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Developing Analytical and Communication Skills in a Mock-Trial Course Based on the Famous Woburn, Massachusetts Case E. Scott Bair Department of Geological Sciences Ohio State University 125 South Oval Mall Columbus, Ohio 43210-1398 [email protected] ABSTRACT municipal wellsG&HinWoburn, Massachusetts. A mock trial in which undergraduates serve as The course is unabashedly about applying scientific expert witnesses and law students serve as their principles to solve real-world problems. The entire attorneys is an effective vehicle for developing course revolves around the analysis, interpretation, quantitative skills and enhancing written and and presentation of scientific data. By the end of the oral communication skills. I have developed an course, students experience first-hand the importance interdisciplinary course based on the book A Civil of making sound scientific computations and the need Action. The book deals with the legal struggle of to communicate their interpretations of this work in families in Woburn, Massachusetts, who sued two writing and orally. corporations alleging that improperly handled in- The actual lawsuit that is the centerpiece of the dustrial chemicals entered the groundwater system, course, Anne Anderson et al. v. W.R. Grace et al., is were captured by two municipal wells, and pro- the subject of the award-winning book “A Civil Ac- longed ingestion of the contaminated water caused tion” by Jonathan Harr (1995) and the critically ac- leukemias and other health disorders. Students claimed Touchstone Pictures movie of the same name. analyze aerial photographs, well logs, streamflow The book and movie focus on the legal battle waged records, permeability tests, and water-level and by eight families, who sued two Fortune 500 companies, water-quality data from the trial to complete as- W.R. Grace & Company and Beatrice Foods, Inc., al- signments that become exhibits in the mock trial. leging that improperly handled industrial chemicals Assignments include construction of geologic cross entered the groundwater flow system, were captured sections, potentiometric maps, hydrographs, flood by two municipal wells, and prolonged ingestion of the recurrence graphs, and calculation of hydraulic toxic chemicals caused leukemia and other health gradients, groundwater velocities, and contaminant disorders. travel times. Trial transcripts and newspaper ar- It is the specter of dead children and the specta- ticles serve as background materials for a term cle of a mock trial that attract non-science and sci- paper. Based on the computational assignments, ence majors to enroll. Course prerequisites include background readings, and a discussion of profes- one semester each of calculus, chemistry, and geology. sional ethics, students compose an expert opinion In the course, students view the movie; read the book, from the viewpoint of their client and are deposed depositions and trial testimony; examine newspaper by opposing counsel. A jury of undergraduates is articles; analyze geologic, hydrologic, and chemical impaneled for the one-day mock trial in which the data; write an expert opinion; construct trial exhibits; law students make opening statements and clos- give depositions; and testify before a judge and jury. ing arguments, and conduct direct examinations The mock trial represents the culmination of the and cross examinations of the scientific experts. course and unites the analytical, computational, and The course teaches students how to develop and communication elements. Enrollment is limited to defend their opinions, how to question the opin- 12 students, although slightly larger classes could be ions of others, the limitations of data collection accommodated by expanding the number of defen- and analysis, and the importance of integrating dants to three by including UniFirst Corporation. computational and communication skills. (UniFirst settled out of court before the trial.) Class sizes much beyond 15 would make it difficult for every- Keywords: education – science; hydrogeology and one to testify at the mock trial. hydrology; engineering and environmental geology; Municipal wellsG&Hwere constructed in 1964 miscellaneous and mathematical geology. and 1967, respectively, and are completed in Wisconsi- nan outwash underlying the Aberjona River and a ri- Introduction and Background parian wetland. The wells were used periodically until Children with leukemia, contaminated tap water, May 1979, when they were closed by state order in re- municipal wells, manufacturing plants, lawyers, ex- sponse to the detection of trichloroethlene (TCE) and perts, judge, jury, verdict – these are the elements of perchloroethlene (PCE) in concentrations exceeding an undergraduate honors course in which students US EPA standards. TCE and PCE were classified as conduct a mock trial using scientific data from the probable human carcinogens. The plaintiffs are eight famous federal trial examining the contamination of families in eastern Woburn, who received municipal Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 48, 2000, p. 450 Developing Analytical and Communication Skills in a Mock-Trial Course Data Set Analysis / Calculations Interpretations Construction of geologic cross sections of the buried Insight into the depositional history of glacial materials valley aquifer showing spatial distributions of outwash Drillers’ logs and spatial variations in grain sizes and other physical (sand, gravel, silt), lodgement till (silty clay), and properties. wetland deposits (peat and silty sand) Groundwater Comparison of potentiometric surfaces, potentiometric Differences in groundwater discharge areas when levels and profiles, and groundwater pathlines when wellsG&H wellsG&Hoperate; spatial variations in hydraulic pathlines are not used versus when wellsG&Hareoperating gradients; importance of 3-D view of flow system Simple statistical comparison of K values computed Hydraulic K values between outwash and till vary by orders of using Hazen’s equation and Hvorslev’s equation for conductivities and magnitude; travel times are unrealistic if variations in grain-size samples and slug tests in sands and gravels groundwater K caused by the distributions of outwash and till are versus silts and clays; calculation of travel times along travel times* not incorporated in the analysis pathlines from Grace and Beatrice sites to wellsG&H Historic Calculation of flood frequencies and recurrence Insight into how often the Aberjona River floods the streamflow intervals on the Aberjona River at Winchester, wetland at wellsG&H records* Massachusetts Calculation of streamflow upstream and downstream of Estimate of groundwater discharge to river when Streamflow wellsG&Hwhen wells are operating and not wells not pumping; estimate of streamflow depletion gain/loss* operating when wells pumping Calculation of travel times of TCE and DCE from Grace TCE / DCE Estimate arrival times of contaminants at wells based and Beatrice sites to wellsG&Hbased on 1-D concentrations* on hydraulic gradients, flow velocities, and attenuation advection dispersion equation * assignment executed on spreadsheet Table 1. Summary of data sets and analyses/calculations performed by students. water from the wells. High levels of contamination leukemia research lab, a municipal wellfield, an aggre- were found on the Grace property (~8000 µg/L TCE) gate quarry, a county landfill, and a wetland. The field and on the Beatrice property (~ 440,000 µg/L TCE), trips expose students to geologic deposits, hydraulic as well as on other properties in the area. The crux of properties, and hydrogeologic settings similar to the trial centers on whether groundwater flows from those in the glaciated region around Woburn. Aerial the Grace and Beatrice properties to the wells and, if photographs and collections of recent and historic so, whether the contaminants reached the wells dur- photographs provide students with visual references ing their operation from 1964 to 1979. Thus, the ac- of Woburn, the wells, river, and wetland. tual trial was about science and, in particular, about Each computational assignment requires the stu- the application of fundamental concepts of geology, dents to use the geologic framework of east Woburn hydrology, and aqueous chemistry to the calculation of as a foundation and to apply various quantitative contaminant travel times. The direct testimony pre- methods to analyze specific sets of data and to make sented by the expert witnesses focused on their in- interpretations based on their analyses. The assign- terpretation of the geology and hydrology of the area ments appeal to the students because they get to ex- and on their calculations of groundwater pathlines plore data sets from the actual trial and because and contaminant travel times. The cross examinations each assignment builds on previous ones to reach a of the expert witnesses focused on uncertainties in final interpretation as to whether the contaminants their interpretations and calculations. from a particular property reached the municipal wells. It is the interplay between formulating opinions Thus, most of the lectures and all of the computa- based on scientific reasoning and quantitative analyses, tional assignments are based on teaching the con- and the presentation and defense of those opinions cepts and theory needed to address questions about before a judge and jury that make this mock trial how groundwater moves, where does groundwater at course ambitious and unique. (The list of references the defandants’ properties