• Mock trial

  Geology's Bill Simpkins teaches subject matter in unique way.

• When Bill Simpkins teaches, he not only wants students to learn the subject matter, he wants them to know why they need to know it.
  
  Take his innovative annual mock trial in his hydrogeology course. Students read the 1995 non-fiction bestselling booker A Civil Action, which is about some Massachusetts families who sue large corporations for contaminating their groundwater and causing cancer in their children. (John Travolta starred in the 1998 movie version).
  
  After some hydrogeology lab exercises and coaching the defense or the plaintiff teams, the students re-enact the trial. They must present enough technical information to convince a jury of nonscience majors without boring them with complex equations. Simpkins has done the trial six times - the plaintiffs have a 4-2 lead.
  
  "It forces the students to integrate all the knowledge of the course and convince a lay jury to decide for one side or the other,"said Simpkins. "Their presentations and jargon used in the trial also provide me with feedback as to how well they are learning."Some of his students will become environmental consultants,
  
  Simpkins said, and they will testify in court as expert witnesses. The mock trial is an eye-opener for them.
  
  "During the trial, they understand why they absolutely need to know the material I teach in the class. It is a great motivator for learning."
  

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August 25 to September 8, 2008