AP Environmental Science (Full Year: Grades 9-12)
Welcome to Advanced Placement Environmental Science, or as you now will hear it called, APES!
Level: High School
Our focus question for the year: How can we rethink our use of the world’s resources?
I am so glad you chose this conquest! This will be one of the most enlightening classes you will ever take. This year you will learn many current topics such as population dynamics, water and air pollution, loss of biodiversity, endangered species, earth system dynamics, climate change and ozone loss, nonrenewable and renewable energy sources, and resource extraction through a project based curriculum. Whereas many times in class you might think this course is all gloom and doom, it is actually designed to make you think, to come up with ways to alleviate the numerous problems we have and to have a much greater appreciation for this one planet that holds life as we know it.
“The AP Environmental Science course is designed to engage students with the scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships within the natural world. The course requires that students identify and analyze natural and human-made environmental problems, evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems, and examine alternative solutions for resolving or preventing them. Environmental science is interdisciplinary, embracing topics from geology, biology, environmental studies, environmental science, chemistry, and geography. “
Length: Full year course divided into two semesters. This includes a Google Classroom, test access, and 5-7 weekly assignments/labs.
Along the way, students will add assignments, notes, and diagrams to their science spiral notebook.
Goals:
1. Understanding that science is a process. Science is a method of learning more about the world. Science constantly changes the way we understand the world.
2. Energy conversions underlie all ecological processes. Energy cannot be created; it must come from somewhere. As energy flows through systems, at each step more of it becomes unusable.
3. The Earth itself is one interconnected system. Natural systems change over time and space. Biogeochemical systems vary in ability to recover from disturbances.
4. Humans alter natural systems. Humans have had an impact on the environment for millions of years. Technology and population growth have enabled humans to increase both the rate and scale of their impact on the environment.
5. Environmental problems have a cultural and social context. Understanding the role of cultural, social and economic factors are vital to the development of solutions.
6. Human survival depends on developing practices that will achieve sustainable systems. A suitable combination of conservation and development is required. Management of common resources are essential.
This class will involve lots of case studies, and outdoor lab suggestions.
Tuition Information:
Self Paced $360 for 36 total weeks @ $10/week
Semester 1 $180 for 18 weeks (5 assignment tasks each week for a total of 90/semester)
Semester 2 $180 for 18 weeks (5 assignment tasks each week for a total of 90/semester)
or
Live 1:1 Option $900 for 36 weeks of curriculum and 36 Zoom lessons
$25/Zoom includes 36 Zooms over 36 total weeks
Payment plans available, by request.
*This class is also offered as a public group class, see the group/charter school class option tab.