AP Environmental Science (APES) Syllabus



AP Environmental Science (APES) Syllabus

Mrs. Henry-Linder

lhenrylinder@wsfcs.k12.nc.us

OVERVIEW:

This course is designed to be the equivalent of a college-level semester course in Environmental Science. Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary field of study, and the goal in this class is to integrate the different disciplines of education such as Biology, Chemistry, Math, History, Geology, Sociology, Law, etc. to come to an understanding of the natural world and the forces that affect it. The AP Environmental Science course has been developed to be a rigorous science course that stresses scientific principles and analysis and includes a laboratory component.

The goal of the is to provide students with scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world, to identify and analyze environmental problems, to examine alternative solutions for resolving and/or preventing them, and to develop their own political perspective.

Students will have access to seven classroom computers with Internet connections as well as the library for additional resources. Graphing and statistics are performed using Excel. Standard laboratory Equipment, such as microscopes, balances, Bunsen burners, and glassware, is also available. Our campus consists of fields, a stream, and lake, all of which will be utilized in the course of appropriate field studies. Students will maintain a permanent, bound lab notebook recording their lab experiences and observations.

Students will be assessed using a variety of methods, including weekly quizzes, monthly unit tests, lab write-ups, oral reports, multimedia presentations, research papers, and textbook homework. In addition, students will prepare biweekly environmental science current event reports and perform eight hours of environmentally related community service.

Environmental Science as aforementioned is interdisciplinary, yet there are several major unifying themes, that cut across the many topics discussed in this course. The following themes provide a foundation for the structure of APES course:

• Science is a process

• Energy conversions underlie all ecological processes

• The Earth itself is one interconnected system

• Humans alter natural systems

• Environmental problems have a cultural and social context

• Human survival depends on developing practices that will achieve sustainable systems.

OUTLINE OF TOPICS

Go to for an outline of major topics and any other additional information you need or want to know about this course.

MATERIALS

• 3 Ring binder w/loose leaf paper and dividers with pockets

• Marble Bound Sound Composition Book with Graph Paper

• Red/Black/Blue Pens

• Poster Board/Foam Boards/Tri Folds

• Scientific Calculator

• Pencils, Color Pencils, Crayons

LAB SAFETY

During lab activities, you may be learning the use of new equipment and substances and working with different energy sources. It is important that you approach your work seriously, following all guidelines and safety rules as indicated on Safety contract which can be found on my webpage. (Webpage is within School of Computer technology website under my last name Henry-Linder)

ATTENDANCE

To make the most of this course, it is imperative that you attend every single class meeting and always be on time. You are considered late if you are not IN the class by the end of the bell. All students must turn in notes to reasons of their absence to Mrs. Martin. Credit for the course may be denied if attendance is less than 80%. Please review the student handbook, which is located on the School of Computer Technology website, for more information and specific sanctions.

DEADLINES

Also essential to making the most of this course is submission of all assignments on time. If an assignment is not in on the due date, your grade will be reduced according to the importance of the assignment and the number of days late. In general, the grade will be reduced by 10% of the point value of the assignment for each day late (whether the class meets or not, including weekends and vacation days).

If you are absent, it is your responsibility to get the assignment and any missed notes from a classmate. You must see me within two days after your return so that I can give you an appropriate date for the missed material

If you miss a quiz or test, it is your responsibility to make sure that you make up that quiz or test, not your teacher’s. You will receive a zero if the work is not made up in a reasonable amount of time. Please review your student handbook which is located on the school website.

If there are extenuating circumstances, make sure that I am aware and bring a written note from a parent, guardian, or advisor. I am always willing to work with you if you have a problem.

CONFERENCES/ASSISTANCE

Even the most intelligent and eager students have questions and frustration. Please don’t hesitate to come in for help. My office is in between my room (322) and room 321. My schedule is posted on my door. If you need help, stop after class and arrange a time for us to meet. I can not emphasize enough how imperative it is coming to see your teacher when you have a question can clear things up and make the class easier and more enjoyable. It may be for 5 minutes or for 70 minutes, but taking that initiative will serve you will in life.

You may also contact me by e-mail: lhenrylinder@wsfcs.k12.nc.us

GRADING AND EVALUATION

You will be graded according to the following guidelines:

TEST

Will be given approximately as entered on the course calendar and they will be composed of multiple-choice and essay questions. At the beginning of the year the test will be multiple choice only. Essays will be given as homework assignments. Between Thanksgiving and winter break, essays will be incorporated into the tests and after the break the essay portion of the test will be timed in order to make the test environment as similar to the AP Exam as possible.

The majority of the multiple-choice questions will come from lecture notes, text questions, and crossword puzzles. We will work our way up to 100 questions as the AP Exam approaches.

You will be given four free response (essay) questions on the AP Exam. To be effective, you’ll need to organize your thoughts and construct an essay in 22 minutes (four questions in 90 minutes). In this class we will write training essays early in the year and, again, incorporate timed essays into our tests by the middle of the year.

Possible essay topics may be but not limited to topics given to you before the test to allow you to outline your answers.

• Students must pass a safety test before participating in labs

• One test given per unit (unless need to retake for a better understanding of concepts)

HOMEWORK

May include but not limited to:

• Reading the current unit content and answer textbook questions

• Reviewing lecture notes

• Readings and case studies

• Lab write-ups

• Essay

• Creating posters, survey, etc

LABS

You will from time to time be asked to write lab reports (lab report format can be found on my webpage under APES). If you miss a lab, you must see me soon as possible to arrange a make-up or alternative assignment. Even you miss a lab, you are responsible for knowing the procedure, results and conclusions of the experiment.

PROJECTS (incorporated as a test or lab depending on difficulty)

Will be assigned and will vary in scope. The point value of each project will be set according to that rubric which encompasses the who, what, when, where and why of the project. Point value is also assigned according to the difficulty of the task and the time involved.

CLASS PARTICIPATION

Expected out of each of you fully everyday.

QUIZZES

Range in value depending on the assessment. Complex concepts will not be included until they have been discussed in class, but I do expect you to learn straightforward ideas and independently when reading your assignments, so you should expect occasional quizzes on reading assignments at the beginning of class.

CLASSWORK

Meant for a better understanding of concepts being discovered in class through labs, discussions, lectures and reading assignments. It will not be graded but it will be assess formative so students can assess their strengths and weaknesses, as well as allowing students to view concepts they are proficient in and the ones they need extra assistances in.

NO EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNEMENTS WILL BE OFFERED, BUT EXTRA EFFORT IS VALUED AND WILL CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR CLASS PARTICIPATION GRADE.

POST AP EXAM PROJECTS:

• Teams of Students will form City Councils and Develop a Sustainable City

• Designed a “Green House”

AP EXAM INFORAMTON

The AP Environmental Science Exam is three hours long and divided into two sections: multiple-choice (100) and free-response (4 questions). All students in the course are required to take the exam.

I will be assigning practice questions (both multiple-choice and free-response) throughout the year within the context of homework, test, class activities, etc. If you take a conscientious approach to this class, you will be prepared to take the AP exam. I do not, however, consider the primary goal of this course to be exam preparation. Much of what we will be doing is designed to you an appreciation for the practice of Environmental Science.

INTEGRITY

I expected complete honesty and integrity from each student. There will be occasions when you will be allowed to share information, and your teacher will tell you this clearly. Homework may be done with another student so that you may help each other, but you are not allowed to just copy another student’s work. Please see your yellow student handbook for a more complete discussion of the honor code of our school.

I hope this handout makes my policy and expectations in this class clear. If you have any questions, please let me know. I look forward to an exciting and enriching year as we learn about the world around us together.

SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT:

Orr, David. Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect. Island Press, 2004.

Units of Study:

Unit 1

Chapter 1

Topic: Environmental Issues and Sustainability

A. Introduction and major themes in environmental science

B. Developed versus developing countries

C. Tragedy of the commons

D. Human population growth

Activity:

• Ecological footprint: students measure how many Earths it would take to sustain each of them.

Other resource:

• “The Boiling Frog” book excerpt from The Story of B by Daniel Quinn: Students read a speech about the story of human population growth.

Topic: Environmental History

A. History of human adaptation to the environment

B. History of environmental science to present day

C. Current issues

D. Environmental legislation

Project:

• Environmental legislation presentation

• History of Environmental Science Time Line

TEST: Chapters 1 and 2

Unit 2

Chapter 3

Topic: Science Systems, Matter, and Energy

A. Scientific method

B. Chemistry and physics

C. Nuclear chemistry and half-life

D. Matter and energy relationships (laws of thermodynamics)

Lab:

• Exploding Can: Determining what matter is and how does energy affect matter.

• What happens to matter if appearance change: students will create their own procedure based on the materials, record observations and analysis results defining Law of Conservation of Energy

Biological Statistics:

• Experimental design and analysis: T-tests

Chapters 4 and 6

Topic: Ecosystems, Energy Flow, and Matter Cycling

A. Ecosystems: Populations, communities, food chains, and food webs

B. Biodiversity

C. Ecological pyramids and productivity

D. Biogeochemical cycles: greenhouse effect and global warming with the carbon cycle

E. Ranges of tolerance

Labs and Activities:

• Biodiversity lab: Students use the Shannon-Wiener diversity index to calculate biodiversity.

• Photosynthesis and T-test lab: Students use T-test to analyze whether there is a significant difference between leaf size and the amount of sunlight they receive.

• Eating at a lower trophic level

• Class Debate on Global Warming: Students will be divided in two teams, one team will research pros and the other cons and debate

• GPP and NPP calculations

Project:

• Students create a 3D model of a Sustainable Ecosystem

Videos:

• Journey to Planet Earth: Seas of Grass: relates disappearing

grasslands with desertification

• Chemical Families DVD: discuss how the periodic table is arrange and uses experiments to show the reactive behavior of many elements.

Chapter 6

Topic: Climate and Terrestrial Biodiversity

A. Weather

B. Climate

C. Global air and water currents

D. Terrestrial biomes

Project:

• Weather journal

Activity:

• Students create climatograms

Computer Simulations:

• The Greenhouse Effect Simulation: students manipulate various variables that affect the production of a greenhouse gas to see the effect it has on temperature.

Video:

• Discover News; Global Warming and Climate Change

• Discover News; Signs of Climate Change in Alaska

TEST: Chapters 3, 4 and 6

Unit 3

Chapters 7 and 15

Topic: Aquatic Ecology and Biodiversity

A. Water resources

B. Marine and freshwater aquatic biomes

C. Eutrophication

D. Ocean currents and El Nino

Labs and Activities:

• Field Trip: Water quality testing: Students use kits to test for nitrates, phosphates, dissolved oxygen, and pH of a lake.

• How much water do you use?: Students determine their daily, monthly, and yearly water use.

• Aquatic Ecosystem lab: Students will identify the invertebrates collected from outdoor lab, use class data and develop a food web and explore the relative abundance of the organisms found in this ecological community, which will determine if the ecosystem is healthy or not..

Project:

• Point versus non-point source pollution activity: Students given a scenario in which they must determine the source of pollution and then propose solutions for it.

• Create an Aquatic Ecosystem: students will create their own aquatic ecosystem, observe the ecosystem for a month, collecting data by using water quality kits to test for nitrates, phosphates, dissolved oxygen and pH. Compare results with other students and data collected from Field Trip.

Computer Simulations:

• Pollution and stream ecology: Students manipulate various types of pollution and determine their effects on a stream.

Videos:

• Journey to Planet Earth: On the Brink: case studies: Bangladesh’s water shortage and the Ogallala Aquifer depletion)

Other Resource:

• National Geographic article: “Seafood Crisis”; October 2010

Chapters 5 and 8

Topic: Evolution and Biodiversity

A. Evolution

B. Community ecology

C. Symbiotic Relationships

D. Invasive Species

E. Indicator and keystone species

F. Succession

Labs and Activities:

• Island size and biodiversity

• River Health and Indicator Species: Students analysis data on fish sampling conducted by research scientist Noel Alfonso to see how scientist determines what is affecting the health of the river.

Computer Simulations

• Natural selection simulation: Students simulate the evolution of a rabbit population and calculate gene frequencies.

Videos:

• The Importance of Documenting Biodiversity : Canadian Museum Of Nature scientist Noel Alfonso talks about Biodiversity and indicator Species

• United Streaming; Jeff Corwin: mimicry and symbiosis

• National Geographic; Strange Days Invaders: Cats in Borneo

TEST: Chapters 5, 7, 8 and 15

Unit 4

Chapters 11, 12, and 13

Topic: Sustaining Biodiversity

A. Endangered species

B. Extinction

C. Preservation

Lab:

• Tree transect: Students identify the number of different tree species by using the transect method.

Project:

• Endangered species project

Video:

• PBS, Evolution Series: The Extinction!

Other Resource:

• Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science Article: Avian Extinction and Mammalian Introducers on Oceanic Islands

•

TEST: Chapters 11, 12 and 13

Unit 5

Chapters 9 and 10

Topic: Population Ecology and the Human Population

A. Populations: exponential and logistical growth, r versus K strategists and survivorship curves

B. Human population: zero population growth, fertility and death rates, age structure histograms and factors affecting population size

Labs and Activities:

• Age structure histograms: Students construct age/sex histograms and compare developed versus developing countries.

• Population Pyramids: students predict and explain population changes.

• Simulation on the spread of disease

• Doubling time calculations

Video:

• World Population: graphic simulation that allows the students to see the growth of Human Population

TEST: Chapters 9 and 10

Unit 6

Chapters 14 and 23

Topic: Food and Soil Resources and Pest Management

A. Food: crop production and meat production and harvesting fish

B. Soil

C. Pest control: types, alternatives, pesticide treadmill, integrated pest management and Rachel Carson: Silent Spring

Labs and Activities:

• Environmental factors and seed germination: Students analyze the effects of different levels of acidity and salinity on seed germination.

• Soil texture and soil density lab: Students use soil triangle to determine soil texture.

Other Resource:

• National Geographic article: “Environmental Movement at 40: Is Earth Healthier?”; April 2002

TEST: Chapters 14 and 23

Unit 7

Chapters 16 and 17

Topic: Geology and Nonrenewable Resources

A. Geologic processes

B. Natural disasters

C. Rocks, rock cycle, and minerals

D. Non-renewable resources: mining, oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear energy

Labs and Activities:

• Hot spots and plumes activity

• Rock and mineral identification lab

• Energy calculations: coal power plant, fuel efficiency, and personal energy consumption

Video:

• PBS, Planet Forward: Fossil Fuels and Beyond

Chapter 18

Topic: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

A. Renewable energy and resources: solar, hydroelectricity, wind power, biomass, hydrogen and geothermal

Labs and Activities:

• Energy conversions and problems

• Group presentations: Each group of students will create and present one of the renewable energy resources.

TEST: Chapters 16, 17 and 18

Unit 8

Chapter 19

Topic: Human Health

• Risk

• Toxicology: bioaccumulation and biomagnifications

• Human health: epidemiology and disease

Labs and Activities:

• Risk perception and risk reality: Students conduct a survey of risks that they perceive as major and minor.

• LD50 calculations

Chapters 20, 21, and 22

Topic: Pollution and Human Health

A. Air pollution: Clean Air Act, greenhouse effect review and ozone depletion

B. Water pollution

C. Pollution and human health

Labs and Activities:

• Automobile emissions and particulates testing: Demonstration of auto emissions testing.

Chapter 24

Unit 15 Topic: Solid and Hazardous Waste

A. Hazardous waste

B. Landfills

C. Superfund sites

Activity:

How much waste do you generate?

TEST: Chapters 20, 21, 22 and 24

Chapters 25, 26, 27, and 28: Topics: Sustainability, economics, politics and government, ethics, globalization, and worldviews are incorporated throughout each unit.

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Year-Long Elective

Perquisites: Biology, Chemistry

Location: 322

Text: Living in the Environment by G. Tyler Miller, Jr. (13 edition)

Course Reading: Refer to Book List

Meetings: 1 Field Trips (Outside of School)

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