissions from industrial facilities, Sims selected sites upstream and downstream of such sources. He hypothesised this should provide the students with data evidence of human impacts.
Dr Sims hypothesised this should provide the students with data evidence of human impacts.
The students discovered that, as hypothesised, PFAS concentrations and types differed from river to river and across different points in the same river. For example, median concentrations of perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), a PFAS compound and immune system toxicant, were far higher in the Los Angeles, San Juan, and Santa Cruz Rivers than in the Colorado, Rio Grande, and Willamette Rivers. Yet, concentrations of perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA), known to attack the liver, were higher in the Columbia, Rio Grande, and Willamette Rivers than in the Sacramento and Santa Cruz Rivers. Notably, PFAS were quantified in 73% of the samples, something not lost on the students.
As Sims points out, a vital part of the ecological risk assessment was to provide a better understanding of the potential effects of environmental stressors created by anthropogenic activities on biota. While the data suggested any ecological risk to biota currently is low for a single-generation chronic impact to occur, the students became acutely aware of a sobering yet paradoxically encouraging reality of scientific research: every study, no matter how significant the data, is only a minute piece in a vast and dizzyingly complex puzzle. As such, there is still much work to be done to understand the risks posed by individual PFAS and the combined effects of multiple PFAS on aquatic organisms and humans.
Succeed, achieve, and prosper
The purpose of the CSN School of Science, Engineering and Mathematics is to help its students complete the science and maths requirements to earn a CSN degree or certificate in STEM subjects.
It provides a solid foundation for the skills they will need in a myriad of different disciplines. It guides their first steps to a fuller understanding of our natural world, and under the mentorship of the likes of Sims, it’s a path that sparks a sense of wonder.
What is crucial to kindling an interest in STEM subjects in students?
It is important to build a student’s confidence to succeed in STEM programmes and careers by providing programming that excites the student. One way of doing this is by involving them in real world environmental issues that drive news stories and government regulations. When a student performs hands-on learning, they are inspired to believe in their abilities. It also emboldens them to reimagine their potential, and prepares them to bring their dreams to life.
What key lessons did the students in this study learn concerning the discipline of science?
The importance of STEM education is not just about jobs, it is about creating curious individuals eager to solve the world’s most pressing problems. At CSN, we are doing this with hands-on-research resulting in our students learning the following:
1. Research calls for the utmost patience, resilience, and sacrifice.
2. There will be long days, failed work, frustrations, and excitement when things go well.
3. Not everyone will understand the topic at the start, why we do things the way we do them, and the Scientific Method.
4. Failure is a positive factor in science.
5. Don’t give up because at some point success will follow.
6. Research is not just about you but the interconnected world we all live in.
7. Finally, research offers a great amie environment to learn, teach and share and a continuous process in life with no end.
What lessons did you learn?
All students, regardless of their level of abilities, have the potential to become a great scientist. Instruction should promote students to believe ‘they can do this.’ Teaching students’ strengths helps them develop confidence in their own abilities and empowers them to perform better, all while establishing a STEM mindset. Moreover, every learning experience is an opportunity for assessing a student’s own growth. Providing feedback to a student on their performance and areas of growth aids students confidence in their learning. Finally, teaching a student that a good scientist does tasks, but a great scientist takes risks is the most rewarding thing a scientist can do in their career.
What was the most common feedback you received from students about the experience?
Our students learned that they could learn in the study of STEM. The most dominant feature they learned was teamwork, critical thinking, curiosity, individuality, and independence are all part of a great scientist, not just the findings. Not surprisingly, they learned many of these lessons during their interaction with fellow students, faculty, and research assistants during the project.
What outcome of this study surprised you?
Forever chemicals (ie, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a considerable concern due to their persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity, and widespread contamination. There is currently limited data on their occurrence in surface waters in the Western United States and beyond. While PFAS health risks have been assessed with both human and laboratory animals, it is still unclear whether exposure to sublethal levels of PFAS compounds (ie, PFOS) in the environment will cause environmental health risk to humans and animals. The potential risk may be associations with some PFAS compounds like PFOS leading to health effects such as increased cholesterol, liver damage, and even impacts to the endocrine system. Finally, using cutting edge science with real world problems, excite all students to learn, engage, participate, leading them to Achieve, Succeed, and Prosper in their lives.
