A Two Part Soil Contamination Laboratory Taught In An Introductory Environmental Science Course.

This presentation will cover a specific hands-on activity intended to teach students about the impacts of various pollutants on soil quality and plant growth. Students planted 5 fast-growing brassica rapa seeds in 8 separate petri dishes filled with potting mix. Seven of the petri dishes were treated with contaminants intended to mimic specific soil pollution scenarios. Two of the dishes were treated with NaCl (a high and a low treatment) intended to mimic soil degradation due to irrigation with a saline water source and the impacts of road salting respectively. Two were treated with Pb(NO3)2 (a high and low treatment) to mimic the impacts of metals contamination from heavy industry and the impacts of leaded gasoline respectively. Two were treated with HCl (a high and low level treatment) to mimic the impacts of slight and severe acid rain. One petri dish was treated with allelopathic chemicals extracted from the roots of an English Ivy (hedera helix) to show the impacts of invasive species and one petri dish had just deionized water added to it and acted as a control. Four weeks later, students harvested the seedlings and measured the length and mass of the shoots to quantify the growth impact of each soil treatment. Results from the experiment will be presented, in addition to the pedagogical impacts on the students understanding of soil pollution based on their answers to questions in the lab write up.