This course is intended to help students understand the interrelationships in our natural world. The curriculum asks
students to identify and analyze natural and human-made environmental problems, evaluate the risks associated with
these problems, and examine alternative solutions for resolution and prevention. Environmental Science includes topics
from many of the sciences including: geology, biology, environmental science, chemistry, and geography.
The basic themes of this course are:
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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
The main topic outline will include:
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Earth systems and resources
The living world
Population
Land and water use
Energy resources and consumption
Pollution
Global change
Basic Information about this course:
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Supplies: 3-ring binder, five tabs (Case Studies/Readings, Notes, Assignments/Activities, Math, Tests), paper
A textbook will be checked out: Environmental Science for AP by Friedland, Relyea and Courard-Hauri
No unauthorized cell phone use during class.
Plan on about four hours of homework per week for this class.
Late assignments will be docked points.
Tutoring available on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school until 3:30.
Citizenship Grade is based on: honesty, participation, responsibility, respect, being on time, and preparation.
Very little Extra Credit will be given for this course. Students are expected work in depth and stay current.
Lab Safety Agreement needs to be read and signed by both student and guardian to work in the lab.
Field Trips: Several will be offered and students may be asked for donations to help cover the cost of
admission/busses—for destinations, see outline below.
Be responsible and prepared for homework assignments, class work, labs, and tests/quizzes.
General Grading Outline: 100 – 90 = A
89 – 80 = B
79 – 70 = C
69 – 60 = D
Cheating will not be tolerated and will result in a U for the term.
AP Environmental Science Exam will be given on Monday, May 2nd here at Bountiful Junior. There is a fee (~$90)
to take this test (reduced for fee wavers). This is a three hour test with 100 multiple choice questions and four
FRQ’s (Free-Response Questions). Students may opt not to take the test and still have this APES experience.
To be successful on this exam, you will need to be a fluid writer—we will be working on this for the FRQ’s.
My job is not to give you an opinion about issues, but rather to give you the information to form your own.
Love science and the answers it gives about the world around you! Bring your good attitude!
Buckle up! Dig deep and get ready to work…but whatever you do, don’t be intimidated. You can do this if you’re ready to
spend some time understanding the pressing issues of Environmental Science. Challenges are good. Your reward: 3
credits of college credit by passing the AP Environmental Science exam, working knowledge about our Earth and scientific
processes, field trips to see concepts in action, and a great feeling of accomplishment!
Outline of Material – 2015-2016
Unit 1: Earth Systems and Resources (2weeks: August 24 – September 4) – Chapter 8
Students will explore Earth’s formation and geologic processes that move rocks and minerals, drive volcanic
eruptions and earthquakes, determine the distribution of mineral resources and the creation of soil.
o Case Study: Are Hybrids Environmentally Friendly? (p207)
o Flash Cards: Rock Types and Types of Plate Contact
o Map: Plate Tectonic Activity
o Math: Calculate the Rate of Plate Movement
o Computer: Wasatch Fault
o Lab: Soil
o Guest Speaker: Kennecott Mine (August 27th) Types of mining, impact, reclamation
o Lab: Mining Cookies
o Home Work: Bountiful Cemetery Selfie– One page paper on physical and chemical weathering
o Field Trip: Energy Solutions (Tuesday, September 1st) Bus and lunch provided
o Sustainability Reading: Mine Reclamation and Biodiversity
Studying the State of Our Earth (1 week: Sept 8 – 11) - Chapter 1
Students will understand the interaction among human systems and those found in nature and begin appreciating
our place in the world.
o Case Study: Mysterious Neuse River Fish Killer (p 1)
o Case Study: The Chlorpyrifos Investigation (p 17)
o Common Environmental Indicators
o Math: Rainforest Rate of Destruction
o Activity: Measuring Your Foot Print (on-line calculator)
o Lab: Root Beer (conversions and cross-cancellation)
o Lab: Scientific Method – How Much Sugar in Bubble Gum?
o Sustainability Reading: Managing Environmental Systems-Everglades (p 47)
o Review: Multiple Choice and FRQ’s
Unit 2: Global Climates and Biomes (2 weeks: September 14-25) – Chapter 4
Students will relate temperature and precipitation to biomes and understand the role global circulation patterns
play in determining weather and climate.
o Case Study: Floods, Droughts, and Famines (p 87)
o Graph: Layers of the Atmosphere
o Map: Hadley Cells and Coriolis Effect
o Oral Reports: Currents, El Nino, rain shadows, greenhouse etc.
o Booklet: biomes
o Lab: Unequal Heating of the Earth
o Lab: Build a Solar House
o Sustainability Reading: Is Your Coffee Made in the Shade? (p 113)
o Science Applied: Were We Successful in Halting the Growth of the Ozone Hole? (p 52)
o Review: Multiple Choice and FRQ’s
o Test: Chapter 4 – September 25th
Unit 3: Environmental Systems (2 weeks: September 28-October 9) – Chapter 3
Students will understand the interaction of biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem and describe how
energy and matter flows through these systems.
o Case Study: Reversing the Deforestation of Haiti (p57)
o Compare/Contrast abiotic and biotic
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Map and describe a large and a small ecosystem
Math: Balancing equations: Photosynthesis and respiration
Draw, label, and describe energy flow in a food web found on Antelope Island
Cycles: water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus
Lab: Stomata
Lab: Carbon Cycle
Ecosystem responses to disturbance
FIELD TRIP: ANTELOPE ISLAND (Tuesday, September 29th)
Sustainability Reading: Can We Make Golf Greens Greener? (p 80)
Review: Multiple Choice and FRQ’s
Test: Chapter 3 -- October 9th
Unit 4: Biodiversity (2 weeks: October 12-23) – Chapters 5 and 18
Students will understand that biodiversity is an important indicator of environmental health, explore ways
evolution can occur, identify causes of declining biodiversity and understand conservation and connectedness.
o Case Study: Dung of the Devil (p 119)
o Case Study: Modern Conservation Legacies (p 495)
o Evolution is the mechanism underlying biodiversity
o Speciation and extinction determine biodiversity
o Math: Measuring Species Diversity
o Reading: Sixth Extinction
o Causes of extinctions and feedback loops
o Lab: Biodiversity Study (Bountiful Park)
o Lab: Adopt a Bird
o Lab: Tragedy of the Commons
o Guest Speaker: The Eagles of Tracy Aviary
o FIELD TRIP: RED BUTTE GARDENS AND NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM (Tuesday, October 20th)
o Sustainability Reading: Swapping Debt for Nature (p 512)
o Review: Multiple Choice and FRQ’s
o Test: Chapters 5,18 – October 23rd
Unit 5: Biological and Human Population (3 weeks: October 26-November 13) – Chapters 6, 7
Students will understand factors that cause population increase, decrease, and impact of resource consumption.
o Case Study: Easter island (Botkin p 17)
o Case Study: New England Forests Come Full Circle (p 149)
o Cast Study: The Environmental Implications of China’s Growing Population (p 179)
o Community composition changes over time
o Importance of Species richness and influential factors
o What is Earth’s carrying capacity?
o Impact of population size and consumption of the environment
o Math: Calculating Population Growth (Botkin p 73)
o Graph: Population Through Time (Botkin p 6)
o Lab: Catch and Release (beans)
o Lab: Kaibab Deer
o Video: How Wolves Change Rivers
o Sustainability Reading: Bringing back the Black-Footed Ferret (p 172)
o Science Applied Reading: How Can We Manage Overabundant Animal Populations? (p 202)
o Review: Multiple Choice and FRQ’s
o Test: Chapters 6,7 – November 13th
Unit 6: Water Resources (2 weeks: Nov. 16-24) – Chapter 9
Students will focus on connections between climate and supplies of water, and the issues related to water
availability created by a growing human population.
Case Study: Are Hybrid Electric Vehicles as Environmentally Friendly as We Think? (p 207)
o Acids and Bases (p 34)
o How Humans alter availability of water
o Water uses: agriculture, industry and household needs
o Looking ahead: Water availability?
o Lab: Properties of Water
o Lab: Water Quality
o Sustainability Reading: Reclamation and Biodiversity (p 229)
o Sustainability Reading: Is the Water in Your Toilet Too Clean? (p 252)
o Science Applied: Is There a Way to Resolve the California Water Wars? (p 256)
o Review: Multiple Choice and FRQ’s
o Test: Chapter 9 – November 24th
Unit 7: Land and Feeding the World (3 weeks: November 30 – December 18) – Chapters 10, 11
Student will explore issues involving land use and understand the strain population increase puts on land and
water through agriculture, farming methods, and fishing.
o Case Study: Who Owns a Tree? Julia Butterfly Hill versus Maxxam (p 261)
o Case Study: A Farm Where Animals Do Most of the Work (p 283)
o Effects of human land use
o Public and Private lands
o Human nutrition requirements (guest speaker)
o New farming methods and genetic engineering transformation of agriculture
o Agribusiness: The Farming of Meat and Fish
o Math: Land Needed for Food
o Lab: Soil Testing
o Lab: Why are the Waters So Green? (fertilizers and algae blooms)
o Lab: Tragedy of the Commons
o Video: Food Inc.
o Sustainability Reading: The Dudley Street Neighborhood (p 278)
o Sustainability Reading: Wes Jackson and the Land Institute (p 304)
o Science Applied: How Do We Define Organic Food? (p 310)
o Review: Multiple Choice and FRQ’s
o Test: Chapters 10,11 – December 18th
Unit 8: Energy (4 weeks: January 4-29) – Chapter 2, 12, 13
Students will apply the Laws of Thermodynamics to human energy needs and compare/contrast alternative
energy sources.
o Case Study: All Energy Use Has Consequences (p 315)
o Case Study: Energy from the Moon (p 343)
o Nonrenewable energy (fossil fuels) provide most of the world’s energy
o Nuclear Energy
o Using less energy
o Alternative energy sources: wind, sun, geothermal, biomass, water
o Lab: Your Energy Consumption
o Sustainability Reading: Meet TED: The Energy Detective (p 338)
o Sustainability Reading: Building an Alternative Energy Society in Iceland (p 371)
o Science Applied: Should Corn Become Fuel? (p 376)
o Review: Multiple Choice and FRQ’s
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Test: Chapters 12,13 – January 29th
Unit 9: Pollution (4 weeks: February 1-26) – Chapters 14, 15
Students will understand the impacts of pollution on water and air and explore possible solutions.
o Case Study: The Chesapeake Bay (p 381)
o Case Study: Cleaning Up in Chattanooga (p 409)
o Human wastewater, a common pollutant
o Draw Blueprint of a waste water treatment plant
o Heavy metals, oil, warm water and other pollutants
o Photochemical Smog
o Ozone in the Atmosphere essential UV blocker but a pollutant on Earth’s surface
o Lab: Oil Spill clean Up
o Lab: Water Filtration to Clean Water
o Lab: Air Pollution
o Lab: Acid Rain and Cemeteries
o Sustainability Reading: Building “Green” Solutions to Wastewater Treatment (p 401)
o Sustainability Reading: A New Cook Stove Design (p 430)
o Field Trip: North Davis Sewer Plant, Kaysville Ponds--water quality testing, solar panels (Tue Feb 23rd)
o Review: Multiple Choice and FRQ’s
o Test: Chapters 14,15 – February 26th
Unit 10: Waste Disposal (1 week: February 29-March 4) – Chapter 16
Students will describe how reduce, reuse and recycle can avoid waste generation and problem solve solutions.
o Case Study: Paper or Plastic (p 437)
o The Three R’s
o Our landfills are filling up!
o Disposal of hazardous waste
o New ways to think about solid waste
o Lab: Composting at the Wasatch burn Plant
o Lab: Water Filtration
o FIELD TRIP: WEBER BASIN WATER, WASATCH BURN (Tue March 1st)
o Sustainability Reading: Recycling E-Waste in Chile (p 457)
o Review: Multiple Choice and FRQ’s
o Test: Chapter 16 – March 4th
Unit 11: Human Health and Environmental Risks (2 weeks: March 7-18) – Chapter 17
Students will list history and emerging infectious diseases, name five major toxic chemicals and explain factors in a
risk analysis.
o Case Study: Citizen Scientists (p 463)
o Infectious disease (guest speaker)
o Toxicology and chemical risk
o Lab: Determining the LD50 on Mung Beans
o Math: Estimating LD50 values
o Sustainability Reading: The Global Fight Against Malaria (p 484)
o Science Applied: Is Recycling Always Good For the Environment? (p 490)
o Review: Multiple Choice and FRQ’s
o Test: Chapter 17 – March 18th
Unit 12: Global Change (2 weeks: March 21-April 8) – Chapter 19
[Spring Break: March 29 – April 1]
Students will relate the change in biodiversity to human population growth and will define and discuss the
relationship among sustainability, poverty, personal action, and stewardship.
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Case Study: Walking on Thin Ice (p 517)
Global Warming
Sources of Greenhouse gases
Graph: Correlation of Carbon Dioxide and Temperature
Poster: Evidences of Global Warming and Possible Causes
Positive and negative feedback loops
Lab: Carbon Dioxide and Temperature
Lab: Changing Sea Levels
Consequences of global warming
Sustainability Reading: Local Governments and Businesses Lead the Way (p 543)
Review: Multiple Choice and FRQ’s
Test: Chapter 19 – April 8th
Unit 13: Sustainability, Economics and Equity (1 week: April 11-15) – Chapter 20
Students will study conflicts that arise with economic development, social justice, and sustainable environmental
practices and will evaluate possible solutions.
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Case Study: Assembly Plants, Free Trade, and Sustainable Systems (p 549)
Sustainability, the ultimate goal
FIELD TRIP: UTAH HOUSE, ODYSSEY ELEMENTARY, LDS CONFERENCE CENTER (Tuesday, April 12th)
The Kuznets Curve
The Precautionary Principle
Natural capital and basic human welfare: agencies, laws, regulations, deterrents and incentives
Two major challenges of our time: reducing poverty and stewarding the environment
Sustainability Reading: Reuse– A-Sneaker (p 566)
Review for AP Environmental Science test: April 18 – 29
Practice AP Test: Thursday, April 21st 7:30 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
May 2, 2016 is the AP Environmental Science Exam here at BJH
By signing this Course Syllabus, you are confirming that you have read and understand the general information
on this course. You are also agreeing to have your student attend scheduled field trips. Please recognize that
changes might be necessary. Emails will be sent in advance as a reminder of upcoming field trips and informing
you of changes. Would love to have help with chaperoning these field trips—more to come.
Looking forward to a great year with great students. Please email me with any questions or concerns you may
have—the focus of this course really is student success.
Student name (print) ______________________________
Parent signature __________________________________
Date ______________
Overview: AP Environmental Science Course Content
Environmental science is interdisciplinary; it embraces a wide variety of topics from different areas of study. There are several unifying themes that cut
across topics. The following are course themes:
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Science is a process.
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Energy conversions underlie all ecological processes.
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The Earth itself is one interconnected system.
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Humans alter natural systems.
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Environmental problems have a cultural and social context.
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Human survival depends on developing practices that will achieve sustainable systems.
Topic Outline
I. Earth Systems and Resources
II. The Living World
III. Population
IV. Land and Water Use
V. Energy Resources and Consumption
VI. Pollution
VII. Global Change
Inquiry-Based Investigations
Because it is designed to be a course in environmental science rather than environmental studies, the AP Environmental Science course includes a strong
laboratory and field investigation component.
The AP Environmental Science course requires teachers to provide students with opportunities to perform experiments and analyses involving the study
of air, water, and soil qualities as an essential core for the lab/field investigation activities. These investigations challenge students’ abilities to
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Critically observe environmental systems;
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Develop and conduct well-designed experiments;
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Utilize appropriate techniques and instrumentation;
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Analyze and interpret data, including appropriate statistical and graphical presentations;
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Think analytically and apply concepts to the solution of environmental problems;
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Make conclusions and evaluate their quality and validity;
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Propose further questions for study; and
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Communicate accurately and meaningfully about observations
APES Exam:
The exam is three hours long and divided into two equally-timed sections. Section I contains100 multiple-choice questions and makes up
60 percent of the exam score. Section II contains four free-response questions and makes up 40 percent of the score. One free-response
question involves the evaluation of data and some form of calculations. A second question requires students to read a passage and apply
concepts learned throughout the course to answer specific questions related to the passage. Finally, two synthesis and evaluation
questions test students' ability to relate and apply information from several areas of environmental science.
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Give students problems during the year that help them increase their facility with calculations. It would also be especially helpful if
students had facility with scientific notation.
Encourage students to explain technical terms when they use them in an answer. Dropping in terms like "bioaccumulation" without
demonstrating an understanding of the term will not earn any credit.
Provide students with more practice in marshalling good arguments in favor of, or against, a particular position on an environmental
issue. Make sure your students understand that restating the question is a waste of time in a timed test, and doing so will never earn
any points.
Students need to work on their critical reading skills, i.e., knowing what the key words are in a question. Give your students practice in
carefully reading questions and responding appropriately. When questions ask the students to "describe," "discuss," or "explain," they
should go beyond listing and identifying. Students who use outline form, or one- or two-word answers, do not demonstrate the depth
of their knowledge.
Work with students on age-structure diagrams so that they better understand what information can be derived from them.
Students should have the experience of designing a laboratory or field experiment, and understand the components of such an
investigation. They should practice formulating hypotheses, and deciding whether a particular experimental design will test a stated
hypothesis.
Students should have experience describing spatial patterns of environmental change and the stepwise sequence of ecological events
that accompany such changes. Teachers also need to help students interpret data sets scientifically.