Course Title: AP Environmental Science
Instructor: Thomas Cooper
Email:
Course Length: 36 weeks
Course Schedule: Periods C and D (2 hours)
Course Description: This course is designed to introduce important environmental issues that are related to global populations. Emphasis is placed on the identification and classification of environmental problems using various technologies, and how they relate to the laws of nature. The growth of human populations, problems related to this growth, and depletion of natural resources are explored. A review of hazardous pollutants introduced into the environment, and their relationship to human health is examined. Technology related to the exploration of the environment and its uses in our society are also explored.
Types of Assignments:
1. Readings: Students are encouraged to read the text and journal articles outside of class, and to complete assigned review questions. Periodically students will be asked to review a series of papers on a particular topic and to present a case analysis. Students should follow the established cases analysis guidelines. Papers need to be written in American Psychological Association (APA) format.
2. Lab Investigations: Students will complete 10 standard labs and 1 long-term research laboratory investigation. Each investigation will be accompanied by a pre-lab quiz on the material discussed in the lab. During the investigations, students are encouraged to take daily notes on the progress of their investigation, either in their lab note book or in an e-portfolio.
As for the long-term research project, students are to provide 1) an initial design, 2) periodic peer reviews of at least 2 other projects, 3) monthly progress reports, and 4) a final paper. A number of projects are currently being conducted in conjunction with the National Park Service at Kennesaw National Battle field in the areas of stream monitoring, biodiversity, forestry and pollution control. Students may elect to continue a long-term research project previously established by another student or to design a new project. All projects are subject to approval by the instructor and the head ranger at the park. All investigations should follow the prescribed design and collection criteria. Papers need to be written in American Psychological Association (APA) format.
3. Research Projects: Each week students will be required to use the Internet and various traditional library resources to investigate environmental topics about a state or particular country. Students will be required use the APES blog (http://goapes.blogspot.com) to present their.
4. Examinations: Unit examinations will be given every 2-3 chapters on work completed during that period. Examinations will be formatted in the manor of an AP examination, consisting of 40-50 MCQ’s and 1 essay. A mock AP examination (consisting of 100 MCQs and 2 essays) will be given at the end of the first term and again approximately 1 month before the examination.
Course Texts:
· Living in the Environment by G. Tyler Miller, Jr. 15th Edition ISBN 0495015989
· Environmental Issues: Measuring, Analyzing and Evaluating by Robert L. McConnell ISBN 013092041
· The Eternal Frontier: The Ecological History of North America and It’s People by Tim Flannery ISBN 0802138888
Internet Resources:
Internet resources for APES include, but are not limited to the following sites. More online resources can be found at http://goapes.blogspott.com, which provides a links to the course’s social bookmarking site.
· US Environmental Protection Agency - http://www.epa.gov/
· US Geological Service - http://www.usgs.org
· National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association - http://www.noaa.gov/
· Global Issues - http://www.globalissues.org
· World Resource Institute - http://www.wri.org/
· APA - http://www.apa.org
Course Outline:
The course outline is based on a 7-day cycle; there being 12 cycles per semester and 1 traditional week for examinations. During a typical cycle the course meets for 2 hours on 5 days and 1 hour on two days of the cycle. There is 1 field day at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. Lecture days are used for traditional lectures, movies, and debates. Lab days are used for experimental design lectures, analysis of field samples, critique of others research, and test review. A traditional cycle follows the format:
A Day / B Day / C Day / D Day / E Day / F Day / G DayLecture / Environmental Film / Lecture / Field Day Kennesaw National Park / Lecture / Does Not Meet / Lecture or Test Day
Lab / Lab / Lab / Blogging on Environmental Issues / Lab Does Not Meet
CYCLE / Description of Content
Class Time / Activity
1 / Environmental Problems
Readings: Chapter 1 (Miller)
Environmental History
Readings: Chapter 2 (Miller)
Article: The Challenges We Face, Time Sept. 2002
Film: Easter Island in Context: From Paradise to Calamity
http://www.films.com/id/4697/Easter_Island_in_Context_From_Paradise_to_Calamity.htm / Research Question End of Chapter Questions
2 / Science, Systems, Matter and Energy + Experimental Design
Readings: Chapter 3 (Miller)
Unit 1 Exam
Lab – Experimental Design for an Environmental Problem / Research Question
End of Chapter Questions
3 / Ecosystems: What Are They?
Readings: Chapter 4 (Miller)
Handout: Ecosystems and Symbols
Film: Planet Earth, BBC – (2 episodes)
Lab - Field Observations
Topics Due for Long-Term Research Project Due / Research Question
End of Chapter Questions
Measuring and Analyzing
4 / Evolution and Biodiversity
Readings: Chapter 5 (Miller)
Film: Prehistoric America, Part I & II
Lab – Summer Biomass Field Study
Unit 2 Exam / Pre-Lab Quiz
Research Question
End of Chapter Questions
5 / Climate and Terrestrial Biodiversity
Readings: Chapter 6 (Miller)
Film: Planet Earth, BBC – (2 episodes)
Lab - Plant & Leaf Collection
Long-Term Lab Preliminary Research Design Due / Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
6 / Aquatic Biodiversity
Readings: Chapter 7 (Miller)
Article: Sick Seas, Nature August 2006
Film: Blue Planet- Open Oceans and Coasts
Lab – Stream Collection
Unit 3 Exam / Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
7 / Community Ecology & Behavioral Ecology
Readings: Chapter 8 (Miller) + Handouts
Film: March of the Penguins, IMAX
Lab – Fall Biomass Study
Long-Term Lab Preliminary Research Design Peer Reviews Due / Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
8 / Population Ecology
Readings: Chapter 9 (Miller)
Lab – Population Growth Study / Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
9 / Applying Population Ecology: The Human Population
Readings: Chapter 10 (Miller)
Film: World in the Balance, Nova PBS
Lab – Population Growth Study (cont.)
Debate on Population Growth
Unit 4 Exam / Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
Measuring and Analyzing
10 / Sustaining Terrestrial Biodiversity: Managing Ecosystems
Readings: Chapter 11 (Miller)
Article: Lush Life,
Lab – Biodiversity Field Study / Pre-Lab Quiz
End of Chapter Questions
11 / Sustaining Biodiversity: The Species Approach
Readings: Chapter 12 (Miller)
Article: Let Them Run Wild, Time August 2002
Film: Wolves-A Legend Returns to Yellowstone, National Geographic
Lab – Biodiversity Field Study (cont.) / Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
Measuring and Analyzing
12 / Sustaining Aquatic Biodiversity
Readings: Chapter 13 (Miller)
Film: Blue Planet-Tidal Seas and Coral Seas
Lab – Stream Collection (cont.) / End of Chapter Questions
Measuring and Analyzing
13 / First Semester Exams – Mock AP Exam on material covered to date.
Break
14 / Food and Soil Resources
Readings: Chapter 14 (Miller)
Film: Land of Plenty, Land of Want, PBS
Pest Management
Readings: Chapter 22 (Miller)
Article: Testing Pesticides on Humans, Discover December 2003
Lab – Physical or Chemical Characteristics of Soil / Pre-Lab Quiz
Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
15 / Water Resources
Readings: Chapter 15 (Miller)
Film: Running Dry, Chronicles Group
Lab – Stream Collection (cont.)
Unit 5 Exam / Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
Measuring and Analyzing
16 / Geology and Nonrenewable Mineral Resources
Readings: Chapter 16 (Miller)
Nonrenewable Energy Resources
Readings: Chapter 17 (Miller)
Film: Yellowstone Super Volcano
Lab – Mineral Identification
Long-Term Lab Preliminary Data Peer Reviews Due / Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
17 / Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Readings: Chapter 18 (Miller)
Film: Modern Marvels – Renewable Energy, The History Channel
Lab - Spring Biomass Study
Unit 6 Exam / Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
Measuring and Analyzing
18 / Risk, Toxicology and Human Health
Readings: Chapter 19 (Miller)
Article: Our Preferred Poison, Discover March 2005
Air Pollution
Readings: Chapter 20 (Miller)
Film: Bioterror, Nova
Lab – Toxicity of Water or Air / Pre-Lab Quiz
Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
19 / Water Pollution
Readings: Chapter 22 (Miller)
Film: China’s Mega Dam, Discovery Channel
Lab - Drinking Water Quality
Unit 7 Exam / Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
20 / Climate Change and Ozone Loss
Readings: Chapter 21 (Miller)
Film: Global Warming, The Signs and The Science PBS
Debate on Global Warming / Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
21 / Solid and Hazardous Waste
Readings: Chapter 24 (Miller)
Film: The Recycled Life
http://www.recycledlifedoc.com/
Sustainable Cities
Readings: Chapter 25 ( Miller)
Film: The Urban Explosion, PBS
Unit 8 Exam / Research Questions
End of Chapter Questions
Measuring and Analyzing
22 / Economics, Politics, Ethics and Environment World Views
Readings: Chapter 26 (Miller)
Readings: Chapter 27 (Miller)
Readings: Chapter 28 (Miller)
Presentation of Long-Term Lab Research Projects / End of Chapter Questions
23 / Review and Mock APES EXAM
24 / Final Exams (APES EXAM)
* The instructor reserves the right to alter the above schedule and assignments due to school restrictions and/or new developments in environmental science.
Grading:
How students will be evaluated and what percentage will each item be toward the final grade for the course:
Exams =· 8 unit exams
· 2 mock AP exams / 35%
Case Studies and Measuring and Analyzing Questions
· 4 short case studies (paper)
· 2 discussion and debate sessions
· 8 measuring and analyzing issues / 20%
Lab Investigations =
· 6 pre-lab quizzes
· 6 field lab investigations
· 6 lab reports
· 1 long-term investigation and report
· 4 peer reviews / 35%
End of Chpt. Questions, Research Questions =
· 12 question sets on states
· 4 question sets on foreign countries and/or global issues / 10%
Total / 100%
Transformation to a letter grade will be based on the following thresholds:
A / 90 – 100 %B / 80 – 89 %
C / 70 – 79%
F / 69 % and below
Course Policies:
Ethics – All assignments submitted in fulfillment of the course requirements must be the student’s own work. All assignments except those designated as “team projects” are meant to be individual efforts. Project Team efforts are meant to be equal efforts of all team members.
Attendance - Students are expected to be in class for all regularly scheduled class periods. It is the responsibility of the student to arrange with the instructor all matters related to student absences in advance, whenever possible.
Homework - All work should be handed into the instructor at the beginning of the class on the date on which it is due. All written homework should have a title page, according to the APA format (http://www.apa.org). Any group assignments should have the name of each team member, as well as a table of contents.
Make-up Work – Students may email the instructor on or before the class period on days they are absent to prevent their work being considered late. To allow for unexpected illnesses, a minimum of one assignment will be dropped in each category (except for a final exam). Students have one day for every day they are absent to make up work. Students, who complete all assignments, may use these “dropped” assignments as extra credit. Allowances will be made on a case by cases basis for long term illnesses.
Format for Case Analysis:
Because this is a college course in environmental science, students will be required periodically to write a case analyzes on different environmental problems. Each of these papers should contain a thesis, and not simple restate the facts. A thesis paper is one in which the student forms an opinion and supports their opinion with documented facts from primary sources. Primary sources include environmental journals, interviews from scientists and experiments that have been conducted on the subject Students may elect to disagree with current ideas presented in the primary journals, as long as they can logically argue their position.
Paper Format - Each paper should follow the American Psychological Association (APA) format, as scientific papers are written in this style. A 2-3 page summary of the basic formatting rules can be found at http://www.aga.org; the instructor has a class copy for reference. Suggested length for each of your papers is 3-4 double spaced pages in a clear 12pt. font. Each paper must contain a cover page, and a bibliography with at least five (5) references from primary journals. These articles must be copied and attached to the back of your paper.
Choosing a Topic - Specific Case Analyzes will be chosen for the students that correspond to topics currently being discussed in class. Students will be required to supplement the main article with other references.
Suggested Outline
1. Describe the current problem, or situation. (1-2 paragraphs)
2. List the historical facts that have lead up to the current situation. (1-2 paragraphs)
3. Describe any experiments that were conducted to research the problem and describe the significance of the data that was found. (2-3 paragraphs)
4. Describe what was done to solve the problem. (3-4 paragraphs)
5. Explain the risks that were associated with implementing the proposed solution. (3-4 paragraphs)
6. Describe what action (legislative, economic, technical or educational) was taken to prevent the problem from occurring in the future. (2-3 paragraphs)