This course contains five projects, plus a course introduction and course closure, that are organized around the following question: “How can we rethink our use of the world’s resources?” Each project involves investigations of sustainability that help contextualize the content required by the new College Board course framework.

This AP Environmental Science class is intended to meet the same objectives as a first-year college-based course.
However, the method of instruction for this course is unique compared to similar courses because we have adopted
a project-based learning (PBL) approach. Although PBL may take many forms, our approach involves student
investigations and simulations that require students to think like scientists, policymakers, farmers, and other adults
in real-world settings. Teachers engage students in collaborative problem solving, argumentation, and deep
exploration of the concepts and principles of the discipline. The goal for student learning is understanding rather
than relying on rote memory to create meaningful learning and knowledge that is actionable, adaptive, and
transferable.

This activity focuses on the interrelationships of ore grades, economics, mining impacts/decisions, and other factors. It is intended as a small-group activity, where different groups of students work on one of three different parts, with classroom discussion as a follow-up.

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Hear about how respect for Earth can help us attain a more sustainable lifestyle in the face of climate change in this video segment adapted from United Tribes Technical College.

This activity is an indoor/outdoor activity that incorporates both literacy and scientific observation to make an ABC book based on Antler, Bear, Canoe by Betsy Bowen. Family participation is encouraged.

This activity is an indoor/outdoor activity that incorporates both literacy and scientific observation to make an ABC book based on Antler, Bear, Canoe by Betsy Bowen.

This contemplative practice inquires into the complex web of interdependencies linking global climate change, the War on Terror, Afghan poppy production, opiate addiction, and food security through the lens of systems theory. The exercise challenges students to consider these linkages not only conceptually but also somatically and emotionally.

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In this video adapted from Storyknife Productions, Alaska Native pilots share how they use traditional knowledge to read the landscape and predict the weather.

In this video adapted from KUAC-TV and the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska Native students contribute to research on how their environment is changing as a result of global warming.

In this video adapted from Alaska Sea Grant, discover why multiple tsunamis resulted from the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964.

In this Interactive Lecture Demonstration, students will predict the main issues that might be included in short French language videos treating topics such as endangered species, organic farming, the effect of aerosols on the environment, pollution and sustainable development. They will then view short videos on the topics and reflect on how their prior assumptions meshed with reality.

Road deicers raise several environmental and cost concerns. In this activity students consider alternatives while investigating colligative properties.

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This is outdoor activity involving students in gathering information on what an American Red Squirrel Eats and its interdependence with the coniferous forest.

In this activity students examine groundwater flow path based on hydraulic head data/ potentiometric surface and spatial variation of groundwater chemistry. Students analyze the data using AquaChem and Phreeqc which is integrated with AquaChem

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Having students follow animal tracks (even just people, dogs, or squirrels) and investigating how tracks are made is a fun and exciting way to develop critical thinking, measurement, and graphing skills.

Annotations are short and cannot give detailed information, but they should cover these points:
1. The general contents of the work. What does it discuss and how detailed is it? This is the main portion of the annotation.
2. The author's qualifications. Is the writer a trained scholar? A journalist? Someone relating a personal experience?
3. An evaluation of the reliability. Is the information given reliable? Are facts or opinions stressed?
4. The intended audience. Is it for a general reader or a specialist? How much, if any, background knowledge is needed to understand it? Was is easy or difficult to read?

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This video segment adapted from NOVA explains why ice sheets move. To find out how fast they move, scientists carve a tunnel through a glacier.

What would happen if a portion of the Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt? This video segment adapted from NOVA uses animations to show the effect of a 6-meter sea-level rise on coastal cities across the world.

In this lesson, students explore the importance of albedo (or reflectivity) to penguins and the surfaces they inhabit and learn how penguin colonies may be mapped using satellites.