The Brownfield Action Simulation

Brownfield Action (BA) is a web-based environmental science simulation developed by the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning at Columbia University and Dr. Peter Bower of Barnard College. In the simulation, students investigate the possibility of groundwater contamination in a virtual, fictional township by exploring the town’s infrastructure, meeting pertinent parties, and performing hydrological surveys and tests to gain an understanding of the groundwater system of the municipality.

Over twenty-five locations can be visited and forty-five characters can be interviewed including town residents, business owners, and local government officials. Students are presented with maps, documents, videos, and an extensive network of scientific data, mined with a suite of geological and hydrological testing tools to aid their investigation in determining the nature of any found contamination in the virtual town.

Pedagogy

The design of Brownfield Action’s inquiry-based learning approach successfully combines the environmental, economic, and civic importance of brownfields and pollution of groundwater with the medical and legal consequences of environmental hazards to public health in a digital space. As a central laboratory component of Dr. Bower’s Introduction to Environmental Science course at Barnard College, students use the simulation to perform Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments and work collaboratively to explore and solve problems in environmental forensics.

Awards

First developed in 1999, Brownfield Action has been nationally recognized by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and was featured as a model curriculum at the Association’s SENCER Institute (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities). Development of the latest evolution of the simulation is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, with the broader goal of disseminating the project to other colleges and universities.