Professional Documents
Culture Documents
This AP Environmental Science class is intended to meet the same objectives as a first-year college
based course. However, this course is unique when compared to other similar courses in the
method of instruction as we have adopted a project based learning (PBL) approach. While PBL
takes many forms, our approach involves student investigations and simulations that require
students to think like scientists, policy-makers, farmers, and other adults in real-world settings.
Teachers engage students in collaborative problem solving, argumentation, and deep exploration
of the concepts and principles of the discipline. The goal for student learning is understanding
rather than only rote memory, meaningful learning rather than simple recollection, and
knowledge that is actionable, adaptive, and transferrable rather than inert.
Students will work collaboratively and individually on tasks and products that are designed to
help students succeed at complex, authentic challenges. They will alternate between two types of
learning: learning to act and acting to learn. Learning to act is when students are in a more
traditional mode of learning through textbooks and lectures. This is in contrast with when they
are acting to learn, or when they are engaged in the projects with real-world goals. This is their
opportunity to apply their understanding of topics and grapple with the implications of human
actions and responses.
Because challenges in the real world of environmental science rarely draw upon only one topic or
short list of objectives, the challenges in this course will require students to draw from a broader
knowledge base. This gives students the opportunity to learn about the same objectives multiple
times throughout the course through different contexts and perspectives. Our ultimate goal is that
students gain a deeper understanding of these objectives than they would have through a more
traditional lecture-based course.
Scientific Principles
In addition to addressing the content-based objectives outlined by College Board, this course will
also address several skill-based objectives. In addition to several supporting activities, most
cycles will include a scientific investigation where students will develop and refine the following
skills:
o Students will learn how to design, conduct, and refine scientific investigations using the
scientific method.
o Students will learn how to think critically and logically to analyze and interpret
experimental data, and revise and reflect on scientific explanations and models using logic
and evidence.
o Students will learn how to communicate and defend scientific arguments, explanations, and
procedures through oral, written, and visual means.
o Students will understand and be able to communicate the larger implications and
connections behind their explanations and conclusions.
o Students will learn how to identify and communicate sources of unavoidable experimental
error and levels of uncertainty about data and explanations.
Course Prerequisites and Requirements
We strongly recommend that students taking AP Environmental Science have successfully
completed a year each of biology and chemistry and an Algebra 2 course.
Botkin, Daniel and Ed Keller. Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet, 6th Edition. New
Jersey: Wiley and Sons, 2010.
Miller, G. Tyler and Scott E. Spoolman. Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections, and
Solutions. 16th Edition. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, 2010.
Withgott, Jay and Scott Brennan. Environment: The Science Behind the Stories, 4th Edition. San
Francisco, CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings, 2011.
We will also be using additional reading resources, including newspaper and magazine articles
and other online resources.
Class Schedule
You will want to adjust this for your schools schedule. In order to meet the audit requirements,
you must articulate that you will devote at least one period a week to a lab activity.
Class meets four times a week with three 50-minute periods and one 90-minute period. every
other day for 90-minute blocks. One period block each week will be devoted to a lab activity.
There will be multiple analytical labs and field trips throughout this course.
Assessments
Students will have periodic quizzes and a culminating test at the end of each cycle. These tests will
include both free response and multiple-choice questions. They will also have multiple
performance-based assessments in each project cycle that may take the form of debates,
negotiations, oral presentations, and presentation of authentic products (books, pamphlets, etc.)
among others.
Required Materials
Students are expected to be prepared to learn and actively participate every day. In order to
achieve this, students will be required to bring the following materials to each class:
Three-Ring Binder
Dividers: (5 Current Project; Project Vocab; Practice AP Questions; Quizzes/Exams;
Past Projects)
Loose-Leaf Paper
Spiral or composition notebook (for labs)
Pencils
Blue and/or black pens
Calculator
Grading Scale
We will be use the SRG grading method.
4.0-3.0 : A
2.9-2.5 : B
2.49-2.0: C
1.99-1.5: D
1.49 and below : F
Zeroes are not permitted per district policy. If a zero is received in any topic score, a meeting will
have to take place to determine our next steps.
Attendance Policy
Please attend class as regularly as possible
IF you know in advance that you will be absent please communicate that with me via e-mail
Attendance will be taken at the beginning of the block. If you come in late (with or without
a pass) please ensure that I change your attendance on infinite campus
Course Outline
Cycle 1: Eco Footprint
Project In this project cycle students begin with a case study of Easter Island as an example
description of Tragedy of the Commons. Then they calculate their personal ecological footprint
to get a sense of how their choices impact the environment. Following this activity,
they delve deeper into some of the components of their overall ecological footprint
by investigating the impacts of their family's transportation habits, waste
generation, and their home energy and water use habits. Each student decides
which component would contribute the most to minimizing their family's
ecological footprint with specific behavioral changes. They then develop a
persuasive oral presentation for their family to explain the motivation for making a
change, what kind of behavioral changes need to be made, and what the potential
impacts will be. Students also conduct a life cycle analysis on commonly used
products at home or at school to begin to understand how to use systems thinking
as an analytical tool for making sound environmental decisions and to learn
content related to hazardous waste disposal, mineral and fossil fuel formation, and
extraction techniques. Learning goals in this project cycle focus on collection and
analysis of data, the proper use and conversation of units, and supporting claims
with evidence.
Duration 5-7 weeks
Topics covered Earth Systems and Resources, including industrial and domestic use of global
water, water conservation, and rock cycle.
Land and Water Use, including mining and extraction, and Tragedy of the
Commons
Waste Audit
Students will collect their trash (or their classrooms trash) for one day, measure
the total amount and extrapolate waste produced in one year. They will identify
environmental and human health problems associated with waste production and
develop resolutions to minimize the environmental impact of waste.
Transportation Audit
Students conduct a transportation audit for all members of their family for one
week. Students will calculate fuel economy of the familys vehicles and then
determine amount of fuel consumed in one year by the family. Additionally,
students will calculate fuel consumed for air travel. Ultimately, students will
investigate the ecological, economic, and societal implications of these habits and
propose a more sustainable alternative.
Presentation/Proposal to Family
Students will analyze the information gathered from their goods, waste,
transportation, water and energy audits and determine a key area that will have an
impact on reducing the footprint of their family. Students will develop a persuasive
proposal to encourage their families to adopt lifestyle changes and determine
methods to quantify their success.
Books
Mike Reeske and Shirley Watt Ireton. Lifecycle of Everyday Stuff
John C. Ryan and Alan Thien Durning. Story of Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday
Things
Jared Diamond. Collapse
Film
No Impact Man
The Last Mountain
Big Ideas for a Small Planet
Blue Vinyl
The Wasteland
Land and Water Use, including forestry, urban land use, public and federal lands,
land conservation options, and sustainable land use strategies
Mark-Recapture Lab
Students will participate in a lab that simulates a population census technique
commonly used by ecologists in the field by collecting a random sample of
animals of a desired species, marking them and releasing them. They will then
sample once again and will calculate a population estimate using a simple ratio.
Impact Report
Using data from their field trips, literature, and research, students will create an
impact report for local decision makers. The report details the impacts of the
proposed development on the natural and cultural resources of the site.
Land and Water Use, including agriculture, rangelands, sustainable land use
strategies, and Tragedy of the Commons.
Field Trips
Farm or Agro-ecology center
Books
Michael Pollan. Omnivores Dilemma
Rachel Carson. Silent Spring
Film
Food, Inc.
Running Dry
The Future of Food
Land and Water Use, including fishing, mining, and Tragedy of the Commons
Energy Resources and Consumption, including fossil fuels resources and use.
Eutrophication Investigation
Students will design, conduct, and interpret a lab on cultural eutrophication where
they will look at the impact of increased fertilizer concentration on algal growth in
closed aquatic systems. In their interpretation of their results, they will identify
resolutions, preventability, and sustainability of these solutions with respect to
eutrophication
Books
Sylvia Earle. The World is Blue
Film
The End of the Line
The Living World, including ecosystem diversity, natural ecosystem change, and
carbon cycles.
Land and Water Use, including urban land development, and global economics
Lichen Lab
Students will identify and measure lichens around their school grounds and
analyze and interpret their data to provide an indicator of local air quality.
Students will consider the implications of air quality on human health.
Energy Summit
Prior to participating in the summit, students will evaluate the advantages and
disadvantages of current energy use and resources for the nation they represent
and develop a proposal for more sustainable alternatives. They will participate in
negotiations with other representatives in order to come to agreement on a final
protocol for global energy use.
Books
William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Elizabeth Kolbert. Field Notes from a Catastrophe
Films
World in the Balance
The Big Energy Gamble
The 11th Hour
An Inconvenient Truth
This information is kept confidential and is only intended for use by Mr. Rudisill
APES 3rd Edition textbook Number: _______________________________________ Formatted: Line spacing: Double
Formatted: Superscript
*Students Email: ______________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________