Summer Assignment – AP Environmental Science
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Choose a book from the reading list (on the back of this sheet).
As you read, create a chart listing the words that are unfamiliar to you and the page
number where it can be found. Define each of these terms and note an appropriate
synonym. If you are familiar with all of the terms, identify at least 12 vocabulary terms,
define them, and list synonyms as described below. We will utilize the vocabulary
throughout the school year.
Example:
Terms
Contemporaneous p. 361
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Definition
(adj.) Happening in the same
period
Synonym
synchronous
Pick 12 chapters and write a brief synopsis/summary for each. Four entries must come
from the beginning chapters, four from the middle chapters, and four from the last
chapters. Keep this in a formal tone, and use correct grammar and punctuation, as well as
citations for anything directly quoted from the book.
You must do six double-entry journal responses. To do this, draw a line down the middle
of the page or create two columns. On the left side, copy a passage from the book that
has meaning, was especially interesting, was especially confusing, or has personal
significance to you (note the page, too). On the right side, offer your response to this
passage. Why did you choose this? What is its meaning to you? Why did this strike
you?
Example of a double-entry journal response:
Quote
“As for postmedieval petroleum distillation,
19th-century chemists found the middle
distillate fraction useful as a fuel for oil lamps.
The chemists discarded the most volatile
fraction (gasoline) as an unfortunate waste
product-until it was found to be an ideal fuel
for internal-combustion engines.” (page 247)
Response
I had no idea that petroleum was known of and
used as a fuel back then. I thought it was
interesting how people understood a need for
finding a use for the waste from petroleum
production, which led to furthering their
technologies. It helped me think about how
this may have happened with several other
inventions and technologies.
The Summer Assignment is due the first day of the 2013-14 school year, counts as two test
grades, and is mandatory for all students taking AP Environmental Science.
Summer Reading List (Choose one)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond ISBN-10:
0393061310 ISBN-13: 978-0393061314
Climate: The Counter-Consensus - A Palaeoclimatologist Speaks by Robert M. Carter ISBN-10:
1906768293 ISBN-13: 978-1906768294
Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen ISBN-10:
0393066800 ISBN-13: 978-0393066807
The World According to Monsanto by Marie-Monique Robin ISBN-10: 1595587098 ISBN-13:
978-1595587091
Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills by Russell L. Blaylock ISBN-10: 0929173252 ISBN-13: 9780929173252
The Fluoride Deception by Christopher Bryson ISBN-10: 1583227008 ISBN-13: 9781583227008
Behind the Green Mask: U.N. Agenda 21 by Rosa Koire ISBN-10: 0615494544 ISBN-13: 9780615494548
Dr. Mary's Monkey: How the Unsolved Murder of a Doctor, a Secret Laboratory in New Orleans
and Cancer-Causing Monkey Viruses are Linked to Lee Harvey, the JFK Assassination and
Emerging Global Epidemics by Edward T. Haslam ISBN-10: 0977795306 ISBN-13: 9780977795307
The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story by Richard Preston ISBN-10: 0345466632 ISBN-13:
978-0345466631
Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Germ Laboratory by Michael
Christopher Carroll ISBN-10: 006078184X ISBN-13: 978-0060781842
Killer Germs by Barry Zimmerman and David Zimmerman ISBN-10: 0071409262
ISBN-13: 978-0071409261
Aquaponic Gardening: A Step-By-Step Guide to Raising Vegetables and Fish Together by
Sylvia Bernstein ISBN-10: 086571701X ISBN-13: 978-0865717015
Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival?--A Scientific
Detective Story by Theo Colborn ISBN-10: 0452274141 ISBN-13: 978-0452274143
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan ISBN-10:
0143038583 ISBN-13: 978-0143038580