Environmental Science: Conservation and Sustainable Solutions
Syllabus
Course Essential Questions
- What is the significance of biodiversity on ecosystem stability?
- What are the long-term consequences of environmental changes, and how can we use scientific principles to help develop sustainable solutions?
- How can individuals, communities and governments work together to protect biodiversity and promote conservation efforts?
Course Learning Objectives
- Explain how the interactive components within environmental systems contribute to their stability and function using a systems thinking approach.
- Analyze human impacts on ecosystems and natural resources.
- Evaluate and propose evidence-based solutions to environmental problems.
Unit 1: Foundations of Biodiversity (Weeks 1-5)
Essential Questions:
- What is the value of biodiversity?
- How does human population growth and activity fundamentally alter natural systems and what are the primary consequences for global biodiversity?
- What scientific principles guide effective conservation strategies to ensure a sustainable future?
Week 1: The Organization of Life
Learning Objectives:
- Evaluate what it means for a species or ecosystem to have value.
- Describe how life on Earth is structured and organized from Earth’s systems, to ecological levels of organization and organism classifications.
- Explain how species interact within ecosystems and occupy ecological niches.
- Apply all of the above to an endangered species and the local ecosystem.
Week 2: Biodiversity Basics
Learning Objectives:
- Evaluate the impact of an endangered species.
- Explain the three levels of biodiversity, and each of their significance as indicators of a healthy ecosystem.
- Connect the concepts of adaptations and speciation as mechanisms that generate and maintain species biodiversity.
- Define minimum viable population and explain its purpose.
- Apply common sampling methods to collect data to estimate population sizes.
- Locate and describe at least two global hotspots.
Week 3: Habitat Destruction & Overexploitation
Learning Objectives:
- Describe urban evolution and provide at least two examples.
- Explain how human population growth has lead to increased negative impacts on the environment.
- Compare the cause and impacts of habitat destruction and fragmentation and provide real examples of each.
- Provide examples of humans overexploiting resources and explain the impacts.
- Use a virtual lab to collect data and investigate the principles of Island biogeography.
Week 4: Invasive Species
Learning Objectives:
- Evaluate the requirements used to identify an invasive species.
- Analyze and evaluate the impacts of invasive species.
- Identify and explain the causes and mechanisms of invasive species introductions to new areas.
- Use real scientific data to analyze the human impact on invasive species.
- Describe what ecosystem engineers are and provide at least 3 examples.
Week 5: Conservation
Learning Objectives:
- Debate whether or not we are saving the wrong bee.
- Identify and evaluate conservation practices.
- Compare the risks and benefits of in situ and ex situ conservation practices.
- Evaluate goals and rewrite them to create SMART goals.
- Collaborate with teammates to analyze a case study to determine the best methods for conservation of the species.
- Reflect on your learning from the unit.
Unit 2: Pollution & its Impacts (Weeks 6-8)
Unit Essential Questions:
- Why are the effects of air and water pollution so widespread, and how do they impact ecosystems far from the source of the pollution?
- How do economic and political factors influence our ability to control and clean up pollution?
- Is it more effective to focus on preventing pollution or cleaning it up after the fact?
Week 6: Air Pollution
Learning Objectives:
- Identify everyday items in our lives that may be sources of primary or secondary pollution.
- Identify the cause and effect of primary and secondary pollution.
- Describe what is meant by Air Quality Index, and be able to use the AQI chart.
- Use a virtual simulation to experiment and analyze how air, temperature and solar radiation impact the AQI.
- Collaborate with teammates to analyze a case study to determine the best methods for conservation of the species.
Week 7: Water Pollution
Learning Objectives:
- Identify our own plastic footprint.
- Using specific examples, explain the importance of water to humans and to the environment.
- Identify and compare the different types of water pollution and their impact.
- Explain the cause and effect of eutrophication and harmful algal blooms.
- Summarize the history of plastic, and the lifecycle of a plastic bottle.
- Use data to identify the source of pollution.
- Collaborate with teammates to analyze a case study to determine the best methods for conservation of the species.
Week 8: Waste & Pollution Management
Learning Objectives:
- Analyze the effectiveness of recycling within the three R's approach and discuss the importance of refocusing to reduce and reuse.
- Identify and describe the function of at least two technologies used for air or water pollution control.
- Analyze the role of government regulations and policy in managing pollution.
- Collaborate with teammates to analyze a case study to determine the best methods for conservation of the species.
- Reflect on your learning from the unit.
Unit 3: Impacts of Climate Change (Weeks 9-12)
Essential Questions:
- How do the Earth’s atmosphere and surface work together to regulate our planet's "heat budget," and what happens when that balance is disrupted?
- What specific data and evidence do scientists use to attribute current global temperature increases to human activity rather than natural cycles?
- How does our global demand for high-density, reliable energy sources directly fuel the physical and biological changes we see in our environment?
Week 9: The Greenhouse Effect
Learning Objectives:
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the response to the pollution case studies.
- Describe the natural greenhouse effect and explain how it regulates Earth's temperature.
- Identify the major greenhouse gases and their primary anthropogenic sources.
- Explain the human impact on the natural greenhouse effect.
- Simulate the greenhouse effect using a computer model.
- Analyze data to determine concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Week 10: Evidence of Climate Change
Learning Objectives:
- Evaluate how society may react differently to the evidence of climate change.
- Interpret graphical data and other evidence (e.g., ice core data, sea level rise) that support the reality of climate change.
- Describe how climate models can make predictions about future climate.
- Identify misleading information about climate change.
Week 11: Impacts of Climate Change
Learning Objectives:
- Explain the concept of ocean acidification and its threat to marine life.
- Interpret graphical data and other evidence that support the reality of climate change.
- Analyze the specific impacts of climate change on wildlife and ecosystems.
Week 12: Energy Resources
Learning Objectives:
- Analyze the specific impacts of climate change on wildlife and ecosystems.
- Differentiate between non-renewable and renewable energy sources, providing examples of each.
- Analyze the environmental pros and cons of at least three different energy sources.
- Evaluate scientific data to propose the best time for construction of off-shore wind turbines.
- Reflect on your learning from the unit.
Unit 4: Solutions for a Sustainable Planet (Weeks 13-15)
Essential Questions:
- How do global policies and international agreements coordinate large-scale environmental protection?
- What are the specific structural and social barriers that prevent communities from adopting sustainable practices?
- What role does individual and youth agency play in driving systemic environmental change?
Week 13: Global Action
Learning Objectives:
- Explain the positive and negative benefits of AI as it relates to the environment.
- Identify the roles and methods of global organizations and policies.
- Explain and provide examples of how carbon can be removed from the environment naturally and through technological advances.
- Evaluate the pros and cons of at least three carbon capture methods.
- Collect & analyze your Field Notes to compile artifacts.
- Identify your core values that would drive you into action towards a positive environmental impact.
Week 14: Our Path Forward
Learning Objectives:
- Identify specific actions individuals can take to lead a more sustainable life.
- Calculate our carbon footprints.
- Survey our community and evaluate their level of awareness, reluctance to change and obstacles in the way of making changes for sustainable living.
- Develop an action plan and vision board for 1, 5, and 20-year personal sustainability goals.
- Prepare for the final exam.
Week 15: A Sustainable Future
Learning Objectives:
- Evaluate how your mindset and viewpoints have changed about conservation and sustainability since the beginning of the course.
- Identify different career paths that could lead to a career in Environmental Science, or similar.
- Demonstrate your cumulative understanding of the course content.
- Provide feedback to VHS Learning.