Advanced Placement Environmental Science
John A. Rhude
Nicolet High School District
6701 North Jean Nicolet Drive
Glendale, WI
Cell Phone 262-271-1197
Work Phone 414-351-8246
John_rhude@nicolet.k12.wi.us
AP Environmental Science 3rd, 5th , 6th, 7th
Biology 1st
Office Hours 6:30 am – 7:00 am, 2nd hour, 4th hour, 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm.
Course Profile
AP Environmental Science is a one-year lab based science course that will 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 manmade, to evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems, and to
examine alternative solutions for resolving or preventing them. This course is a lab based class which will spend a great deal
of time outdoors.
The class consists of lecture, discussion, laboratory activities and field studies. Students will spend a minimum of one
complete period per week in the collection of field or laboratory data, but more often than not will spend more than two
periods per week working on labs. The school owns a wooded plot of land approximately three acres in size immediately
behind the school. The woods contains many mature deciduous trees including Burr Oak, Red Oak, White Oak, Sugar and
Red Maple and Shagbark Hickory. The area also includes many native forbs including red trillium, white trillium, shooting
star, wild geranium, may apple and jack in the pulpit. The woods will be used for many of the topics that we will study
throughout the year. Adjacent to the woods the Milwaukee River allows students to do water quality studies. The class will
also be participating in spring and fall field trips.
Course Prerequisites
Students must have completed biology with a C or better, must have completed college prep chemistry or be concurrent with
accelerated chemistry and have completed algebra. Their previous science instructor must also recommend the student.
Textbooks
Miller, G. Tyler. Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections, and Solutions. 15th edition. Belmont, Calif.:
Brooks/Cole, 2007.
Suggested Books
Kaplan AP Environmental Science 2008 Edition.
Barron’s AP Environmental Science, 2nd edition
The Princeton Review, Cracking the AP Environmental Science Exam, 2008 edition
Materials Needed For Course
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1” to 2” three ringed binder
Laboratory Notebook
Text Book
Pencils/Pens
Student Evaluation
Student’s grades are determined based on the following assessments.
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Quizzes (15%). Weekly quizzes are given to evaluate the students understanding of reading material, lecture,
laboratory activities and classroom discussion. Quizzes typically consist of 5 – 20 multiple choice or fill in the
blank questions.
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Homework and Objective Questions (15%). Objective questions are assigned and graded during the year that will
correspond to reading assignments or other classroom activities. These objective questions are extremely important
as they reflect important content within the course and allow students to practice writing is essay form.
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Tests (40%). Major tests will be given after each unit. Tests consist of 40 – 60 multiple choice questions from
recent APES exams, text book, or personally generated. Essay questions will also be a part of the unit tests.
Students will be given a set of essay questions one week prior to the exam to research and prepare answers. The day
of the exam each essay question # will be placed in a hat, one student will choose a number, and that will be the
essay question they answer on the exam, without any notes. Each test may have one, two or three essays to write on.
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Laboratory journals and Write Ups (30%). Students are required to keep a laboratory data notebook. This
notebook will be collected and graded as labs are completed. Students will also have formal lab write ups to turn in
one week after completion of major laboratories.
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Final Exam and Final Project (20% of overall semester grades). Students will be required to complete a
cumulative final exam after completion of the first semester. The second semester final will consist of a group
project. NO EXAM EXEMPTIONS WILL BE ALLOWED!!!!
Course Syllabus
Introduction and Environmental Issues (ch 1)
Environmental Issues and pollution
Worldviews and attitudes toward the environment
Labs and Activities
 Environmental Issues Investigations – photos
 Environmental Impact Poster: Students research raw materials used to manufacture a product, describe the life
cycle of the product from raw materials through manufacturing, use, and disposal of the product. Students will also
demonstrate the use of the equation I=PxAxT
 Tragedy of the Commons Activity
 Field Trip: International Crane Foundation and Aldo Leopold Center
 Video – Race to Save the Planet
 Video – The Lorax, The Truax (Article)
 Video – Love of the Land
 Video – National Geographic Human Footprint
Forests and Terrestrial Ecosystems (ch. 10,3 )
Food Chains and webs
Succession in terrestrial ecosystems
Energy flow
Land use in the United States and the World, including laws to manage public lands
Forest Management, past, present and future
Forest Tool Use
Sampling Techniques (point quarter sampling, quadrat sampling)
Labs and Activities
 Forest Management Plan. Students will use clinometer, Biltmore stick, merritt hypsometer, diameter tape, tree
identification guide and GPS system to survey the Nicolet woods. Using either quadrat or point quarter sampling
techniques students will sample the Nicolet woods and prepare a forest management plan. Density, relative density,
frequency, coverage and importance values will be determined from collected data.
 Hubbard Creek Graphing assignment
 Speaker Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Forester
 Video – The Greatest Good: A history of the United States Forest Service
 Video – History of Forestry in Wisconsin
Soil, Conservation, Minerals, Mining, Land Use (ch. 13,15)
Soil Formation, characteristics, profile
Reading a soil triangle
Physical and chemical characteristics of soil
Nutrient cycles
Salinization and desertification
Organisms
Erosion, Degradation, Conservation
Urban and rural land use
Land use policy and the law
Labs and Activities
 Physical Characteristics of Soil Lab: Students will dig a soil pit and take samples from the various horizons
identified. Physical characteristics of sand, clay, humus and unknown samples of local soil will be compared as to
the texture, permeability, capillary action, water holding capacity.
 Chemical Characteristics of Soil Lab: Students will look at the chemical characteristics of soil from various
locations throughout the area. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potash and pH will be measured along with Ion Exchange
experiments.
 Acid deposition Lab
 Field Trip – Glacial landforms of the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest
 Video – Food Inc.
 Video – Bill Nye genetically modified foods
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Video – Glaciers Alaska’s Rivers of Ice
Video – (history channel) How the earth was made
Video – (USGS) Living Rock
Water, Water Pollution (ch 6,12,14,21)
Water cycle
Nutrient cycles
Watersheds
Water quality and the law
Surface and Ground water
Surface and groundwater pollution
Wastewater Treatment
Labs and Activities
 Water quality testing in the Milwaukee River. Students will test Dissolved Oxygen, phosphorus, nitrates,
biological oxygen demand, coliform bacteria and a macro-invertebrate study. Students will do the study in the fall,
winter and spring. The data collected by the classes will be shared with local universities and the Testing the
Waters Program.
 Chemical and physical analysis of Natural Water
 Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan
 Field Trip: Wastewater treatment facility Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District
 Video – World Water Wars
Air (ch. 19,20)
Global Warming
Air and Air Pollution
Ozone Depletion
Air Quality and the law
Labs and Activities
 Estimating Air Pollution Generated by Everyday Activities (Field and Laboratory Exercises in Environmental
Science). Students will understand the significance of particulate pollutants, become familiar with air sampling
techniques, appreciate the role of weather in air pollution problems and determine whether his or her environment is
free of air pollutants.
 Video – Inconvenient Truth: Al Gore
 Video – Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring
Populations (ch. 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11)
Population Dynamics
Carrying Capacity
Human Populations: Survivorship curves and age structure diagrams, demography
Biodiversity
Evolution
Biomes
Labs and Activities
 Human Population – Changes in Survival: Cemetery lab (Field and Laboratory Exercises in Environmental
Science)
 Age Sex Histograms – Students use census data to construct age-sex pyramids. Such pyramids, representing
several countries in various stages of development, are discussed and compared. Students then explore how the
population would be affected by factors such as natural and human made disasters as well as social, economic, and
political changes.
 Estimating Population of Daphnia pulex by Hayne’s and Zippern’s Methods
 Elk and Vegetation Management Plan: Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
 Whitetailed deer population in Wisconsin
 Video – World in Balance
Energy (ch. 16, 17, 18)
Nonrenewable Mineral and Energy Resources
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Labs and Activities
 Economics of Energy Consumption (Field and Laboratory Exercises in Environmental Science). Students will
monitor their own energy consumption
 Personal Energy Consumption (Field and Laboratory Exercises in Environmental Science). Students will be able
to calculate energy loss from various appliances, dripping water faucets, and examine the implications of an
individual’s lifestyle on energy consumption.
 Field Trip: Johnson Controls
 Video – Bill Nye Nuclear Energy
 Video – Bill Nye Transportation
 Video – Green Energy
Sustaining Human Societies (ch. 23, 24, 25, 26)
Urbanization
Economics
Politics
Worldviews
Ethics
Solid and hazardous Waste (ch. 22)
Reuse
Recycle
Integrated Waste Management
Labs and Activities
 Personal Solid Waste Inventory: Students will become more aware of their overall resource use (number and type
of materials) and more familiar with various approaches which may reduce the number of overall “throughputs”
they have in a given period of time.
 Field Trip: Wastewater Treatment Plant – MMSD
 Video – Erin Brockovich