Environmental Science Career Academy



Mrs. Deborah Ashley

New Visions Environmental Science and Sustainability Program

A.P. Environmental Science

The Tech Center

200 BOCES Dr

Yorktown Heights, NY 10598

914.621.8337

dashley@

deborah.ashley27@

June 4, 2013

Dear New Visions Environmental Science and Sustainability Students,

Welcome to the New Visions Environmental Science and Sustainability Program at Teatown! We are looking forward to a great year together at Teatown Lake Preservation. This is a college level class, so you will have the opportunity to prepare for next year's college by doing college level work in this class. You may be aware that environmental science includes much more than other sciences in that it is more interdisciplinary than most other courses you have taken. We will be incorporating aspects of Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Economics, Government, policy and more. We will be doing a lot of hands-on work through field work at Teatown, labs and student research. It is important that you come to class in September with a basis from which to begin the year. As part of the New Visions program there are some summer assignments for you to complete, each assignment has different due dates so that things are spaced out a bit. You also have separate English assignments as well. Don't let these things go till the end of summer. (One thing that students learn from the class is good time management and independence, which is why so many students from this class are so successful in college.) None of the assignments are hard and I grade fairly easy on these first assignments, so just turn them in for a good start to the year.

Environmental Science Assignments for over the Summer

Please bring the first week of class, you can email them to me earlier at deborah.ashley27@

You are to complete all parts below. Please call or email if you have any questions. I recommend that you start all five sections just so you will know right away if you have any questions. These assignments are to get your feet wet, not for me to judge you, but a way for you to begin to think about the amazing field of environmental science and come to the class with some starting knowledge.

Part I- Nature Fieldwork:

Begin nature fieldwork. Spend some time in a natural setting, state park, national park, nature preserve or in your own backyard. Examples are: Teatown, Lansdon Arboretum, Fahnstock State Park, The Rockefeller Estate, Bear Mt. State Park, or any wildlife sanctuary while on vacation this summer. (You may use more than one location to complete this assignment.) Please make at least 5 entries to your nature journal.

• Take notes about what you see and/or take pictures of what you observe.

• Make sure that each entry is labeled as to location, date, time of day, weather, and any other variable that you think is important.

• You may also find information about what you observe and include it in your nature journal such as identifying information, habitat or natural history of the organism observed.

• Please do an observation 5 times during the summer vacation and include the interesting, important and significant organisms you observe each of the five times.

• This will be graded and is an easy way to start off with a good grade in the course.

• I will be grading your nature journal based on detail, organization, and your ability to describe each organism observed (photographs are acceptable and to count, need to be in your journal, with some written observations added.) You may also do a digit journal if you desire.

Part II: Reading

Do one of the following:

1. Read 10 newspaper or current event articles from January 2013 to September 2013 related to environmental science. For each of the articles you read list: the Title, Author, date and source of where you found the article, write a one paragraph summary of the article and the implications you see in terms of the environmental issue.

OR

2. Read one of the books from the attached reading list. After reading the book, write a short summary of the book and your response to the book.

Part III-View two Movies.

The following movie is for everyone to watch: Home. It is a documentary and a wonderful overview of some important concepts with amazing pictures of the earth. It is narrated by Glenn Close and is really well done. You will be able to go back to the images from the film all year as we discuss different aspects of environmental science. The link to the movie is: After watching the movie, write 15 facts that you learned about the earth and environmental science from the movie. Please space out your facts from the whole of the movie. Also, write three paragraphs (or more) about how this video affected the way you think about the Earth, the human population, and the environment. Please turn this in on the first day of class or email to me at: deborah.ashley27@

Over the course of the summer, watch one more movie related to environmental science. After you watch the movie, write an essay that summarizes how the issue is depicted in the movie and write your personal response to how well the movie gave an accurate portrayal of the issue as well as your ideas of how to mitigate the problem. The movie you watch can be a documentary or a fictional movie that still looks at an environmental issue at the center of the movie. It would be best if you watch something that you haven't seen before, but you can also view a film you watched before. Here are some examples of movies you could watch: An Inconvenient Truth; The Last Mountain; Water Planet; The Eleventh Hour; Tapped; King Corn; Food, Inc.; Gasland; Water Planet; A Crude Awakening; Trashed; River of Waste; Who Killed the Electric Car?; Burning the Future, Coal in America; Wastelands; Surviving the Wastelands; Blue Vinyl; Nova, The World in Balance; Cane Toads, An Unnatural History; Too Hot to Handle; The China Syndrome; Living with Chernobyl, the Future of Nuclear Power; Flow; Dirt; Blue Gold; World Water Wars; 6 degrees of separation; Water Wars; Erin Brockovich; and Life After People. If you find another movie that you aren't sure if it works for this assignment, run it by me. There are a lot of great movies that you can view on Utube, so you don't need to rent a movie or buy a movie

Part IV: Assignment on Laws

See attached sheet with list of laws to complete over the summer. You could do this as a group project with other classmates. I have set up a wikispaces class page where you can create the table on that site, and divide up the work. Please obtain rites to work on the website by going to: newvisionsenvironmentalscience2013-2014. and ask to be a member of this site. You will have a quiz on the laws the second week of class so that you are familiar with them as we address them this year.

Part V- Create a Project Related to Environmental Science

This is to be an action project where you help to create a positive sentiment toward environmental action, appreciation of nature, or education of environmental issues. Do one of the following:

• Create a brochure to involve the public in solving a local environmental problem

• Make a video (nature video, solving a problem video, promoting public awareness, or educational video) that is related to environmental science in some way.. Any of these could be directed towards youth or adults or both.

• Create a slide show of photographs related to environmental science.

• Write an essay on how to solve an environmental problem (expected length at least 3 pages double spaced).

• Create a work of art related to environmental science (this could be a poem, song, sculpture, painting, story, etc)

• Other idea? Just contact me for approval first.

If you want to get a head start on the material for the class you could do one of the following optional assignments to prepare for next year:

1. A great way to learn about environmental science is to read the content on a great website called the Habitable Planet at: There is course content on thirteen environmental topics, short videos on the topics and interactive activities to do. Do as much as you like. We will be covering Environmental Systems and Water Quality first this year.

2. You will have the option of competing in the Envirothon (lots of fun!) You can begin to learn about the things you need to know for this competition at the New York Envirothon website and look at the study guides resources for Aquatics, Forestry, Soils, and Wildlife. There is a lot to learn and just follow your interests there at:

3. Go to the teacher webpage for our class at pnwboces. and go to teachers. Click on my name to get a head start on class for the fall. I am updating the websites over the summer, so check back from time to time. On my teacher website there are materials related to the Senior Exit Project which may help you in getting an early start, if you like, on the research you will be doing this year.

4. Get a head start on your science research by picking a topic and doing reading on the topic. Get in touch with me to help you in finding journal articles on your topic and helping you in refining the topic.

Important Information on Class:

Class Location:

The first day of school in September, we will be meeting at the room under the main building at Teatown Lake Preservation, (the door opens to the parking lot). Class is from 10:30 to 2 every day.

Supplies Needed Every Day:

Following is a list of things we would like you to have the first day of class. Please label each with your name.

Lunch/water (will need every day)

calculator (helpful, but not mandatory)

Notebook

Pen/pencils

Hiking boots

Rain slicker or poncho

Come in comfortable clothes for hiking and walking in nature

Bug spray

Memory stick (jump drive, you will need to bring everyday) to back up your work from the computer, laptops computers are provided but remain in the classroom

We hope you will have a chance to visit Teatown this summer and see again the wonderful outdoor classroom we will be using this fall. If you have any questions, please call Cathy Balestrieri at 914-248-2452 or Deborah Ashley 914-621-8337 over the summer. If you are ready to begin to set up your internship, we will do that over the summer. I will also be calling you sometime in August to touch base before the start of classes. Have a great summer and remember to get outside!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Ashley,

dashley@

914-621-8337

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