Environmental Science
Environmental Science is going well so far. We started the year with an activity on the Tragedy of the Commons. It was meant to be a good ice-breaker activity for the first day, but also illustrated, with hersey’s kisses, how quickly we eat up our resources when everyone is “responsible” for them and no one is in charge of monitorring the candy. The boys made connections to the Student Center and litter/graffiti in the city.
Last week I had them read and respond to a couple of different case studies, one on Easter Island and the other on the Puget Sound. It was good to see their ideas in writing and I could quickly figure out who will need to work a bit harder to keep up. The first unit in E.S. is simply sustainability and current environmental issues. I also go over the scientific method and stress that this is indeed a science course and not just an opportunity to volunteer viewpoints about nature. There is plenty of room for that, but they now understand that their opinions should be founded on scientific data. I have also noticed they want me to tell them how to think about certain environmental issues, such as organic or genetically modified foods. I stressed that hopefully, if all goes well, this course will teach them how to make those decisions for themselves.
This week we began the Energy, Systems and Ecology unit. They seemed to really enjoy it as we jumped into photosynthesis, thermodynamics, food webs and trophic levels. Tomorrow we will wrap up that lecture with energy pyramids and net/gross primary productivity. I am showing them a Planet Earth video tomorrow called “Into the Wilderness” in the second half of our double period. It is a great film because it ties in our work on ecosystems with our discussion of sustainbility last week.
I’ve decided the assign the boys reading and homework questions at the beginning of each week and every Friday I will collect it and quiz them. I have class last period on Fridays so hopefully a quiz will keep them focused. They have their first test next week on the first two units.
I am also posting just about everything (powerpoints to vocab lists to case studies) up on Collegiate Connect. That seems to be helping them a great deal. Some print out the powerpoints ahead of time, the notes format, and just jot things down as we go over the topics in class. I think it will help when I plan out my class next year since I will have everything in one place. We’ll see.