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Unit 5: Land and Water Use
Unit 5: Land and Water Use
Developing Understanding. This unit explores human activities that disrupt ecosystems both positively and negatively and the methods employed to reduce impact. It examines human use of natural resources through many means, including mining and clearcutting, and the impacts on the environment. Agricultural practices in particular can cause environmental disruption. For example, one of the largest uses of freshwater is for irrigation. Every irrigation method employed for agriculture has its own benefits and drawbacks. In subsequent units, students will examine different types of energy resources, the consumption of these resources, and the impact on the environment.
Unit 5 makes up 10-15% of the AP Exam and is composed of 17 Topics. We will spend approximately 3-4 weeks on this unit.
Building the Science Practices
Building the Science Practices
In this unit, students can practice identifying environmental problems (e.g., pollution, depletion of the ozone layer, global climate change). They can also practice thinking critically about the problem, and when evaluating a given solution, articulating its benefits and drawbacks. The ability to describe and propose viable solutions for environmental problems is critical for this unit.
Students will benefit from opportunities to practice describing the development process for legislation enacted to mitigate environmental problems and the effects of the legislation on the various stakeholders. Most importantly, students should have many opportunities to evaluate a proposed solution to an environmental problem and/ or the legislation that addresses it and then describe benefits and drawbacks to the solution.
Preparing for the AP Exam
Preparing for the AP Exam
On the AP Exam, students must be able to describe and explain concepts related to the tragedy of the commons, clearcutting, agricultural practices, and mining. To practice this, case studies that represent real-world examples of human activities can be helpful, focusing on understanding concepts within applied contexts. Case studies can also be used to help students practice proposing solutions to environmental problems and describing the benefits or disadvantages of those solutions.
Students may benefit from opportunities to analyze text-based resources about environmental issues and the impact of human activities on the environment. Teachers can guide students in identifying the author’s claim, perspective, and/or assumptions. It may be especially helpful to utilize sources of information that have quantitative data so that students can provide explanations that both describe the data and connect the data to an environmental issue.
EnvironmentalScience_Unit5-2.pdfUnit 5 College Board Summary
Unit 5 College Board Summary
If you would like to read the information for Unit 5 that the College Board provides, please click on the reference to the left
Unit 5 at a glance
Unit 5 at a glance
Suggested skills
Each of the skills listed are those that will be developed and reinforced throughout Unit 5.
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