Introduction to Environmental Science
Environmental science is a great class to teach. The material is interdisciplinary and has a lot of real-world application. It is also challenging, however, as most schools designate environmental science as the science-class-for-kids-bad-at-science. If your students are taking the class because they essentially had no other choice, it can be an extraordinarily hard class to teach. Unlike other core science classes, there is no standard curriculum, set of topics, or set of concepts that everyone teaches.
Environmental science is a true elective. Unlike most other science classes, the teacher must spend a great deal of his time working with students' affective domain. How do you a feeling of importance in the topics you are covering? As this is an interdisciplinary class, there is a highly political component, one which may run counter to the students' own beliefs and philosopies.
The best way to teach this course may be to focus on the facts, present the information in as objective manner as possible, and try to encourage critical thinking, analysis, and informed opinions based on science. The resources in this section hopefully can be a means to that end.
Unit Plans and Sequence
The exact sequence I follow depends on whether I am teaching regular or AP environmental science (APES). The table below shows the sequence I follow for both, along with a short explanation.
Regular Environmental S1 |
AP Environmental S1 |
|---|---|
Introduction to Environmental Science |
Principles of Science |
| Energy and Matter Photosynthesis and respiration, food chains and food webs, cycles of matter, and the importance of decomposition. Chapter Exam 2 |
Energy and Matter |
Evolution and Ecology |
Evolution and Ecology Niches and habitats, forms of evolution, how populations interact and grow, reproductive strategies. Unit Exam 1 |
| Land Biomes Effects of latitude, altitude, and Earth's tilt on climate. Classifying biomes and constructing climatographs. Stages of ecosystem succession. Chapter Exam 4 |
Land Biomes |
| Aquatic Ecosystems Abiotic factors that affect biodiversity in water, classification of aquatic ecosystems. Chapter Exam 5 |
Aquatic Ecosystems Abiotic factors that affect biodiversity in water, classification of aquatic ecosystems. Unit Exam 2 |
| Semester Exam | Introduction to Environmental Science Environmental history, environmental ethics, and politics.This chapter sets the stage for the rest of the course, which focuses on human impacts. |
| Human Demographics Exponential growth of the human population, developed and developing countries, population pyramids and demographic transition. |
|
| Human Health: Disease and Toxins Biological and chemical hazards to human health. Biomagnification, bioaccumulation, LD50, and how chemical hazards are classified. Unit Exam 3 |
|
| Semester Exam |
Regular Environmental S2 |
AP Environmental S2 |
|---|---|
Principles of Science |
Soil and Plant Agriculture |
| Climate Change Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, global warming, and the overal impacts of climate change on the environment. Chapter Exam 8 |
Animal Agriculture and Fishing Drawbacks of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and commercial fishing. Reading labels of animal products. Unit Exam 4 |
Fossil Fuels |
Fossil Fuels How coal, oil, and natural gas are extracted and what their roles our in our energy portfolio. |
| Renewable Energy Collection and utilization of wind, solar, hydroelectric, and geothermal energy. Alternatives to gas-powered cars. Chapter Exam 10 |
Nuclear Energy |
| Soil and Plant Agriculture Soil composition and horizons, erosion and weathering, and modern agricultural inputs. Chapter Exam 11 |
Renewable Energy Collection and utilization of wind, solar, hydroelectric, and geothermal energy. Alternatives to gas-powered cars. Calculating power consumption in kWh. Unit Exam 5 |
| Animal Agriculture and Fishing Drawbacks of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and commercial fishing. Reading labels of animal products. Chapter Exam 12 |
Waste Management Landfills, incinerators, recycling, and the tradeoffs for each. Challenges with electronic waste. The wastewater treatment process. |
| Semester Exam | Water Pollution Water distribution and consumption. Classification of water pollution and how it is managed. |
| Air Pollution Thermal inversions, criteria air pollutants and air control technologies. Unit Exam 6 |
|
| Climate Change Greenhouse effect. Natural and anthropogenic causes of climate change. Current predictions and efforts to slow its progress. |
|
| Semester Exam |
Research and Current Events
A listing of long-term research project topics with suggested sources is a good place to start. These are topics that should be spread out through the entire semester so that the students' presentations match the concepts currently taught.
Current events are an essential part of the environmental science course. Truly, the crux of the class is to gain a better understanding of how we currently interact with the environment. However, finding articles that are relevant, objective, and comprehensive can be a very challenging task. This is particularly true for students who are apt to simply pick the first result on a Google search, or find the shortest article possible.
Please select one of the topics to the left for specific resources.
