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  1. Environmental Science 11 (Period 3)
  2. Assignments

Environmental Science 11 (Period 3) Assignments

Instructor
Tamara Wells
Terms
Fall 2018
Spring 2019
Department
Science
Description

Environmental science is the study of the effects of natural and unnatural processes, and of interactions of the physical components of the planet on the environment. We will explore the origins of the universe, stars and our planet, the earth’s atmosphere, climate and weather, the lithosphere, the hydrosphere including oceans and the water cycle, and the biosphere.  Using a sustainability perspective we will explore current issues in human/nature interactions and we will develop models for conceptual, practical and technological adaptations through regenerative design including permaculture and biomimicry. We will engage in the process of science to observe, hypothesize, experiment, discuss, and revise our understanding as new evidence comes to light.  We will practice scientific literacy, engaging with current events in science. We will develop and defend arguments based on textual evidence and accumulated data. Finally, we will work to develop our scientific habits of mind and the academic skills which will help us to be scientifically literate citizens and capable college students.

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Assignment Calendar

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Past Assignments

Due:

Assignment

Climate Change Investigation Project 

You will work in a group of three to research a topic in climate change and possible solutions for human adaptations or mitigating actions.

You must turn in:

1. Your completed, typed research organizer which can be downloaded below.

2. Your complete presentation - the template can be downloaded below.

3. Your teamwork evaluation.


Possible Topics:

  • Sea level rise
  • Ocean Acidification
  • Declining Arctic sea ice/albedo effect
  • Extreme weather events
  • Global temperature rise
  • Warming oceans
  • Shrinking ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica
  • Glacial retreat
  • Increase in diseases; changes in distribution of disease
  • Deforestation through logging and/or burning
  • Disruption of migration patterns
  • Thawing of permafrost and methane release
  • Oceanic Loss of Biodiversity - Extinction
  • Land Loss of Biodiversity - Extinction
  • Human Conflict and Migration

Topic Chosen:________________________________________________________________


Each group will work on one topic and have three members.  The members will each choose one of the following roles:


Project Coordinator: This person will be responsible for assigning areas of research to each team member, ensuring the validity of all sources, and overseeing the coordination of information between scholarly research and the presentation. The project coordinator must review the progress of the project using the provided rubric.

Project Coordinator: __________________________________________________________________________________

  • Research Lead: This person will be responsible for recording all information in Handout 5.3: Scholarly Research Template. They also need to ensure that all citations are recorded.

Research Lead:______________________________________________________________________________

  • Presentation Lead: This person will be responsible for organizing the information from the research into an engaging and informative presentation for the class. They will use the presentation template provided.

Presentation Lead:______________________________________________________________________________


***All three members are responsible for doing the research portion of this project.

 

Research Resources

NOAA Climate.gov www.climate.gov/#climateWatch  provides lots of information, interactives, visual data, and more.
 
The NASA Global Climate Change website includes a Facts page http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence , which features informative content. The Evidence section of the web page begins with the critical “hockey stick” graph of CO2 levels from the past 400,000 years. The web page also includes sections on the causes of climate change, the effects of climate change, and more. Be sure to check out the Interactives section on the site’s Explore web page, as well.
 
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) partners with more than 40 data contributors from various government agencies, academic institutions, and other organizations to compile a key set of indicators related to the causes and effects of climate change. The indicators are published in this report, available on the EPA’s website and in print: www.epa.gov/climate-indicators

 

Earth Vision Institute has created Getting the Picture: Our Changing Climate, an innovative online multimedia tool for climate education (http://gettingthepicture.info) Here, acclaimed photographer James Balog and his team provide the latest in climate science education, featuring unique archives of media, film, photography, and firsthand accounts of our changing climate.

 

Check out research from the National Audubon Society on the changes in migratory patterns of birds and their population fluctuations: http://web4.audubon.org/bird/bacc/Species.html

 

Budburst is a citizen science program focused on understanding plant phenophase timing and its response to environmental change. You can join the national Budburst network of scientists, students, teachers, and volunteers and monitor plants as the seasons change to help the organization understand how plants respond to climate change. Visit this site for more information: https://budburst.org/

 

The Fourth National Climate Assessment is a report that summarizes the current and future impact of climate change on the United States. A team of more than 300 experts guided by a 60-member federal advisory committee produced the report, which was extensively reviewed by both the public and other experts, including federal agencies and a panel from the National Academy of Sciences. Get the report here: https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/front-matter-guide

 

Check out any of the reports on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change website https://www.ipcc.ch/

 

World Health Organization Climate Change and Health https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health

 

 

You may find these two resources from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine helpful in this session: Download a free booklet from the organization on climate change evidence and causes: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/12781/americas-climate-choices

 

The following web page is dedicated to creating, evaluating, and understanding models of climate change: http://www.nas-sites.org/climate-change/climatemodeling

 

The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program is an international science and education program that provides students and the public with the opportunity to participate in data collection and the scientific process and to contribute meaningfully to our understanding of the Earth’s system and global environment. You can learn how to be part of the GLOBE research, play games to learn about the Earth as a system, and more. Visit this site for more information: www.globe.gov/do-globe/for-students

 

If you are studying the thawing of permafrost you may be interested in

the video “Exploding Methane Gas Bubbles” from the BBC series Earth: The Power of the Planet. The video features scientists drilling into a frozen lake to ignite methane gas trapped in bubbles beneath the surface. To watch the video, visit this site: https://www.science.org.au/curious/video/exploding-methane-gas-bubbles

Due:

Assignment

Soil Vocabulary - please fill in on Soil Reading Package
  • B-horizon: layer of a soil profile beneath the topsoil where ion oxides and clay minerals accumulate; also called subsoil
  • C-horizon: lowest layer of a soil profile consisting of partially altered bedrock
  • humus: organic portion of soil that consists of partially decayed remains of plants and animals
  • inorganic: not related to life or living organisms; not organic
  • laterite: nutrient-poor, red soil that forms in tropical rainforests
  • loam: type of soil that contains about equal proportions of sand, silt, and clay
  • pedalfer: very fertile, dark soil that forms in mid-latitude deciduous forests
  • pedocal: moderately fertile soil that forms in grasslands
  • permeable: material with tiny holes that water can pass through easily
  • residual soil: soil that forms from the bedrock upon which it is found
  • soil: top layer of Earth’s surface containing weathered rocks and minerals and organic materials
  • soil horizon: individual layer of a soil profile; A-, B-, or C-horizon
  • soil profile: entire set of soil layers, or horizons, for a particular soil
  • subsoil: B-horizon of a soil profile, which lies beneath the topsoil
  • topsoil: A-horizon of a soil profile, which is the uppermost and most fertile layer of soil, containing humus, plant roots, and living organisms
  • transported soil: soil that forms from weathered components that have been transported from a different area

Due:

Assignment

Your Water Footprint - Revised - please only do part 1. 
 
1. Download and rename the document below with your own name. 
2. Use the provided websites and your own sources to complete the lab.
3. You only need to complete part 1 of the lab - email to [email protected] before class on Tuesday, March 5th, 2019

Due:

Assignment

Drying of the American West Case Study Part 1
1. Find a partner and sign in to one of your google accounts.
2. Download a copy of the doc Drying of the American West - follow the link to the Carleton Case Study and work through the sections. 
3. Answer the questions in your doc. 
 
 
Part 2 - Where are we now? News From the Present.
1. Download the pdf Colorado River Case Study Research Links
2. Use the links to research more current news on the state of the Colorado River and water agreements and arguments that are being made.
3. Answer the questions on the pdf in your Part 1 Doc
4. Use direct quotes from the news articles to form a one minute evidence, claim, reasoning argument to present to your classmates.
 
 

Due:

Assignment

Go to the following websites and work through the simulations.  In response create either a detailed diagram or other graphic response or a 5 sentence summary of what you have learned.  Due on Monday, December 3. 

Due:

Assignment

Please find the links to your groups rock fact ppt in the document below.  Remember, Metamorphic Rock group members must draw the rock cycle diagram onto their groups poster as well.  It is attached below. 
 

3 Types of Rocks: Group Jigsaw Activity

Directions:

1. Get your “Mixed Group” assignments from your teacher. Write the names of the other students in your “Mixed Group” here: ________________________________

2. The person in the group with an (I) after their name will be the expert on igneous rocks, (S)= sedimentary, (M)= metamorphic.

3. Get together in your “Expert Groups”. There should only be three of these groups- one igneous group, one sedimentary group, and one metamorphic group.

4. Next, you should view the PowerPoint with your “Expert Group” and complete the note-sheet that goes with the reading.

5. When your expert group is finished with the reading and note-sheet, you will return to your “Mixed Group”. When all of your group members are back, you will exchange your note-sheets and get the information on the rocks that your other group members studied. At the end of the class, you should have information on igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.

6. Your “Mixed Group” will be responsible for creating a poster that provides information on all of the 3 groups of rocks you studied today as well as a picture of the rock cycle and a paragraph describing the process of the rock cycle.

On front of poster:
Give information about each group of rocks. Information that should be included about each group is:

How the rock type is formed
What are the main types of each rock (clastic, fine-grained, etc.) Several examples of each type of rock (shale, sandstone, etc.)

On back of poster:
Draw the rock cycle (you may need to use your notes from previous lessons) Below the drawing, write at least three sentences about how the rock cycle work.

At the end of the class, you should have completed:

Note-sheets for all 3 types of rocks. A poster (front and back)

Due:

Assignment

Online Research and Practice with Earth Science Concepts: The History of Earth and Earth as a Planet 

P2 https://www.ck12.org/group/351033/

P3 https://www.ck12.org/group/351032/

Please complete the following tasks:

  1. Go to your the link for your CK class on our Metro Class Website.
  2. For each section, read the passage, answer the review questions on this sheet, and practice test questions in the top right hand corner of the page.
  3. Create a glossary of the vocabulary terms in each section.  

Due:

Assignment

Exploring Density and Crust

Part I: Simulating Density

Claim: Objects with a larger mass will sink in water.
Objective: You will use a simulation to collect evidence to either support or refute this claim.

1. Open the PhET Simulation, “Density” https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/density. (or search, “phet density”) Run the simulation in the browser.  DO NOT DOWNLOAD ON THE CHROMEBOOK - IT WILL NOT WORK. 
2. Explore each of the objects by placing them in water. Record if each object sinks or floats, its mass, volume and density.

Complete Parts II and III. 

 

Due:

Assignment

The Nebular Theory of the Origin of the Solar System

Using the provided article and embedded links and films, complete the tasks below. Do not hesitate to include drawings or diagrams in your answers.

 
  1. Explain the Nebular Theory for the Origin of the Solar System.  
  2. Describe the process by which planets are formed.
  3. Describe the inner structure of the Earth.
  4. Explain why the inner planets are rocky and the outer planets are gaseous.
  5. Describe the formation of moon systems.
  6. Describe the evolution or change over time of our Solar System.

Due:

Assignment

Solar System Research Project and Presentation.  You will have two periods, Thursday, September 27th, and Monday, October 1st, to research and create your planet project presentation.  You will work with one partner of your choice.  You will present on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2018. 
 
Links to information about each of these planets is posted in the previous assignment. 
 
I will provide you with paper copies of the research organizer and project rubric.  A typed copy of your research organizer is due Tuesday.  You can find the organizer and rubric below.  Planets will be assigned by request.  If you choose to do an exoplanet or one of the other celestial bodies, you may need to come up with alternate categories and you may find that it is a good deal more work. 
 
Please email your completed presentations and typed organizers to [email protected]
You will also need to turn in a printed copy of the research organizer, and your rubric for comments. 
 
Here are your options: 

Due:

Assignment

Hello Students 
I'd like you to join my CK-12 class:
Environmental Science P3

Joining my class allows me to share content with you and keep track of how well you do on your CK-12 practice assignment.

To join:
1. Go to www.ck12.org.
2. Click join to create an account, or Sign in.
3. Click Classes.
4. Enter code: r1his
You can also join the class by using this link: https://www.ck12.org/join/group/?accessCode=r1his

Due:

Assignment

Digital Homework Due 08/23/2018
 
  1. Homework:
  1. Create a gmail account with your name in it.
  2. Subscribe to my classroom page.
  3. Create a quizlet account with your new gmail account and subscribe to Metro Environmental Science 11
  4. Quizlet class join link is https://quizlet.com/join/J4wZPMaD4