AP Environmental Science Audit - Fall 2017
Course Descriptions
The AP Environmental Science course is designed to prepare students to take the College Board AP Environmental Science Exam in May. The course is a full year class and meets four times a week. Two of these classes meet for 50 minutes each and two of these classes meet for 66 minutes each. The longer class meetings will be devoted to lab both inside and on the adjacent grounds. The school abuts many acres of conservation land held in trust by the Beaver Brook Association, which the class will regularly utilize to serve as the school's’ outdoor classroom and research area. The property includes woodland, open fields, vernal pools, a small stream and a pond. The class will meet the last period of the academic day and so it is anticipated that additional time will be available for extended outdoor investigation. (SC 17)
Students enrolled in this course will be juniors and seniors who have already successfully completed biology and chemistry, and have been recommended by their previous science teacher for this level of study. Most of the students in this class will also be in AP Biology, AP Chemistry, or AP Physics I / II or have previously taken one of these classes already. AP Environmental Science is an applied course and students will be utilizing the scientific methodologies they have learned in their previous studies to investigate the principles of the natural world.
HBHS is a google school and students will be required to actively participate in on-line discussions and forums. Much of their study will be from utilizing current events that correspond to the curriculum topics. Students will have access to school computers but most students will have their own laptops to connect to the school Internet network. Many of the lab investigations will utilize Vernier: labquest and probes to collect experimental data. Students will be required to regularly analyze this data using loggerpro software for their graphing and statistical analysis.
Students will be assessed through the use of quizzes, unit tests, lab write-ups, google classroom assignments, quarterly projects, current event sharing and daily homework based on textbook readings or problems sets. Students will also be assigned a team to volunteer to work on the school’s recycling program. Students will collect each classes recyclable paper,plastics, and aluminum and place them in the appropriate outside bins for collection. (SC 11 & 16)
Textbook
Environmental Science, 2nd ed. By Andrew Friedland and Rick Relyeam, BFW Freeman Publishing, 2015.
Course Outline / Time Allotment / Labs & Activities
Unit 1: Environmental Science & Systems (5 days)
Ch 1 - Environmental Science
Ch 2 - Environmental Systems
Unit 2: The Living World ( 21 Days) (SC 3)
Ch 3 Ecosystem Ecology
Ch 4 Global Climate and Biomes
Ch 5 Evolution of Biodiversity
Unit 3: Biological and Human Populations (14 days) (SC 4)
Ch 6 Population and Community Ecology (SC 14)
Ch 7 The Human Population
Unit 4: Earth Systems and Resources (13 days) (SC 1) (SC 2)
Ch 8 Earth Systems
Ch 9 Water Resources (SC 6)
Unit 5: Land Use ( 10 days) (SC 5)
Ch 10 Land, Public and Private
Ch 11 Feeding the world
Unit 6: Energy Resources and Consumption (15 days) (SC 7) (SC 8)
Ch 12 Nonrenewable Energy Resources
Ch 13 Achieving Energy Sustainability
Unit 7: Pollution (28 days) (SC 9)
Ch 14 Water Pollution (SC 6)
Ch 15 Air Pollution and Stratospheric Ozone Depletion
Ch 16 Waste Generation and Waste Disposal
Ch 17 Human Health and Environmental Risks
Unit 8: Global Change and a Sustainable Future (14 days)
Ch 18 Conservation of Biodiversity
Ch 19 Global Change (SC 10)
Ch 20 Sustainability, Economics, and Equity
Quarter Projects / Field Trips
1st quarter - Canoe trip / water analysis / biodiversity analysis of Nashua River
(Host: Nashua River Watershed Association)
During this field trip students will canoe to several sites along the Nashua River where they will conduct chemical water test at several location for comparison. (Secci disc, Dissolved Oxygen - Winkler method, Lamotte test kit for nitrogen, phosphates and pH). Students will also conduct a biological inventory using sampling nests and screen sorters to inventory macroinvertebrates at the various sites. Students will compare the data at three different testing and develop a lab report that incorporates the data along with an analysis of the industrial history of the river system. Students will also compare their results with the data base shared with them by the Nashua River Watershed Association. (SC 11-17)
2nd quarter - Pond ecology and water testing
The high school is fortunate to abut conservation land that has a small pond, vernal pools, wet land, and a small creek. The watershed surrounding the pond includes a football field and a paved parking lot. During the course of the year students will conduct periodic physical, chemical, and biological testing on the pond and evaluate the changes that go on in these values over the course of the year. Students will incorporate field fertilizing protocols and precipitation rate in their study, as well as, conducting an inventory and mapping of the purple loosestrife invasion on the east end of the pond. (SC 11-17)
3rd quarter - Snowshoeing to Beaver Brook - winter ecology
During the winter, students will snowshoe to the abutting conservation land to conduct tree identification of several woodlot sites. Students will assess the diversity of the sites, measure tree heights and girths, calculate board feet available in each woodlot. (SC 11-17)
4th quarter - Exam Prep Study Group Jigsaw & Post exam project
Students will work in groups (3-4) to prepare a study guide for an assigned unit of study in the curriculum. Each study guide will overview the relative content, and labs done during the unit study. Groups will identify and / or create practice multiple choice, math, data analysis and essay questions. Groups will have one class period to share their study guides with the class.
Post exam students will propose, and complete a final project for the last three weeks of school. Students will be encouraged to further investigate an area of interest or environmental problem that was presented earlier in the course.
Vernier Labs: Investigating Environmental Science through Inquiry
Carolina Biological Labs (10 lab bundle #180702)