Christine Mutiti

Assessing ground water development potential using Landsat imagery.

Seven villages in southeastern Kenya surround Mt. Kasigau and depend on the mountains cloud forest for their water supply. Five of these villages have regularly experienced water shortages, and all village water supplies were contaminated with Escherichia coli bacteria. There is a need to economically find new sources of fresh ground water. Remote sensing offers a relatively quick and cost-effective way of identifying areas with high potential for ground water development. This study used spectral properties of features on Landsat remote sensing imagery to map linear features, soil types, surface moisture, and vegetation. Linear features represented geologic or geomorphologic features indicating either shallow ground water or areas of increased subsurface hydraulic conductivity. Regarding soil type, black soils were identified as potential indicators of shallow aquifers based on their relatively lower elevation and association with river valleys. A vegetation map was created using unsupervised classification, and three of the resulting vegetation classes were observed to be commonly associated with wet areas and/or ground water discharge. A wetness map, created using tasseled cap analysis, was used to identify all areas of high ground moisture, including those that corresponded to vegetated areas. The linear features, soil type, vegetation, and wetness maps were overlaid to produce a composite that highlighted areas with the highest potential for ground water development. Electrical resistivity surveys confirmed that areas highlighted by the composite image had relatively shallow depths to the water table. Some figures in this paper are available in color in the online version of the paper.

Applying the process of backward design in revising an environmental science program

The purpose of this article is to share our model of a successful curriculum reform process and provide an overview so that it can be replicated by other programs. The process of backward design is commonly used for course design, and here we apply this framework to a program-level revision of student learning outcomes, curriculum, and assessment. Graduates from our Environmental Science program are expected to demonstrate an understanding of the appropriate academic content, to be able to conduct research and develop professional behaviors and dispositions. Our revised program now has clear, assessable student learning outcomes, a set of coursework that is well aligned with these outcomes, and planned assessment that will allow us to evaluate our students and our program. This program revision has been a long, time-consuming process that has been facilitated by the cooperative nature and dedication of the individuals on the Environmental Science committee and by support structures at our institution. We will discuss the methods used by our program to bring about these changes and also the challenges we faced.