Brownfield Action

Brownfield Action is a simulation that provides a learning environment for developing the skills in environmental science. The simulation places students in a virtual town and asks them to serve as consultants to a real estate developer who wants to avoid purchasing potentially contaminated land. Pairs of students form environmental consulting companies to investigate a hypothetical abandoned factory site in a small town. A mall developer who wishes to purchase the factory site contracts with each two-student company to conduct an investigation, write a report, and construct maps of the site's basic geology, topography, and any contamination they discover.

To complete the maps and report, students must first gather a site history from the town's resources. Through the simulation, students visit government offices, businesses, and residences to conduct interviews with town's officials and citizens and obtain public documents. Using the information obtained from the town's history, students then conduct a series of environmental tests to determine the presence, extent, and probable cause of any contamination. Over two million data points are available for collection throughout the 2000 by 3200 foot land area, including bedrock and water table data as well as contamination concentrations at depths of over 150 ft. This vast quantity of data, both through the site history and the environmental testing, allows for an infinite number of strategies for testing and a unique data set for every student company. Successful students maintain a low operating budget and clearly identify the cause and extent of the contaminated areas on the site.

Brownfield Action 2.0 Web site
Showcase: Brownfield Action 2.0
A complete evaluation of version 1.0 in PDF format is available for download.

Heart Simulator

Dr. Daniel Burkhoff and Dr. Mark Dickstein are collaborating with CCNMTL on the development of a Java-based online heart simulator. This project serves as a model of a mathematically-based science simulation and is the first of many body system simulators. The simulator models the pressure-volume relationship of the heart and contains numerous parameters that can be manipulated to simulate various conditions and pathologies useful for the teaching and learning of the function of the heart. The simulation provides a continuous graphic output of the relationship between pressure and volume in the heart under varying conditions. The tool will be used to augment class presentations and to provide exercises and experiments for students to try independently online.

The Heart Simulator Web site

News Reporting Simulation

Using the News Reporting Simulation, NewsSim, Journalism students in Reporting and Writing I will practice news gathering skills, interviewing techniques and lead writing in a controlled digital environment that approximates some of the conditions found in the real world by reporters covering common news stories. In the first version of NewsSim, launched in the Fall of 2001, students cover a fire in a local apartment building as a spot news story. The simulation will ultimately contain several scenarios, each intended to teach students a different aspect of news reporting.

NewsSim includes simulated video interviews with news gathering staff, firefighters and witnesses. As it guides students through the story, the simulation offers suggestions on how to proceed and provides feedback based on the students' choices. In addition to interviewing characters, students must also learn to navigate the town using a digital map tool and understand fire codes broadcast over a police scanner. At the end of the simulation, they must choose what type of story structure they will follow and submit their story covering the simulated event, which is sent to the instructor to be read and graded.

News Reporting Simulation