Connecting Educators with Inter-Disciplinary Inquiry-Based Science and Students with STEM Careers with Real-World Experiences
Suzanne Lunsford, Lei Zhai, Justin Lee, Dolores Dodson
Our professional development workshops
have provided participating teachers (inservice
and pre-service) with
interdisciplinary experiences in earth and
environmental science that have built their
content into real-world problem based
research initiatives (STEM, Science
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
One of our real-world issues has been the
detection of phenol since it has been a
concern in the real-world coal mining
industry. Coal tars are a complex of
variable mixtures of phenols. Phenol and
phenol derivative compounds are widely
used in the production of polymers, drugs,
dyes, explosives, pesticides, stabilizers and
antioxidants. These phenolic compounds
are discharged into the environment and can
represent a serious hazard, mainly by the
contamination of superficial and
underground waters. The toxic effect of
phenol can cause comas, convulsions,
cyanosis, liver damage, kidney damage, lung
damage and death.
The mining industry for coal is an
alternative source of energy and used in
thermoelectric power plants. However, the
pollutant phenol that can be found in coal
has high need to be detected and is an
important aspect to keep an eye on due to
these harmful chemicals such as phenol
discharging into the environment. Our
inquiry-based labs have engaged our inservice
and pre-service students by visiting a
mine and learning the positive and negative
aspects of mining and the importance of
water quality. Thus, this inquiry-based
module will illustrate the use of an
electrochemistry modified carbon nanotube
poly-3-hexylthiophene electrode to detect
such harmful chemicals as phenol by unique
electrochemistry techniques such as
Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV). Full Text
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