Role-Playing as Industry Consultants in Bioremediation
Overview
Students act as industry consultants charged with crafting a persuasive recommendation for a bioremediation technology and challenging their classmates to determine its credibility.
Why Use This?
This discussion activity strengthens students’ critical thinking and analytical skills by requiring them to construct compelling arguments and evaluate the credibility of their peers’ claims about a technology. These skills build scientific literacy and are essential in professional practice. Additionally, the playful nature of the discussion fosters creativity and a sense of community.
How Does It Work?
Students are asked to play the role of an industry consultant and develop a persuasive argument for a bioremediation technology, which may be either accurate or deceptive. After everyone has posted their recommendations, students are asked to critique whether or not they were convinced by their classmates’ claims about their technologies.
Here are the instructions for the discussion:
Lesson 7 Discussion: Bioremediation
Purpose
The following statement is taken from the introduction of a 1993 study by the National Resource Council on In Situ Bioremediation:
“Bioremediation is a technology that is gaining momentum in technical, policy, and popular circles. It also is a technology associated with mystery, controversy, and ‘snake oil salesmen.’”
As you have seen in your readings of bioremediation, this is far from a “one size fits all” biotechnology. Considerable expertise is required to solve specific conditions. Bioremediation companies must convince clients that they have the skill and biotechnology to warrant an investment. In this discussion, you will first attempt to persuade your classmates to invest in bioremediation technology and then critique whether or not you were persuaded by those attempts.
Please read through the instructions for both initial and reply posts before beginning this assignment.
Initial Post
For your initial post, you will play the role of an industry consultant for soil and groundwater bioremediation. You have been commissioned to locate a firm that will address a situation at an existing cleanup site. The following link is an example of a curated list of Bioremediation Companies:
Environmental XPRT
Using these lists and links (or others like it) as a source of information and inspiration, create a one to two paragraph description of a bioremediation technology/company/approach to persuade your classmates to hire your client. The catch is that your description may be accurate or deceptive, but your goal is to persuade. Can you fool your classmates by creating a faux company that is beyond suspicion or highlighting an actual technology that appears too good to be true?
Reply Posts
Reply to two initial posts. In each reply, explain in one or two paragraphs whether or not you believe the description is real or invented.
Is the name of the company real?
Are there flaws in the consultant’s claims that draw suspicion?
Use your readings to aid in your critiques but do not search the internet. The goal is not to fact-check by locating the source or fallacy. Rather, it is to sharpen your ability to assess quality in biotechnology.
NOTE: Initial posts should have no more than three reply posts. Please select an alternate initial post if the limit has been reached.
Keep In Mind
- Try placing this activity halfway through the semester. It offers a change of pace from a straight academic analysis of the topic at hand and creatively highlights the value of a broad skill set.
- Emphasize the importance of persuasive communication in STEM fields. In many areas, such as applied biotechnology, the scientific advance is the anchor of a commercial pursuit—but successfully conveying the technology’s value and purpose is just as critical.