Relevant material from MIT's introductory courses to support students as they study and educators as they teach the AP Biology curriculum.

This course is assembled from UC-approved college preparatory courses and is designed to acquaint students with the physical, ecological, social, and political principles of environmental science. The scientific method is used to analyze and understand the inter-relationships between humans and the natural environment. The course shows how ecological realities and the material desires of humans often clash, leading to environmental degradation and pollution. The course covers: Earth's Systems, Human Population Dynamics, Natural Resources, Environmental Quality, Global Changes, and Environment and Society.

This University of California College Prep (UCCP) Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Science online course has five objectives: Describe the six different forms of energy and the type of work done by each form. Discuss the roles of sources and sinks in an energy budget. Define the Law of Conservation of Energy, and explain how the operation of fuel cell vehicles illustrates this principal. Name the units with which energy, power, and force are measured and described. Use energy flow within a house to explain both theoretical and practical aspects of energy use and conservation.

Welcome to the UCCP Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Science Virtual Labs. These simulation and standard labs have been extracted from the AP Environmental Science course and put together in its own section.

A comprehensive treatment of the advanced methods of applied mathematics. Designed to strengthen the mathematical abilities of graduate students and train them to think on their own. Review of elementary methods in complex analysis, ordinary differential equations, and partial differential equations. Expansions around regular and irregular singular points; asymptotic evaluation of integrals, regular perturbations; WKB method; multiple scale method; boundary-layer techniques.

Reviews selected issues including learning, cognition, perception, foraging and feeding, migration and navigation, defense, and social activities including conflict, collaboration, courtship and reproduction, and communication. The interacting contributions of environment and heredity are examined and the approaches of psychology, ethology, and ecology to this area of study are treated. The relation of human behavior patterns to those of nonhuman animals is explored. Additional readings and a paper are required for graduate credit.

Site characterization and geotechnical aspects of the design and construction of foundation systems. Topics include site investigation (with emphasis on in situ testing), shallow (footings and raftings) and deep (piles and caissons) foundations, excavation support systems, groundwater control, slope stability, soil improvement (compaction, soil reinforcement, etc.), and construction monitoring.

Highlights of this course include: Major biological, chemical and physical components of the agricultural systems The scientific basis for understanding these systems and their management How has science influenced policies related to agriculture, food safety and environment in the United States? How have the policies evolved over time in the US? What has worked and what has not; what are the reasons and what are the consequences? Beyond science, what other factors influence policies? How do we link what we learn to ecological agriculture? How do we use what we learn for policy analysis?

Highlights of this course include: Major biological, chemical, and physical components of the agricultural systems The scientific basis for understanding these systems and their management How science has influenced policies related to agriculture, food safety, and the environment in the United States How the policies have evolved over time in the US What has worked and what has not; the reasons and the consequences What other factors influence policies beyond science How we link what we learn to ecological agriculture How we use what we learn for policy analysis

In-depth study of an active research topic in computer graphics. Topics change each term. Readings from the literature, student presentations, short assignments, and a programming project. Animation is a compelling and effective form of expression; it engages viewers and makes difficult concepts easier to grasp. Today's animation industry creates films, special effects, and games with stunning visual detail and quality. This graduate class will investigate the algorithms that make these animations possible: keyframing, inverse kinematics, physical simulation, optimization, optimal control, motion capture, and data-driven methods. Our study will also reveal the shortcomings of these sophisticated tools. The students will propose improvements and explore new methods for computer animation in semester-long research projects. The course should appeal to both students with general interest in computer graphics and students interested in new applications of machine learning, robotics, biomechanics, physics, applied mathematics and scientific computing.

Explores the changing roles, ethical conflicts, and public perceptions of science and scientists in American society from World War II to the present. Studies specific historical episodes focusing on debates between scientists and the contextual factors influencing their opinions and decisions. Topics include the atomic bomb project, environmental controversies, the Challenger disaster, biomedical research, genetic engineering, (mis)use of human subjects, scientific misconduct and whistleblowing.

This is a laboratory course supplemented by lectures that focus on selected analytical facilities that are commonly used to determine the mineralogy, elemental abundance and isotopic ratios of Sr and Pb in rocks, soils, sediments and water.

This course will sample the broad diversity of animal behavior and the behavioral adaptation of animals to the environments in which they live. This will include discussion of both field observations and controlled laboratory experiments. Particular emphasis will be placed on the comparison of behavior within an evolutionary framework, animal cognition, and on the genetic, neural, and hormonal mechanisms underlying behavior.

Most of the major categories of adaptive behavior can be seen in all animals. This course begins with the evolution of behavior, the driver of nervous system evolution, reviewed using concepts developed in ethology, sociobiology, other comparative studies, and in studies of brain evolution. The roles of various types of plasticity are considered, as well as foraging and feeding, defensive and aggressive behavior, courtship and reproduction, migration and navigation, social activities and communication, with contributions of inherited patterns and cognitive abilities. Both field and laboratory based studies are reviewed; and finally, human behavior is considered within the context of primate studies.

Hibernation is an ingenious adaptation that some animals employ to survive difficult conditions in winter. This unit examines the differences between hibernation and torpor, and discusses the characteristic signs of hibernation behavior It explores the triggers that bring on hibernation, and whether internal signals or external season cues are predominant. It also examines the physiological adaptations that occur in hibernating animals.

The extreme challenges of life in the polar regions require the animals who make their habitat there to make many adaptations. This unit explores the polar climate and how animals like reindeer, polar bears, penguins, sea life and even humans manage to survive there. It looks at the adaptations to physiological proceses, the environmental effects on diet, activity and fecundity, and contrasts the strategies of aquatic and land-based animals in surviving in this extreme habitat. This unit builds on and develops ideas from two other 'Animals at the extreme' units: The desert environment (S324_1) and Hibernation and torpor (S324_2).

Animal life has adapted to survive in the most unlikely and inhospitable habitats. This unit looks at the surprisingly diverse desert climates throughout the world and mammals, birds, lizards and amphibians that survive there. It splits these animals into three groups according to their strategy for survival: evaders, evaporators and endurers, then discusses how these strategies work on a biochemical and physiological level.

This course details the quantitative treatment of chemical processes in aquatic systems such as lakes, oceans, rivers, estuaries, groundwaters, and wastewaters. It includes a brief review of chemical thermodynamics that is followed by discussion of acid-base, precipitation-dissolution, coordination, and reduction-oxidation reactions. Emphasis is on equilibrium calculations as a tool for understanding the variables that govern the chemical composition of aquatic systems and the fate of inorganic pollutants.

Third undergraduate design studio. Introduces skills needed to build within a landscape establishing continuities between the built and natural world. Students learn to build appropriately through analysis of landscape and climate for a chosen site and conceptualize design decisions through drawings and models. Studio deposit required. Mandatory lottery.