Educating green citizens and scientists
The Green-SWAT (Soil and Water Analysis at Toad Suck*) is the laboratory program that supports and runs concurrently with the General Chemistry course. Introductory chemistry students analyze environmental water samples for simple, but environmentally important, ions using instrument-intensive spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques. The course focuses on developing the analytical skills necessary to create data and evaluate the quality of that data from real environmental samples. Discussions of the environmental importance of the analyte and the impact of the analysis are integral parts of the experience.
*Toad Suck is the historically accurate name for the Arkansas River crossing closest to Conway.