Download AP Environmental Science

AP Environmental Science
Mr. Word
[email protected]
736.1040
Class materials
Text: Environmental Science for AP by Friedland and Relyea
ISBN-13: 978-0716738497
Lab book: Each student needs to purchase a bound composition notebook for use in lab.
Class overview
This class encompasses many different disciplines and many different concepts. It will requite a lot of work
outside the classroom. Students learn methods for analyzing and interpreting data. There is also a large
fieldwork component which will require you to be out in the environment (both during class and on your own
time) to collect data, and then analyze, interpret and write about your data. The tests and exams will have the
same format as the AP Environmental Science exam so each student will be very familiar with the format by the
time 8:00 am, Monday, May 7 rolls along. We will be covering a lot of material to prepare for the AP exam so
it is essential that each student stay ahead of the class.
Class Policies
 Food, gum or drinks are not allowed anywhere in the Biology room. We will be using various
chemicals in laboratory exercises and not having food in the room will prevent any contamination.
 Personal electronic equipment (cell phones, music players, etc.) SHOULD NEVER BE VISIBLE at
any time during class. If cell phones are left on, they should be set to silent mode and stored out of
sight for the duration of the class. Failure to keep electronics away from sight will result in forfeiture of
that object for the remainder of class. However, calculators are allowed in class, when necessary.
 As per the student handbook, plagiarism will not be tolerated. Any sources used in lab reports,
presentations or homework must be cited from a reputable source. In most all cases, you should
paraphrase from your source and not quote directly. Note—copying and pasting (and changing some of
the words) is still plagiarizing. All of your work should be in your own words.
 If any assignments are missed due to an excused absence, it is up to you to get those assignments and
turn them in within the time outlined in the student handbook.
 Assignments turned in late will not receive a passing grade, but will be accepted within a week after the
due date. If you do not turn in the assignment within a week of the due date, then you will lose your
chance to receive any credit for that assignment.
 Occasionally, unplanned things pop up or you have trouble completing your homework. If you need an
extension on the homework, let me know as soon as possible (not the day before) and we can work
something out.
 Being on time is incredibly important. After your fifth tardy, you will be referred to the DRB.
Class philosophy
This is a demanding, college-level course. You are in control of your own learning in this course. You will be
required to spend many hours outside of class understanding the concepts that are presented in this course.
Many of the topics we will have a limited time to go over in class. It is imperative that you keep up with
reading assignments, use time wisely in class and ask questions outside of class. You can always email me or
we can find time to meet. It is your responsibility to advocate your needs to me and I will do what I can to help
you. In most cases, you can work with your classmates (teammates, as below) for help.
For this course, I will serve as facilitator. I think of my job as being similar to your coach, your music
instructor and/or your play director. I am on your side and want to help you reach your potential, but you must
do the work along the way. If you are a basketball player, you may want to be in the NBA/WNBA, but your
coach will not get you there. If you are a musician, your instructor will not get you into the Juilliard School or
into the greatest rock band of all time. Your play director will not get you into a Broadway play or into the cast
of High School Musical 7: Cat dissection lab. Your hard work, along with all of the other elements (help from
friends, family, your coaches, instructors and/or directors) will allow you to be more successful in your field of
interest. The same is true for your education. You need to be an active part of the experience.
Continuing the coach/music instructor/play director analogy, I think of the AP Biology homework as
“individual skill practice”—the work you do on your own. For basketball, it would be like working on freethrows and/or dribbling in the park near your house by yourself or with friends. For piano, it is like practicing
your scales and pieces on your keyboard at home. Finally, for acting, it would be memorizing/rehearsing your
lines by yourself or reading your lines to your parents, dog, cereal box or anything that will listen. Some of the
assignments you have to do by yourself (i.e., reading assignments), but for others you may use the help of your
teammates to discuss an unclear topic (not just copying answers). There will be some other assignments that
you will not be able to use your teammates, but I will let you know which assignments those are.
I think of class time as the “group practice”—practicing where your coach, instructor or director (and other
teammates/castmates) can help you perfect your skills that you have been working on. You would never go to a
dress rehearsal without knowing your lines or go to tennis practice without being prepared. Class time is no
different. If you come prepared, you will get so much more out of the course and you can ask more informed
questions.
I think of tests as games, recitals or play performances—you get to show off what you have been working on
and how much you have improved. This is where all of your hard work pays off. At this point, your instructor,
coach or director has little control over what you do on the field or stage. Your individual practices and group
practices help prepare you.
Assignments and Grades
Exams, Tests, quizzes, lab reports and homework will be the basis for grading.
Tests
Lab reports
Quizzes/homework/class participation
Exams (End of semester)
40%
25%
25%
10%
Assignment details
 Tests will be given after every major unit and questions will be multiple choice with some free response
questions and mimic the format of the AP Exam. Questions will be taken from previous AP national
exams as well as from many other sources.
 All lab exercises will require a lab report and will vary by lab topic. Some labs will require a formal
report (typed) and others will have different requirements; others will be written up in your lab book.
All data that you collect should be in your bound lab book.
 Quizzes and homework:
o Reading Notes: You will be required to take notes from your reading assignment (outlines are
fine) and they are due the same day reading is due. Reading notes will be taken up at different
points in the semester
o Quizzes will be given randomly (and mostly unannounced) throughout the semester and they will
assess your knowledge of material covered in class, concepts from the laboratory activities and/or
information from the reading assignments.
o All assignments are due at the beginning of class and must be printed out. I will not accept
emailed homework, unless otherwise directed.
o Any long-term assignments (projects, lab reports, etc.) must be turned in on the due date, even if
you are absent that day or the day(s) before. If you are absent the day that the assignment is due, I
will accept emailed assignments.
o Late assignments will be accepted within a week after the due date, but they will not receive a
passing grade.


Exams: Each exam (at the end of the semester) will be cumulative and will include all topics covered to
date of the exam. The final exam will focus on the material covered during the spring semester, but will
include some concepts from the first semester. Both finals will have the same structure and time
requirements as the AP national exam (Monday, May 7 at 8 am).
AP EXAM Monday morning, May 7, 2012
A VERY, VERY, VERY TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:
Week
Topic
8/15
Overview of AP Enviro; Testing
hypotheses; Scientific writing
8/22
Unit analysis; graphing; Experimental
design
8/29
Environmental Systems; Chemistry review
9/6 (Labor Day)
Environmental Laws/History
9/12
Ecosystems-Energy flow (food webs)
9/19
Soils; Geochemical cycles
9/26
Climate; Biomes
10/3 (Fall Break)
Aquatic systems; water pollution
10/10
Evolution
10/17
Succession; Carrying capacity
10/24
Human population, exponential growth
10/31
Water resources
11/7
Water resources (continued)
11/14
Non-renewable mineral resources, rock
cycle
11/21(Thanksgiving) Non-renewable energy
11/28
Non-renewable energy (continuedmountaintop removal mining)
12/5
Semester Project presentations
12/16
EXAM
Week
1/3
1/9
1/17(MLK Jr.)
1/23
1/30
2/6
2/13
Topic
Tragedy of the commons, Public vs.
Private lands
Where food comes from other than Kroger
—Traditional and new food production
techniques
Soil conservation; Impacts of food
production
Sustainable Energy
Air pollution
Waste and waste management
Waste and waste management (continued)
Chapter(s)
Chapter 1, summer
reading
Appendix
2
3
4
14
5
6
7
9
8
12
Chapters
10
11
13
15
16
2/20
2/27
3/5
3/12
3/19
3/26
4/2 (Spring Break
begins Friday)
4/9
4/16
4/23
4/30 (Oaks Day)
5/7
WINTER BREAK
Toxicology and Human Health
17
Toxicology and Human Health
(continued)
Conservation Biology
18
Climate change and ozone loss
19
Climate change and ozone loss(continued)
Sustainable development
20
SPRING BREAK
Sustainable development (continued)
Sustainable development projects due
Review and Final Exam
AP EXAM
AP EXAM INFO
The AP exam no longer subtracts a quarter of a point for question that you miss, so guessing is HIGHLY
ENCOURAGED.
The goal of the AP Environmental Science course is to provide students with the scientific principles, concepts,
and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world, to identify and analyze
environmental problems both natural and human-made, to evaluate the relative risks associated with these
problems, and to examine alternative solutions for resolving and/or preventing them. Environmental science is
interdisciplinary; it embraces a wide variety of topics from different areas of study. Yet there are several major
unifying constructs, or themes, that cut across the many topics included in the study of environmental science.
The following themes provide a foundation for the structure of the AP Environmental Science course.
1. Science is a process.
o Science is a method of learning more about the world.
o Science constantly changes the way we understand the world.
2. Energy conversions underlie all ecological processes.
o Energy cannot be created; it must come from somewhere.
o As energy flows through systems, at each step more of it becomes unusable.
3. The Earth itself is one interconnected system.
o Natural systems change over time and space.
o Biogeochemical systems vary in ability to recover from disturbances.
4. Humans alter natural systems.
o Humans have had an impact on the environment for millions of years.
o Technology and population growth have enabled humans to increase both the rate and scale of
their impact on the environment.
5. Environmental problems have a cultural and social context.
o Understanding the role of cultural, social and economic factors is vital to the development of
solutions.
6. Human survival depends on developing practices that will achieve sustainable systems.
o A suitable combination of conservation and development is required.
o Management of common resources is essential.
AP Exam Topic Outline
The following outline of major topics serves to describe the scope of the AP Environmental Science exam. The
order of topics in the outline holds no special significance, since there are many different sequences in which
the topics can be appropriately addressed in the course. The percentage after each major topic heading
shows the approximate proportion of multiple-choice questions on the exam that pertain to that heading; thus,
the percentage also indicates the relative emphasis that should be placed on the topics in the course.
I. Earth Systems and Resources (10–15%)
A. Earth Science Concepts (Geologic time scale; plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanism; seasons; solar
intensity and latitude)
B. The Atmosphere (Composition; structure; weather and climate; atmospheric circulation and the
Coriolis Effect; atmosphere–ocean interactions; ENSO)
C. Global Water Resources and Use (Freshwater/saltwater; ocean circulation; agricultural, industrial,
and domestic use; surface and groundwater issues; global problems; conservation)
D. Soil and Soil Dynamics (Rock cycle; formation; composition; physical and chemical properties;
main soil types; erosion and other soil problems; soil conservation)
II. The Living World (10–15%)
A. Ecosystem Structure (Biological populations and communities; ecological niches; interactions
among species; keystone species; species diversity and edge effects; major terrestrial and aquatic
biomes)
B. Energy Flow (Photosynthesis and cellular respiration; food webs and trophic levels; ecological
pyramids)
C. Ecosystem Diversity (Biodiversity; natural selection; evolution; ecosystem services)
D. Natural Ecosystem Change (Climate shifts; species movement; ecological succession)
E. Natural Biogeochemical Cycles (Carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, water, conservation of matter)
III. Population (10–15%)
A. Population Biology Concepts (Population ecology; carrying capacity; reproductive strategies;
survivorship)
B. Human Population
1. Human population dynamics (Historical population sizes; distribution; fertility rates; growth
rates and doubling times; demographic transition; age-structure diagrams)
2. Population size (Strategies for sustainability; case studies; national policies)
3. Impacts of population growth (Hunger; disease; economic effects; resource use; habitat
destruction)
IV. Land and Water Use (10–15%)
A. Agriculture
1. Feeding a growing population (Human nutritional requirements; types of agriculture; Green
Revolution; genetic engineering and crop production; deforestation; irrigation; sustainable
agriculture)
2. Controlling pests (Types of pesticides; costs and benefits of pesticide use; integrated pest
management; relevant laws)
B. Forestry (Tree plantations; old growth forests; forest fires; forest management;
national forests)
C. Rangelands (Overgrazing; deforestation; desertification; rangeland management; federal
rangelands)
D. Other Land Use
1. Urban land development (Planned development; suburban sprawl; urbanization)
2. Transportation infrastructure (Federal highway system; canals and channels; roadless areas;
ecosystem impacts)
3. Public and federal lands (Management; wilderness areas; national parks; wildlife refuges;
forests; wetlands)
4. Land conservation options (Preservation; remediation; mitigation; restoration)
5. Sustainable land-use strategies
E. Mining (Mineral formation; extraction; global reserves; relevant laws and treaties)
F. Fishing (Fishing techniques; overfishing; aquaculture; relevant laws and treaties)
G. Global Economics (Globalization; World Bank; Tragedy of the Commons; relevant laws and
treaties)
V. Energy Resources and Consumption (10–15%)
A. Energy Concepts (Energy forms; power; units; conversions; Laws of Thermodynamics)
B. Energy Consumption
1. History (Industrial Revolution; exponential growth; energy crisis)
2. Present global energy use
3. Future energy needs
C. Fossil Fuel Resources and Use (Formation of coal, oil, and natural gas; extraction/purification
methods; world reserves and global demand; synfuels; environmental advantages/disadvantages of
sources)
D. Nuclear Energy (Nuclear fission process; nuclear fuel; electricity production; nuclear reactor
types; environmental advantages/disadvantages; safety issues; radiation and human health;
radioactive wastes; nuclear fusion)
E. Hydroelectric Power (Dams; flood control; salmon; silting; other impacts)
F. Energy Conservation (Energy efficiency; CAFE standards; hybrid electric vehicles; mass transit)
G. Renewable Energy (Solar energy; solar electricity; hydrogen fuel cells; biomass; wind energy;
small-scale hydroelectric; ocean waves and tidal energy; geothermal; environmental
advantages/disadvantages)
VI. Pollution (25–30%)
A. Pollution Types
1. Air pollution (Sources—primary and secondary; major air pollutants; measurement
units; smog; acid deposition—causes and effects; heat islands and temperature inversions; indoor
air pollution; remediation and reduction strategies; Clean Air Act and other relevant laws)
2. Noise pollution (Sources; effects; control measures)
3. Water pollution (Types; sources, causes, and effects; cultural eutrophication; groundwater
pollution; maintaining water quality; water purification; sewage treatment/septic systems; Clean
Water Act and other relevant laws)
4. Solid waste (Types; disposal; reduction)
B. Impacts on the Environment and Human Health
1. Hazards to human health (Environmental risk analysis; acute and chronic effects; dose-response
relationships; air pollutants; smoking and other risks)
2. Hazardous chemicals in the environment (Types of hazardous waste; treatment/disposal of
hazardous waste; cleanup of contaminated sites; biomagnification; relevant laws)
C.Economic Impacts (Cost-benefit analysis; externalities; marginal costs; sustainability)
VII. Global Change (10–15%)
A. Stratospheric Ozone (Formation of stratospheric ozone; ultraviolet radiation; causes of ozone
depletion; effects of ozone depletion; strategies for reducing ozone depletion; relevant laws and
treaties)
B. Global Warming (Greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect; impacts and consequences of
global warming; reducing climate change; relevant laws and treaties)
C. Loss of Biodiversity
1. Habitat loss; overuse; pollution; introduced species; endangered and extinct species
2. Maintenance through conservation
3. Relevant laws and treaties