High Environmental Science

Segment One:

• Describe what characterizes environmental science
• Explore the biogeochemical cycles of the ecosystems
• Describe the components of an ecosystem and food webs
• Compare and contrast community relationships among organisms
• Analyze food webs and energy transfers through trophic levels
• Discuss the characteristics of populations
• Explore the factors that determine population size
• Describe events that cause changes to ecosystems and biodiversity
• Discuss how biodiversity and human activity are monitored to make environmental decisions
• Characterize the biotic and abiotic components that define the world's biomes
• Explain how humans contribute to the tragedy of the commons
• Discuss the consequences of sustainable and unsustainable use of land
• Cite evidence about how oceans influence climate change
• Discuss how land, water, and air quality is monitored to make environmental decisions
• Evaluate how technology and biotechnology impacts environmental quality

Segment Two:

• Analyze the conditions that contribute to global climate change
• Differentiate between greenhouse gases and air pollutants
• Explore demography and changes to the human population
• Explain how human health is impacted by land, water, and air quality
• Identify how human health is impacted by genetic and pathogenic factors
• Explain the causes of food, water, and energy insecurities
• Discuss the large-scale impacts resulting from human activity
• Analyze personal and human activities that affect ecological footprints
• Evaluate the pros and cons of different energy production technologies throughout time
• Differentiate between renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy
• Examine how human lifestyles, population needs, and greener living affect sustainability
• Evaluate how technology and biotechnology is used to achieve sustainability
• Reflect on how human decisions impact global biodiversity and sustainability
• Reflect on the interdependence of Earth systems
• Explore careers that use knowledge from environmental science

Household items for lab experiments

Besides engaging students in challenging curriculum, the course guides students to reflect on their learning and evaluate their progress through a variety of assessments. Assessments can be in the form of practice lessons, multiple choice questions, writing assignments, projects, research papers, oral assessments, and discussions. This course will use the state-approved grading scale. Each course contains a mandatory final exam or culminating project that will be weighted at 20% of the student’s overall grade.***

***Proctored exams can be requested by FLVS at any time and for any reason in an effort to ensure academic integrity. When a proctored exam is administered to assess a student’s integrity, the student must pass the exam with at least a 59.5% to earn credit for the course.