AP Environmental Science
Course Syllabus and General Guidelines
2014/2015
Instructor: Holly Eaton
heaton@sandi.net
(858) 454-3081 ext 4902(LJHS)
tutoring by appointment
Course Rationale, Description, Expectations, Homework:
The Advanced Placement course for Environmental Science is a rigorous interdisciplinary college
level course designed to provide students with understanding of how our planet's different systems interact.
This course will give students the opportunity to understand how human enterprises have affected our
environment and how principles of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics come to bear on how our environment
changes.
The goal of this 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 anthropogenic 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. This course meets the UC requirements A-G for physical science credit as
well a college prep lab course.
Students are expected to immerse themselves in the content for which they will be held
responsible on the day of their AP test on May 4, 2015 in the morning. Students are also expected to use
the course as the basis for becoming more active in their communities; this can be done on both the
political activism level as well as on the scientific level. Environmental Science is not merely about getting
a grade, it is about becoming educated and active in some of our community's most pressing issues!
Students are expected to do all reading assignments and are responsible for knowing all of the
reading material. There will be weekly quizzes to test students' command of the reading, lecture, and lab
material covered.
Tentative Field Trips:
LJHS is fortunate to be located only minutes from several points of interest. These include La
Jolla Cove, Windansea beach, the San Diego Zoo, the Children’s pool/seal rookery, and the Scripps
Marine Reserve. Students will be asked to complete a "blanket field trip permission slip" so that we will be
able to expedite field excursions more easily throughout the course. Separate field slips will be required for
outings that keep students out of their other classes.
Course Text:
Botkin, Daniel B., and Edward A. Keller. Environomental Science: Earth as a Living Planet. 6th ed.
Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007.
Grading:
Grading will be based on standard percentages:
85-100 A
70-84
B
55-69
C
below 55 F
** note: Students that encounter difficulty keeping their grade
satisfactory should contact the instructor for guidance on study habits and
insights that may assist them.
*Please note that there is no "D"
Students are expected to maintain a laboratory notebook that will be graded. They are to use a cloth bound
notebook for this with pages that have no perforation. Students should have these in class at all times.
Contract absences – these will be permitted in cases of family emergencies.
Field activities:
Throughout the course students will participate in field activities (canyon walks and tide pools with hiking
involved). During these outings, students are expected to stay with the class and follow all instructions
carefully. Since our field outings will be in natural environments, there are normally encountered hazards.
If students have any special circumstances that may affect their ability to participate in these activities, it
should be brought to the attention of the instructor immediately.
A blanket permission slip for field outings adjacent to the school site will be kept on
file for all students in the class. Field exercises are dependent on prevailing weather conditions and
cannot always be set for specific dates. Off site field trips will include the San Diego Zoo as well as an
Urban Field Walk that takes students from the school to the La Jolla Shores during a low tide. There may
be other off site field outings as time and weather permit.
Student discipline:
This is a college level course. Students are expected to be to class on time and to be courteous and polite at
all times abiding to school rules. This facilitates a great learning environment for everyone!
Course Outline/Pacing, and Homework preparation
We will cover a chapter each week. The chapters will be covered in order shown below for each unit of
study. For each chapter, students have a homework assignment. The homework is to:
1. Summarize the “Case Study” (beginning of chapter)
2. Summarize the “Critical Thinking Issue” (end of chapter)
3. Vocabulary – define all terms at the end of each chapter along with terms that appear in Italics in
the text of the chapter. Students are encouraged to make Vocab cards to assist them in learning
the relevant terms for describing changes in our environment. These card prove useful in studying
for the AP Exam toward the end of the year.
4. Questions (selected) at the end of each chapter must be answered
5. Students MUST choose 2 graphics from each chapter and provide their explanation of the
diagram – interpret the graphic (this is tricky – there is a difference between simply stating what
the graphic is and telling what/why it is important to notice)
Unit 1 – The Environment
Chapters 1-5 set the background for discussing ALL environmental issues. Notably these chapters focus us
upon the human population effects and the biogeochemical pathways. Everything always comes back to
these key issues.
Unit 2 – Energy
Chapters 17-20 brings our attention to the energy that fuels all of our activities. They examine our sources
of energy, how energy behaves, how we use energy, and alternatives to our traditional energy “habits.”
This unit puts contemporary issues “front and center” as it deals with something that is on our minds daily
– the cost of gasoline, the cost of war, the cost of global warming. Things are just starting to get “heated”
up!
Unit 3 – Ecology and Ecological Communities
Chapters 6-10 cover various aspects for how organisms interact with their environment and the
environment with them. Topics include Biodiversity, Biogeography, and Ecology
Unit 4 – Using World Resources
Chapters 11-14 focus our attention on the various ways that we utilize organisms that provide us with
energy upon which we survive. Topics covered include agriculture, wildlife management, and park
management.
Unit 5 – Environmental Health and Human Health
Chapters 15-16 examine the consequences of human activities on our environment and our own health.
Topics include pollution and toxicology. As we use our planet’s resources we must always be mindful of
the diseases that we may spawn or become susceptible to as a result of our “human” activities.
Unit 6 – Water Resources
Chapters 21-22 cover water resources and water management. Again, this is a very personal issue to all of
us because we live in an arid environment and get virtually ALL of our water from places far away.
Unit 7 – Air Quality and the Atmosphere
Chapters 23-26 take us into area of air quality. We discuss air pollution and the structure of the
atmosphere. We also cover composition of the atmosphere as it related to how life forms rely on specific
chemicals being present or absent from different parts of the atmosphere (Ozone is particularly interesting).
Unit 8 – Land Resources and Management
Chapters 27-29 cover how we extract minerals and how we handle our solid waste products. This also
relates to “environmental services” and “cost/benefit” analysis – we still need oil and we often fowl our
water resources (which we also NEED) in the process of gathering our oil – these topics are among the
most interesting to discuss!
We cover once chapter each week and advise students to read each chapter ahead of lectures – the lectures
make more sense that way.
Each week will involve at least one lab based activity. These activities may be carried out in the field or in
the classroom lab. Students are expected to keep all of their lab/field notes in their lab book. This
lab/composition book is also to be used to keep extra lecture notes; this book is to come with students to
class every day. In the back of each composition book students must dedicate a page to Environmental
laws, Water borne diseases, Air borne diseases, Vector borne diseases, Food Borne diseases, Sexually
transmitted diseases, and Chronic diseases + types of acute poisoning (ie. Lead and Mercury, etc.). For
each of the pages for these topics students should note the nature of the transmission and who is most affect
for that disease. For the environmental laws, students must note what environmental issue the law
addresses. These back page notes should be updated as new information is covered in class lectures,
discussions, and readings.
During field outings students are expected to remain with our class and take notes as required. It is also
VERY important that students understand the safety issues involved with field activities. Failure to adhere
to safety expectations may result in removal from the course.
Students are expected to do 10 hours of environmental community service for the second semester grade.
You may start this early. Requirements include a signed document from the activity, picture(s) of you
proving you were there, a website or contact information for the activity, one or more paragraphs
summarizing each unique experience.
The AP Test is on Monday, May 4 in the morning slot at 8am – mark on your calendar!- Good Luck!!!
I hope you enjoy the course and that you are impacted personally by becoming more aware of the
complexity and beauty of our living planet!
La Jolla High School AP Environmental Science Teachers
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Student Name (Last, first - Print )
_________________________________
Parent e-mail address
__________________________________
Student Signature
_________________________________
Parent Signature
We have read and understand the course objectives, expectations, and requirements.
(Please print this page and return it signed. The class will not have
any field outings until EVERY student brings this to me. Thanks!)