“Real-World” Projects in Phytoremediation and Soil and Water Chemistry—Engaging Students and Local Communities

The article “A Multiweek, Problem-Based Laboratory Project Using Phytoremediation To Remove Copper from Soil. General Chemistry Labs for Teaching Thermodynamics and Equilibrium” offers an entry to the topic. The Journal has published articles relating to phytoremediation, metal contamination of soils, and soil and water chemistry, as well as environmental project-based coursework with community partners. Here is a sampling of what is available.

JCE Articles on Phytoremediation and Metals in Soils

Undergraduate Introductory Quantitative Chemistry Laboratory Course: Interdisciplinary Group Projects in Phytoremediation. Van Engelen, D. L.; Suljak, S. W.; Hall, J. P.; Holmes, B. E. 2007, 84, 128.

Novel Strategies for the Removal of Toxic Metals from Soils and Waters. Roundhill, D. Max. 2004, 81, 275–282.

Sedimentation Time Measurements of Soil Particles by Light Scattering and Determination of Chromium, Lead, and Iron in Soil Samples via ICP. Todebush, P. M.; Geiger, F. M. 2005, 82, 1542–1545.

Chemical Analysis of Soils: An Environmental Chemistry Laboratory for Undergraduate Science Majors. Willey, J. D.; Avery, G. B., Jr.; Manock, J. J.; Skrabal, S. A.; Stehman, C. F. 1999, 76, 1693–1694.

JCE Articles on Soil and Water Chemistry

A Simulation of the Interaction of Acid Rain with Soil Minerals. Schilling, A. L.; Hess, K. R.; Leber, P. A.; Yoder, C. H. 2004, 81, 246–247.

Measuring Soil Phosphates Using Ion–Exchange Resins: A Final Project for Freshman Chemistry. Storer, D. A.; Sarquis, A. M. 2000, 77, 748–749.

Humic Acids: Marvelous Products of Soil Chemistry. Davies, G.; Ghabbour, E. A.; Steelink, C. 2001, 78, 1609–1614.

News from Online: Digging Up Earth Day Resources. Caldwell, B. A. 2006, 83, 201–204.

Soil Testing: Dig In! Fanis, L.; Jacobsen, E. K. 2006, 83, 240A–240B.

JCE Articles on Environment-Based Chemistry Course Projects in the Community

Sampling the Soils around a Residence Containing Lead-Based Paints: An X-ray Fluorescence Experiment. Bachofer, S. J. 2008, 85, 980–982.

Strategies To Simplify Service-Learning Efforts in Chemistry. Sutheimer, S. 2008, 85, 231–233.

An Interactive Environmental Science Course for Education Science Majors. Lunsford, S. K.; Slattery, W. 2006, 83, 233–236.

JCE Online Resources

Hal’s Picks. See the resource shelf on environmental chemistry.

Periodic Table Live! (e.g., Copper). Periodic Table Live! is also available without cost on the Web as a collection of the Chemical Education Digital Library (ChemEdDL)

ChemEdDL: For one example video demonstration exploring copper reactivity, see the section called What’s This?

The JCE articles and Web pages cited above have access dates of Mar 2009. All articles from Volume 1 to the current issue are available in full-text PDF at JCE Online. Going to the JCE Previous Issues home page is a convenient way to browse articles by year, month, and page. To search for articles by title or author in all issues of JCE, go to the JCE index.