AP Environmental Science

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AP Environmental Science

• Monday, August 11th

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Introductions

• Anne Soos, Stuart Country Day School, Princeton
  NJ
• I am a long-time science teacher
• Now school administrator teacher
• Have graded and taught both AP Biology and AP
  Environmental Science

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Introductions

• About you
• Where you teach
• What you teach
• How long have you taught APES?
• What book do you use?
• What do you hope to gain from this institute?
• Has your syllabus been completed/been approved
  through the audit process?

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Todays Tentative Schedule

• Some information about AP ES
• Air pollution labs discussion, info and set-up
• Population Lab 1 predator/prey simulation
• Finish Air pollution labs
• Lunch
• Grading FRQs
• Human Populations and demographic trends
• Population Lab 2 Using obituary data to study
  population demographics
• If time Water Conservation (calculation lab)

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About the Course AP Environmental Science

• The AP Environmental Science course should be
  designed by your school to provide students with
  a learning experience equivalent to that of an
  introductory college course in environmental
  science. Your AP Environmental Science course
  should be based upon scientific principles and
  analyses from a variety of scientific fields and
  approaches, and include a scientific laboratory
  and/or field investigation component.
• Schools' AP Environmental Science courses are
  typically designed to be taken by students after
  the completion of two years of high school
  laboratory science (one year of life science and
  one year of physical science) and at least one
  year of algebra. Also desirable, but not
  necessary, is one year of earth science. Students
  are encouraged to keep copies of their laboratory
  and field investigation work for use in
  determining college credit or placement.
• Typically, a college semester course would
  include 70-90 hours of instruction. Work with
  your school to try to get an equivalent amount of
  time for your APES class.

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• All students who are willing to accept the
  challenge of a rigorous academic curriculum
  should be considered for admission to AP courses.
  The College Board encourages the elimination of
  barriers that restrict access to AP courses for
  students from ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic
  groups that have been traditionally
  underrepresented in the AP Program. Schools
  should make every effort to ensure that their AP
  classes reflect the diversity of their student
  population.
• Work with your school administration to make sure
  that you as a teacher are not evaluated on the AP
  scores of your students! A school following the
  College Boards recommendations should expect to
  have students earning scores of 1 and 2 on the AP
  exam, as well as 3s,4s, and 5s.

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• Studies show that all students benefit from
  taking rigorous courses in high school.
• Give students who are interested in the course a
  chance to take it, even if they are not top
  students!
• High schools offering this exam must provide the
  exam administration resources described in the AP
  Coordinator's Manual. Make sure your AP
  Coordinator follows the rules!

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Curricular Requirements

• The teacher has read the most recent AP
  Environmental Science Course Description,
  available as a free download on the AP
  Environmental Science Course Home Page.?  AP
  Environmental Science Course Home Page
• AP Central is where you can register and join the
  EDG for APES
• The course provides instruction in each of the
  following seven content areas outlined in the
  Course Description
• Earth Systems and Resources
• The Living World
• Population
• Land and Water Use
• Energy Resources and Consumption
• Pollution
• Global Change

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Curricular Requirements

• The course provides students with the scientific
  principles, concepts, and methodologies required
  to understand the interrelationships of the
  natural world. The curriculum draws upon various
  scientific disciplines.
• The course includes methods for analyzing and
  interpreting information and experimental data,
  including mathematical calculations.
• The course teaches students how to identify and
  analyze environmental problems, to evaluate the
  ecological and human health risks associated with
  these problems, and to critically examine various
  solutions for resolving or preventing them.
• The course includes a laboratory and/or field
  investigation component. A minimum of one class
  period or its equivalent per week is spent
  engaged in laboratory and/or field work.
• Students are expected to have access to an
  up-to-date College-level textbook for this
  course.

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AP ES CURRICULUM

• This is in your Big AP Book
• Pages 3-10

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AP Audit Information

• Schools must submit AP Course Audit materials for
  new AP courses they plan to offer in the 2008-09
  academic year. After an initial AP Course Audit
  is approved, schools will not have to submit AP
  Course Audit materials unless the teacher has
  changed, the school offers a new AP course, or
  the curricular and resource requirements for a
  course undergo significant revision.

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Laboratory Manual by William Molnar

• Nice variety of hands-on, internet and
  calculation labs
• Only decent lab manual for this course I have
  found up til now
• Should definitely be something you consider
  buying to add to your course

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Molnar/Course Topics correlation guide
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Molnar/Course Topics correlation guide
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Molnar/Course Topics correlation guide
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Air Pollution

• Ozone
• Particulates
• Acid Rain

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Testing for Ozone

• Molnar has a good lab you prepare your own test
  papers, and use an on-line color scale
  (schoenbein scale) to determine ozone amounts.
  Cheap!
• Kits from Carolina and Wards will provide
  materials for around 80
• Both of above involve determining relative
  humidity
• Eco badges provide ready-made paper and color
  scale, better buy than a kit. (59)

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Testing for particulates

• Molnar again has a lab, using petri dishes and
  Vaseline to collect particles.
• Can also make very simple particulate collectors
  with index cards and scotch tape
• Make sure you have a control, since the tape will
  probably have a few particles on it already

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Particulates

• Two index cards, with hole(s) punched and tape
  over hole.
• Keep one in a plastic baggie, and leave other at
  test site
• Collect, count particles on both (use dissecting
  microscope)
• Measure hole and calculate area of hole in square
  meters (conversions! Basis of a FRQ in 2008!)

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Particulates

• Subtract particles on control from particles
  on experimental card, and calculate the
  particles per square meter deposited per day or
  hour. It is often very high!

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Acid Rain

• Molnars lab is pretty good on this, too.
• Students collect rain water and take its pH, but
  there are also a few pages of questions that go
  ask students to look at the geography of acid
  rain in the the US.
• Since pollution is an important topic, these labs
  can help make air pollution more real to students.

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Set up labs

• Ozone will do one-hour tests
• Particulates will also sample for one hour
• Make, label particulate-collecting cards
• Distribute cards, and return to the lab!

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AP Environmental Workshop July 22, 2008
andAugust 11, 2008

• Planning, testing, teaching your APES Course

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What background is needed for this course?

• Biology and chemistry are the two most important
  courses for your students to have taken.
  Chemistry will help not only with the material on
  pollution, but also on setting up and solving
  problems using unit analysis.

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Who should take this course?

• Students who are interested and have been able to
  pass all of their other science classes with at
  least a C.
• Level of interest of material stimulates students
  who might not otherwise be AP material to do
  surprisingly well.
• Unlike AP Bio and Chem this is a college semester
  course, and not a full year, so amount of
  material is less.

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Why should a student take this course?

• The material covered in this course can prepare
  our students to understand the complex
  environmental issues they will have to deal with
  in the future.
• It is a rigorous course that stretches them to do
  college-level material, and to prepare for
  college, even if they do not receive college
  credit for the course.

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How do I know exactly what topics to teach in
this course?

• The course description available at AP Central
  gives you the emphasis that you should expect on
  the AP exam in May.
• Within this outline, there is a lot of room for
  you and your students to pursue your specific
  interests. However, it is important that you
  cover the material in the syllabus in the
  booklet.
• A scrapbook of newspaper articles and summaries
  helps make the class relevant and real to
  students.

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Are there required labs for this course, as there
are for AP Biology?

• No, there are no required labs. Finding good
  labs for this course was challenging.but no
  more!
• I suggest using Molnar as your basic lab manual,
  but still add favorites from other sources.
  Molnars greatest strength is the number of
  calculations his labs contain.

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Labs, continued

• Field trips are especially appropriate for this
  course if they are tied in to your course
  syllabus. Make sure that the students have
  assignments related to the trip so that it is a
  real learning experience.

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Planning your course

• 5 steps to getting started

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Step 1

• Decide on the book you are going to use
• Know your class meeting schedule and school
  calendar
• Plan for interruptions! Build in snow days, pep
  rallies, and what ever else your school goes in
  for.

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Step 2

• Take the AP syllabus and compare it to your text.
  Is there something missing that you will need to
  add? Is there something you would LIKE to add?
• READ the entire textbook (OK, skim it!) Figure
  out about how many pages per day or week you will
  have to cover if you are to cover the entire
  curriculum.
• With some of the shorter books, my class has read
  their entire booknot the case with older
  editions of Miller LITE.

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step 3

• Do math! (calculator OK joke! ) Divide the
  number of pages by the number of days or weeks
  youve got to give you a rough idea of where you
  need to be when.
• Once you have a rough schedule down, then figure
  out what labs you want to do to go with each
  section/concept/chapter

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Step 4

• Now you are ready to put your schedule into a
  planning calendar for the year. Could be a plan
  book, or even a grid you make yourself with word.
• The tough part is figuring out how much time
  everything will take.and even with experience
  you can sometimes find yourself way off base.
• You will need to spend more time on the hard
  stuff!

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Step 5

• Be prepared to adjust things as you go along, and
  keep notes about how long things took.
  Assignment sheets are a great way to keep track
  of things.
• This planning calendar could be very helpful to
  you with your AP audit, too, if you will need to
  do one.

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Exam Formats and Grading the AP Exam and your own
tests
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What is the AP exam like in this course?

• It consists of 2 parts, Part 1 100 multiple
  choice questions. Part 2 4 essays, all
  mandatory, on which a student should spend about
  20 minutes each. One will be a document based
  question, one will involve some sort of
  calculation.

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How can I prepare my students to do well on the
AP exam?

• Giving a mid-year exam ensures that students have
  learned the material covered early in the year
  well.
• Design this test as a mini-AP, with a part 1
  and a part 2.
• The Part 1 questions are fairly typical tough
  multiple choice questions. Many involve
  interpreting graphs or charts. Two MC exams have
  been released 1998 (too easy) and 2003 (in your
  book). A third exam, with tough MC questions can
  be downloaded by anyone who has passed the audit.

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Exam, continued

• Part 2 writing is the key.
• of lab reports,
• of review questions,
• of essays either taken from old AP exams or ones
  invented by the teacher are crucial.
• Practice, practice, practice!

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Exam, continued

• Students need to be comfortable and familiar with
  what a 20-minute essay feels like, and be able
  to figure out exactly what the question is asking
  of them. This needs practice all year long, and
  is the secret to doing well on Part 2.
• Make sure to emphasize quantitative skills such
  as graphing, calculations (including units),
  interpreting charts, all year long.

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Chapter tests every 2-3 chapters

• Design then as mini APES tests, with 20-25
  minutes of multiple choice and one real 22
  minute APES essay. (Or one that you invent!)
• It is important that they get the feel of how
  fast they need to work on both MC and essays
  before they meet the real thing.

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Grading your chapter tests

• The scale used by the college board usually sets
  a grade of 3 for a student who scores about 50
  on the MC and FRQ.
• Lots of teachers dont want to give a C to a
  student who has earned only a 50.
• On the other hand, if your students are used to
  not being able to answer every question, they are
  less likely to panic when they face the real
  exam!
• I like to give hard tests but grade them to the
  college board standardthat is a choice each of
  you will have to make.

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What can I do to become a more effective APES
teacher?

• Become an AP grader. This experience is
  invaluable both in terms really understanding
  what is required to write a good AP essay, but
  also gives you a chance to meet and exchange
  ideas with some of the best teachers in the
  country. You will learn much that will improve
  your course.

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What, continued

• Join the on-line Environmental Science discussion
  group. This is the second best way to get ideas
  about teaching the course.

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How is the AP ES exam scored?

• Part 1 counts for 60 of the final grade. There
  is a -1/4 pt penalty for guessing.
• Part 2 counts for 40 of the total score.
• Each essay is worth 10 points
• Calculations (handout) are used to calculate the
  final score.
• We will take a minute to go over these.

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How well do students do on this exam?

• Typically, not as well as on some other AP
  Science exams.
• The next five slides show you grade distributions
  for 2007, 2006, 2005, and 2004 for AP ES and from
  2006 for Biology.
• Are the APES students that much weaker? It
  appears the answer is yes, in the opinion of the
  College Board.

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Results for 2007 Examination Grade
Environmental Science N At 5 5670
10.8 4 12092 23.1 3 9383 17.9 2 9183
17.5 1 16088 30.7 Number of Students 52,416
3 or Higher / 27145 51.8 Mean Grade 2.66
Standard Deviation 1.40
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Results for 2006 Examination Grade
Environmental Science N At 5 4,171
9.3 4 9,807 21.9 3 8,591 19.2 2 7,807
17.5 1 14,322 32.0 Number of Students 44,698
3 or Higher / 22,569 50.5 Mean Grade 2.59
Standard Deviation 1.37
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Results for 2005 Examination Grade
Environmental Science N At 5 3,551
9.3 4 8,901 23.4 3 7,204 18.9 2 6,813
17.9 1 11,635 30.5 Number of Students 38,104
3 or Higher / 19,656 51.6 Mean Grade 2.63
Standard Deviation 1.37
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Results for 2004 Examination Grade
Environmental Science N At 5 2,872
8.8 4 7,540 23.1 3 6,045 18.5 2 5,933
18.2 1 10,245 31.4 Number of Students 32,635
3 or Higher / 16,457 50.4 Mean Grade 2.60
Standard Deviation 1.36
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For Comparison Here are results from 2006
Biology exam! Examination Grade Biology N
At 5 25,862 19.6 4 26,809 20.3 3 27,897
21.2 2 30,642 23.3 1 20,573 15.6 Number of
Students 131,783 3 or Higher / 80,568
61.1 Mean Grade 3.05 Standard Deviation
1.36
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Populations

• Interactions (for example predator-prey)
• Human populations
• Population trends
• Demographics from obituary data

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Predator -Prey simulation (in notebook)

• This lab is CHEAP! (a paper plate, a spoon, and
  some dried beans)
• It also demonstrates the importance of following
  directions and if done correctly produces
  beautiful population cycles of predator and prey.
  Go over instructions carefully with your class
  before starting!
• It is a good lab to teach excel data recording
  and graphing skills if you wish to do so. If done
  by hand, it is an excellent chance to reinforce
  graphing of data. (A FRQ on this years exam.)
• Suggest teams of 3 or 4 for this lab.
• Timing after discussion of population cycles
• For students, one period to get data, another to
  do the write-up. (more or less)

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Human Demographics
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Pyramids

• These show the or number of the population
  belonging to each age group, usually given in
  5-year divisions
• Different pyramid shapes indicate different
  population characteristics
• http//www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/pyramids.html
  is a great site to visit for world-wide
  information Population Trends lab in Molnar uses
  this site.

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Pyramids

• Molnar 22 involves collecting human demographic
  data
• From this data, you can also graph mortality,
  survivorship curves, and population pyramids
• Students should know the basic types of pyramids
  and be able to discuss fertility rates, and birth
  and death rates for various pyramids

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Pyramids

• Molnar 22 is VERY long, but it covers a lot of
  important population concepts, besides the
  specifically human. Do it after you have
  discussed populations and the demographic
  transition.
• Obituary data can easily be collected on-line.

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Demographic Transition

• Your students need to know the 4 stages, what
  happens to BR, DR, and population growth rate in
  each stage, and be able to name at least 1-2
  countries in stages 2,3,4
• Your students need to know the meaning of BR, DR,
  TFR
• They need to understand societal and economic
  pressures which may or may not make it difficult
  for a country to pass through the stages of the
  demographic transition

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Two populations historical and current

• Go on-line and look up the required number of
  male and female obituaries.
• Record sex and age at death using data charts
• Add your data to class master data chart to get
  large enough data set
• Follow directions in lab to make graphs
• Strongly suggest using excel!

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Working with the data

• Use these data bases with your classes
• Historical data base
• http//www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/vitals/sfranobi.htm
• Current data base
• http//www.ancestorhunt.com/new_jersey_newspaper_o
  bituaries.htm

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How many obits do we need?

• We will do historical population only today.
• Need 300 of each sex, more would be better
• Each participant needs to locate 20 males and 20
  females born between 1880 and 1905 (avoid 1906
  earthquake!)
• Use hand-out data table
• When finished, we will prepare a class data
  table, and work together to analyze.
• We will prepare survivorship graphs, mortality
  graphs, and population pyramid graphs.