Download Course Title: Outdoor Living A Highly Qualified Teacher: Martha

Course Title: Outdoor Living A
Highly Qualified Teacher: Martha Severn
Advisor: Greg Maddigan, Hydee Reber, Chuck Scheiwiller, Martha Severn
Dates of Class: 8/31/2015 – 6/15/2016
Credits: 0.50 per semester
Certificated Contact Method: In-Person instructional contact
Estimated Total Hours/Week: 5 (Estimated hours per week spent on this class, counting both seat
time and time spent at home doing homework).
Class Description: The objective for this course is mastery of scientific principles, concepts, and
methodologies required to understand, predict, and prevent a variety events and situations in the
natural world. Students will critically analyze and problem solve current environmental issues of our
time including, pollution, resource management, population, energy demands, and economic and
political involvement. Environmental science is interdisciplinary in nature, and embraces a wide variety
of topics in scientific fields including ecology, biology, chemistry, geology, geography, physics,
atmospheric science, and oceanography. Students will actively engage in scientific investigation,
laboratory research, and field work that include collecting, analyzing, interpreting and evaluating data
using scientific methodology. The successful completion of this course would give prerequisite to postsecondary education and careers in the area of natural resource management, agriculture, ecology,
environmental studies, environmental law and environmental engineering. Successful AP course
completion will also provide students with the acquisition of environmental science college credit.
*Any adjustments made to the syllabus will be indicated in the advisor’s working portfolio.
Learning Materials:
 Living in the Environment. Miller & Spoolman. 17th ed.
 Computer and Internet
 Field Studies
Learning Goals/Performance Objectives:
Scientific Practices & Quantitative Reasoning
 SciPrac1: The ability to solve problems is greatly enhanced by use of mathematics and information
technologies.
 SciPrac2: Conclusions must be logical and based on evidence.
 SciPrac3: The scientific process can be used to answer research questions by collecting and analyzing
appropriate data, and communicating these processes and results clearly and effectively.
Global Change
 GC1: Human actions can affect biodiversity.
 GC2: Understanding the role of cultural, social, and economic factors is vital to the development of
solutions.
Earth Systems
 ES1: Earth itself is one interconnected system.
 ES2: Natural systems change over time and space.
 ES3: Biogeochemical systems vary in ability to recover from disturbances.
The Living World
 LW1: Ecosystem structure and diversity change over time.
 LW2: Energy flows through ecosystems.
 LW3: Ecosystems contain natural biogeochemical cycles.
Population
 POP1: Human population dynamics follow patterns and have impacts on the natural world.
 POP2: Populations follow established biological principles.
Land and Water Use
 LW1: Humans alter natural systems through acquisition of resources.
Learning Activities:
I. Introduction to Environmental Problems – Stewardship and Citizen Responsibility (3
Weeks)
 Local, Regional, National, International
o Humans must protect our natural assets and live off the resources they provide.
o Environmentalism is a social movement dedicated to protecting life support systems for
all species.
o Scientific research is a central means of answering questions about environmental
issues and in seeking solutions of environmental problems.
o #1 Environmental History Activity
Goal: students will gain an understanding on how environmental concerns have changed over the
years.
• #2 Mentos Lab
Goal: Designed to collect and analyze data using software available through Vernier software and
technology.
 B. Personal – Ishmael, Tragedy of the Commons, and other personal accounts related to
environmental stewardship
o The tragedy of the commons describes the overuse or degradation of freely available
resources such as the ocean, air, national parks, etc. All individuals are responsible for
maintaining these free-access resources.
o #3 Tragedy of the Commons Lab
Goal: Introduce concept of renewable and nonrenewable resources, ownership, use and degradation.
II. Matter and Energy (1 week)
 Cycles: Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Water, Phosphorous
o Nutrient cycles/biogeochemical cycles are global recycling systems that interconnect all
organisms.
o
#4 Biochemical Cycles Activity
Goal: Discuss interdependence of earth’s systems, cycling of matter, the solid earth, renewable and
nonrenewable resources.
 Basic Chemistry Review
o The law of conservation of matter states that no atoms are created/destroyed during a
physical or chemical change. A similar principle applies in energy transformations.
o Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. The building blocks of matter are
atoms, ions, and molecules.
o #5 Stewardship of our Earth Activity
Goal: Students write a letter to someone important to share their thoughts about an environmental
issue they find important.
III. Ecosystems – Ecology Principles (5 weeks)
 Populations, Communities, Food Chains, Food Webs
o A population can grow rapidly with ample resources.
o A population consists of a group of interacting individuals of the same species occupying
a specific area.
o Food chains and food webs help us understand how producers, consumers, and
decomposers are interconnected in an ecosystem.
o #6 Gypsy Moths Lab
Goal: Perform population surveys in the field.
• Species interactions, succession, species movement
• Species in a community play many different roles in its ecology.
• With new environmental conditions, community structures can change; species can be
displaced by other species as conditions change.
 FIELD WORK - Water quality study (this field work is initially introduced at the beginning of the
school year and is carried forward throughout the year)
 #7 Eco-columns Labs
Goal: Provide an opportunity to explore several types of ecosystems, the components within each
ecosystem, the conditions required for the sustainability, and the interconnections between the various
chambers composing the column.
IV. Biomes, Climate (2 weeks)
• Climate and Weather
o Weather is short-term atmospheric conditions in an area. Climate is the long-term
atmospheric conditions of a region; climate patterns are usually examined over
extended periods of time.
o Gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide play key roles
in determining Earth’s average temperatures and climate.
 Biomes
• Different climates lead to different communities of organisms, especially vegetation.
• Scientists divide the world into 12 major biomes.
• #8 Biomes Activities
Goal: Introduce and understand the different components of biomes and how to develop a power point
presentation that will run on its own.
V. Human Influence (2 week)
• Human/Environment Relationships
o Concern for the state of the environment is not a recent phenomena, but new concerns
about the rate of changes in the environment are being raised.
o There are different views about the state of the environment, environmental issues, and
actions that would ensure sustainability.
o Human Population
o #9 Sustainable Island Activity
Goal: Introduce interdependence of Earth’s systems, human population dynamics, and renewable and
nonrenewable resources, ownership, use and degradation.
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Human Population
Many factors affect human population size including fertility rates, growth rates, doubling
times, demographic transition, and age structure.
Exponential growth population may involve overshooting the environment’s carrying capacity,
and this is followed by logistic growth which results in a drop in the population until stability is
reached around the carrying capacity.
Reproductive patterns in species are influenced by both ample resources and limited resources.
Once resources become limited, the population will decrease over time.
The patterns among specific species vary, but there are four general types of population
fluctuations: stable, irruptive, cyclic, and irregular.
#10 Ecological Footprint Activity
Goal: Relates human population and how they use resources available in the environment in order to
maintain and improve their existence.
Progress Criteria/Methods of Evaluation:
Successful completion will be indicated by successfully completing end of the unit assessments,
teacher observation, daily work, and/or reports on readings, and student teacher conferences to
determine mastery.
Successful completion will also be indicated by successful mastery of online assessments and projects.
CEDARS Codes: 03003 Environmental Science 03003 (9-12)
District Code: 5620A