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AP Environmental
Fall 2016-2017 — Don Lugo High School
Instructor:
Room:
Period:
Office Hours:
E-mail:
Mr. Ciccone (Mr. “C”)
201
5
MWF 6:30 AM — 7:25 AM, Tutoring: Tue 4:00-5:00 PM
Textbook:
Environmental Science, Earth as a Living Planet by
Daniel B. Botkin and Edward A. Keller, 6th edition, 2007,
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
[email protected]
Course Description: The AP Environmental Science course is a full year course
designed to be the equivalent of a one-semester, introductory
college course in environmental science. Unlike most introductorylevel college science courses, environmental science is offered
from a wide variety of departments, including geology, biology,
environmental studies, environmental science, chemistry, and
geography. The AP Environmental Science course has been
developed to be like a rigorous science course that stresses
scientific principles and analysis and includes a laboratory
component: as such, it is intended to enable students to to
undertake, as first year college students, a more advanced study of
topics in environmental science or, alternatively, to fulfill the basic
requirement for aa laboratory science and thus free time for taking
other courses. In both breadth and level of detail, the content of the
course reflects what is found in many introductory courses in
environmental science.
The goal of the 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, to examine
alternative solutions for resolving and/or preventing them, and to
develop and focus their own political perspective.
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:
• Science is a process
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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.
Materials:
Students will need a college-ruled notebook binder, black pen,
pencil, metric ruler, scientific calculator, and textbooks.
Expectations:
Optimum learning occurs when there is three-way communication
in the classroom: teacher to student, student to teacher, and student
to student. For this to happen, students must arrive each day
prepared to learn and eagerly participate in all classroom activity.
Students must come to class with all required materials everyday.
All students have strengths and weaknesses, which will determine
their time investment for mastery of the course. Each student must
assess their time requirement and prioritize this class in their busy
schedule to ensure their success.
Requirements for success:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Attend all classes.
Complete all homework and labs.
Maintain an organized notebook.
Be prepared for all discussions and prelabs. (Completing
reading assignments is mandatory)
5. Study everyday for unit and final exams.
a. Read your notes daily.
b. Explain concepts to parents at dinner.
c. Review your completed labs.
d. Use the language of the course in all written and oral
explanations.
Grading:
Grades will be awarded based on a percentage scale, according to
The total points earned divided by the total points possible.
90-100% = A
80-89% = B
70-79% = C
60-69% = D
Below 60%= failing
Assignments will represent the following proportion of the
student’s grade:
Notebook/Homework
Final Exam
Labs
Assessment
15%
10%
25%
50%
Interactive
Notebook:
Students will keep all work in a spiral notebook, which will be
checked on a daily basis. Notebooks that receive an unsatisfactory
grade will require the student to be present in their Biology CP
classroom during their free time and edit their notebook to meet
classroom standards.
The Left Side- The left side demonstrates your OUTPUT, or
understanding of the information from the right side of the page.
Work with the IMPUT and interact with the information in
creative, unique, and individual ways.
The Right Side- INPUT goes on the right side! Input is all the
information that you are responsible for learning. Some examples
of input are: objectives, standards, thrilling notes from lectures,
your textbook, or videos; vocabulary terms and their definitions;
and sample problems.
Labs:
Labs will be inquiry based and used to enhance student’s
understanding of environmental issues as well as collect, analyze,
evaluate, scientific data to offer possible solutions to those issues.
Quizzes:
Will be random and unannounced.
Homework:
Homework will be assigned according to the classroom activity
and can include questions from the textbook, reading, and
preparation for labs and review for exams. For everyday missed a
student will have the equivalent time to make up their work.
Unit Exams:
There will be approximately four unit exams and a cumulative
final exam each semester. Each exam will consist of multiple
choice, true false and short answer questions.
Course Outline:
Unit 1 Four Weeks
• Introduction to Environmental Science
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Earth Science Concepts (geologic time scale, plate
tectonics, earthquakes, volcanism, seasons, solar intensity,
and latitude)
The Atmosphere
(composition, structure, weather and climate, atmospheric
circulation and the Coriolis Effect, atmosphere-ocean
interactions, ENSO)
Global Water Resources and Use (freshwater/saltwater,
ocean circulation, agricultural, industrial, and domestic use,
surface and ground water issues, global problems,
conservation)
Labs:
• Convection Experiment
• Water Cycle Lab Game
• Plate Tectonics and Sea Floor Mapping Lab
Unit 2 Four Weeks
• Ecosystem Structure (biological populations and
communities, ecological niches, interactions among
species, keystone species, species diversity and edge
effects, major terrestrial and aquatic biomes)
• Energy Flow (photosynthesis and cellular respiration,
food webs and tropic levels, ecological pyramids)
• Ecosystem Diversity (biodiversity, natural selection,
evolution, ecosystem services)
• Natural Ecosystem Change (climate shifts, species
movement, ecological succession)
• Natural biogeochemical Cycle (carbon, nitrogen,
phosphorus, sulfur, water, conservation of matter)
Labs:
• Plant impacts on dissolved oxygen lab
• Squirreling Away lab
• Intraspecific and Interspecific Competition lab
• Abiotic Factors with Brine Shrimp lab
Unit 3 Four Weeks
• Population Biology Concepts (population ecology,
carrying capacity, reproductive strategies,
survivorship)
• Human Population
• Human Population dynamics (historical population
sizes, distribution, fertility rates, growth rates and
doubling times, demographic transition, age
structure diagrams)
• Population size (strategies for sustainability, case
studies, national policies)
•
Impacts of population growth (hunger, disease,
economic effects, resource use, habitat destruction)
Labs:
• Mark and Recapture lab
• Island Biogeography lab
• Population Growth of Mitotic Beans lab
Unit 4 Four Weeks
• Agriculture
• Feeding a growing population (human
nutritional requirements, types of agriculture,
Green Revolution, genetic engineering and crop
production, deforestation, irrigation, sustainable
agriculture)
• Controlling Pests (types of pesticides, costs and
benefits of pesticide use, integrated pest
management, relevant laws)
• Forestry (tree plantations, old growth forests,
forest fires, forest management, national forests)
• Rangelands (overgrazing, deforestation,
desertification, rangeland management, federal
rangelands)
• 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
• Mining (mineral formations, extraction,
global reserves, relevant laws and treaties)
• Global Economics (globalization, World
Bank, tragedy of the commons, relative laws
and treaties)
Labs:
• Cookie Mining lab
• Winkler Titration lab
• Commons Fishing
• Soil Texture lab
Unit 5 Four Weeks
•
Energy Concepts (energy forms, power,
units, conversions, laws of
thermodynamics)
• Energy Consumption
1. History (industrial revolution,
exponential growth, energy
crisis)
• Present global energy use
• Future energy needs
• Fossil fuels and use (formation of coal,
oil, and natural gas,
extraction/purification methods, world
reserves and global demand, synfuels,
environmental advantages/disadvantages
of fossil fuel energy sources)
• 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)
• Energy Conservation (energy efficiency,
CAFÉ standards, hybrid electric cars,
mass transit)
• Renewable Energy (solar energy, solar
electricity, hydrogen fuel cells, biomass,
wind energy, small scale hydroelectric,
ocean waves and tidal energy,
geothermal, environmental
advantages/disadvantages)
Unit 6 Eight Weeks
• Pollution Types
1. Air pollution (sources- primary and
secondary, major air pollutants, smog, acid
deposition- causes and effects, heat islands
and temperature inversion, indoor air
pollution, remediation and reduction, clean
air act and other relevant laws)
2. Noise Pollution (sources, effects, control
measures)
3. Water pollution (types, sources, causes and
effects, cultural eutrophication, ground
water pollution)
Labs:
• Fremont Solid Waste Disposal lab
• Albedo and Greenhouse Gases lab
• Testing for Ozone lab
• Air Particulates lab
• LD50 lab
Field Trip:
• Water Discovery Field Trip
Unit 7 Four Weeks
• 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 wastes,
treatment/disposal of hazardous waste,
clean-up of contaminated sites, bio
magnification, relevant laws)
• Economic Impact (cost benefit analysis,
externalities, marginal costs, sustainability)
Labs:
• Commons Fishing lab
• LD 50 lab
• Albedo and Greenhouse Gases lab
Unit 8 Four Weeks
• Stratospheric Ozone (formation of stratospheric
ozone, ultraviolet radiation, causes of ozone
depletion, effects of ozone depletion, relevant laws
and treaties)
• Global Warming (greenhouse gasses and the
greenhouse effect, impacts and consequences of
global warming, reducing climate change, relevant
laws and treaties)
• Loss of Biodiversity (habitat loss, overuse,
pollution, introduced species, endangered and
extinct species, maintenance through conservation,
relevant laws and treaties)
Classroom Guidelines:
1. Follow all instructions given by the instructor.
2. No Electronic Devices.
3. No Food or Drink.
4. Clean up after yourself.
5. Sit in your assigned seat.
6. Be polite and respectful.
Consequences:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Name recorded
One-minute after class
Parent contact
Referral
This course outline is intended to be a guide and could be changed according to the needs
of the class. Students need to be flexible and adjust to any changes that are necessary.
My signature below acknowledges that I have read and understand this course outline.
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