Teaching environmental physics with a field measurement campaign

Abstract

With 15 years of experience of teaching environmental physics, we still need todevelop our curriculum. In this paper we present our findings from teachingenvironmental physics in close association with mathematical statistics in anapplied field measurement campaign. Here not only environmental physics istaught, but also the concept of experimental planning, design, implementation,and evaluation of a field measurement campaign. The field measurement gives thestudents the opportunity to follow the whole process starting from experimentalplanning, including formulating the questions to answer, through designof the experiment, sample collection, analysis, and evaluation, togetherwith the writing of a final report. All possible aspects of the problemthat the students are working on can be carefully investigated, but theemphasis has been on understanding the whole process of carrying out afield campaign. This holistic view gives the students more interest inand better motivation for exploring the subject. This course gave thestudents insight into the field of interdisciplinary environmental research,promoted their creativity, and also gave the teachers a feeling of satisfaction.