AP Environmental Science Course Syllabus

Transcription

1 AP Environmental Science Course Syllabus (Subject to change as course progresses and student comprehension is evaluated) **AP Environmental Exam: Thursday, May 06, 2019 at 1200p** Final Exam TBD students not taking the AP test are required to take the Final Exam Course Background The AP Environmental Science course is designed to be the equivalent of a one-semester, introductory, laboratory college course in environmental science. AP Environmental Science is truly an interdisciplinary field of study including concepts from the larger disciplines of geology, biology, chemistry, government, geography, economics and sociology. This course is designed to enable students to undertake, as first-year college students, a more advanced study of topics in environmental science, or alternatively to fulfill a basic requirement for a laboratory science (college credit may be given according to the specific department at your future college or university). This is a rigorous class. Students will move through a significant amount of material, covering reading and information both in the text and from outside sources. Students will be challenged as current and past dogmas are questioned and tested. Course Description AP Environmental Science provides students with the foundation of scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies that are required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world. Students will identify and analyze environmental problems both natural and human-made, evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems, and examine alternative solutions for resolving and/or preventing them. The course will stress the following points of study: - Science is a process and a method for learning more about our world; - Energy and matter conversions (not losses or gains!) underlie all ecological and human processes; - The Earth itself is one interconnected system; - This interconnected system is complex; - Humans alter natural systems; - Environmental problems have a cultural and social context and finally; - Human survival depends on developing practices that will achieve sustainable systems. Text Friedland and Relyea Environmental Science for AP Second Edition **Also recommended is any type of AP Environmental Science exam prep book for independent tutoring. Please see instructor for recommendations. Course Structure Instruction consists of a mixture of lectures, discussions, demonstrations, student directed inquiry, group and individual research projects, field trips, and hands-on laboratories both inside and outside of the classroom. Homework consists of reading assignments in the text, articles from periodicals and other literature, lab reports, and group and individual reports and projects. Throughout the year students prepare for the AP Exam by taking multiple choice tests and by going through a process that helps them to better answer the Free Response questions. In this process, students evaluate their own answers and those of their classmates as they gain proficiency with the grading rubrics. By October all assessments take place at the end of each section and each contains between 50 and 60 multiple choice and 1-2 Free Response questions. **The teacher website and Remind will be utilized throughout the course not only as a tool to help minimize paper use, but also to post readings, lectures, and lecture notes.

2 Grading Students will be graded following school weighting scales as follows Tests: 65% Quizzes and 30% Homework/Classwork: 5% Late Policy: Late work will only be accepted per Rutherford County School Board Policy. All other late work will be assigned a zero. Course Outline and Syllabus Summer Assignment: Read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. Answer the 12 questions and choose a discussion quote. All work must be submitted to Turnitin.com by August 10, Plagiarism will be given a ZERO. Unit 1: Introduction to Environmental Science Topics covered: Students will be introduced to environmental science and its general principles. Students will briefly overview current issues and understand the importance of sustainability and its importance to our planet. Students will also review the nature of science and how scientific inquiry is used to investigate problems. Math practice will be an integral part of the curriculum. The AP Environmental Exam will present situational exercises using mathematics without the use of a calculator. 1. Calculating ecological footprint: Students will use a computer survey from footprintnetwork.org to estimate their ecological footprint and determine steps that can be used to decrease their footprint. 2. Tragedy of the commons goldfish lab: Students will investigate the abuse of common resources using a fisheries simulated activity. Students will use goldfish and each take turns fishing in a simulated pond to help demonstrate the exploitation of public resources. 3. Scientific inquiry lab: Students will use pill bugs or mealworms to design an experiment that will test a variable of their choice.

3 Unit 2: Fundamentals of Earth Systems Topics covered: Students will review the fundamentals of matter, energy, and biochemistry. Students will also investigate fundamentals of geology including the rock cycle, plate tectonics, and major geologic hazards. General principles of ecology will be reviewed including; evolution and speciation, population ecology, interactions in communities, energy flow, and biogeochemical cycles 1. Measuring Primary Productivity: Students will understand the concept of primary productivity and will have used one or more methods to calculate primary productivity. Students will have also been introduced to the concepts of standing biomass, net productivity versus gross productivity, and the importance of comparing dry weight versus wet weight. 2. Modeling Plate Tectonics: Students will use modeling clay to model and interpret different examples of plate boundaries. These include divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries. Students will also model how hotspots form island chains. 3. Biodiversity lab: Students will use sticky traps to investigate animal diversity. Once insects are collected students will use the Simpson index to calculate the species diversity and quantify findings. 4. Biogeochemical Cycles: Students will set up aquatic ecosystems to monitor changes in different nutrient levels over a course of several weeks. Ecosystems will consist of elodea, algae cultures, and Ramshorn snails. Additional course materials: a. The Human Footprint Video: National Geographic b. Colliding Continents Video: How the Earth was Made Unit 3: Resources Land: Topics covered: Students will examine human uses, impacts, and issues with land use. We will examine different characteristics of soils, agriculture, and the future of food. Forest ecology will be researched along with different mining practices and environmental issues of mining. 1. Soils lab: Students will examine the percolation rates of different soils and examine texture to determine soil types. Students will also use the tilth method to determine soil structure. 2. Nature Walk: Hands-on. This lab introduces students to methods of observations while getting them outdoors to view their natural surroundings. Drawings, writing and use of identification methods are used as students take time to examine weather conditions, trees, plants, and insects. 3. Forest Ecology: Students will visit a local forest and investigate issues of forest health. The module used will be the Project Learning Tree Focus on Forests which includes both quantitative and qualitative measurement and observation. 4. Mining Practices: Students will use chocolate chip cookies to investigate mining practices. Guest Speaker: A local farm representative will visit the class and speak about different sustainable farm practices, IPM strategies, along with the benefits of involvement in community supported agriculture.

4 Water: Topics covered: Students will examine the distribution of fresh water on the planet and the impacts of human of humans on fresh water supplies. Students will examine different properties of marine ecosystems different types of marine ecosystems. The effect of oceans on climate will be addressed as well as marine resources and human impacts on these resources. 1. Water Study: Hands-on. Students make visits to the lake and pond adjacent to our campus. The class evaluates the water quality of each location using N, P, DO, ph test kits. Students perform coliform tests, Secchi disk tests and create a temperature profile. At the lake students collect micro aquatic organisms and at the pond, they collect macro invertebrates both are evaluated for biodiversity using methods such as the Simpson s Index, Shannon-Weiner and Evenness. Students work to key out micro and macro invertebrates. Calculation and Quantitative Practice Additional course materials: a. The Last Drop from The New Yorker. b. c. PBS Special Thirst d. MWRA Sewage Control on Charles River Boston Globe e. Prepared lecture on water pollution control for local area town from environmental engineering company. Atmosphere and Climate Change: Topics covered: Students will examine the composition, structure, and function of the atmosphere and how it relates to climate conditions. Students will also investigate different sources of air pollution and their impact on the environment. Students will identify major factors influencing global climate change, as well as impacts and possible ways to respond to climate change. Lab: 1. Students measure the ph of unpolluted water and simulated acid rain and model the effects of acid rain on human-made structures. They determine the buffering effects of 3 types of bedrock (granite, basalt, and marble) and observe teacher-demonstration tests of the ph and alkalinity of local water samples to determine their sensitivity to acid deposition. 2. Climate graphing. Hands-on. Students evaluate Boston s climatic information, creating annual graphs on their own and combine them with other to show 16 years. The data is smoothed as students work with the tool of the moving average. Finally, an overall trend is determined, discussed and compared to other regions. Calculation and Quantitative Practice

5 Additional course materials: a. Climate Change what can we do in America by Pacala and Sokolow, 2004 b. Ensuring Energy Security, Foreign Affairs by Daniel Yergin c. O is for Oil, Boston Globe by Paul Roberts d. Climate Change IPCC Report NPR Podcast, Wind Power NPR Podcast Unit 4: Human Populations and Impacts Topics covered: Students will examine the scope of human population growth and explain the fundamentals of demography. Students will assess the role of urbanization and sprawl and the pursuit of sustainable cities. Students will review major environmental hazards and the movement of toxic substances in the environment. Students will also summarize the types of wastes produced by humans and identify different approaches to managing wastes. 1. Population lab: Students will monitor the growth of duckweed to investigate different principles of population growth. 2. Demography Lab: Students will use information from interment.net to study different demography characteristics using the website internment.net. 3. LD50 lab: Students are introduced to static toxicity tests used by the EPA and other organizations to set water quality standards. During the lab, students prepare various concentrations of ammonium sulfate, a fertilizer component, and introduce Daphnia magna into their solutions. 4. Landfill lab: Students will create a model of a landfill to examine the decomposition rates of different substances. 5. Unit 5: Energy Topics covered: Students will examine the source, uses, and impacts of various sources of energy. Students will evaluate the benefits of alternative energy sources and use. Students will also research new technologies that provide may provide sustainable energy solutions. Labs and Field Trip: 1. Energy Audit: Students will perform a personal energy audit to determine energy use and set goals for reducing overall energy use. 2. Energy Presentations. Student Presentation/Project. Students analyze different energy types. Background research and study generates the information so that students direct a 15-minute class using Power point as they guide classmates through the intricacies of each fuel type. 3. Energy practice problems. Hands-On. Students work for a number of class periods as they work through different types of energy calculation problems. Calculation and Quantitative Practice

6 Unit 6: Environmental Solutions Topics covered: Students will examine different approaches and policies that are aimed to help mitigate human impact on the environment. Major themes will include conservation biology, policies, and sustainability, and environmental solutions. Project: Students will research a chosen example of sustainability and prepare a presentation on practices used to achieve sustainability. Topics may include LEED certified buildings, sustainable city planning, conservation biology programs, etc. Students will present a 15-minute power point presentation to the class to summarize their research. Review for AP Exam **AP Environmental Exam: Monday, May 06, 2019 at 1200p** Unit 7: Independent Study To begin after the AP exam and continue until the end of the school year. Focus: Students will be asked to work on a particular environmental issue that directly relates to them and propose a meaningful solution to the problem. Topics may include the improvement of open spaces near the school, improved waste management programs for the school, possible energy solutions for the school, or other projects subject to teacher approval. Video Series: Several video clips with an environmental focus will be watched to review class concepts covered. Videos may be recommended by students and subject to teacher approval.