Investigations in Environmental Science
Lesson Summaries, Concepts & Practices
Unit 1: Land Use |
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| LESSON SUMMARIES | CONCEPTS & PRACTICES |
| Chapter 1: New School | |
| Lesson 1: Overcrowded and Using Land Well Students are introduced to the case of a Florida school district facing overcrowding. They receive information on the proposed site for the new school, which is home to a population of gopher tortoises. |
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| Chapter 2: Populations | |
| Lesson 1: What is a Population? Tracking numbers in a daphnia population and gathering information about their own family history engages students in exploring population change. |
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| Lesson 2: Looking at Populations in ArcView ArcView, a GIS software, allows student to explore population trends on a national and global scale. |
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| Lesson 3: Population Changes Students interpret data from population pyramids and use global data to calculate population growth rates and predict future trends. |
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| Lesson 4: Is There a Limit? Through reading about a population of reindeer, revisiting their daphnia data, and applying the concepts they have learned to their own lives, students explore the factors that can limit population growth. |
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| Chapter 3: Resources | |
| Lesson 1: Land Students calculate the land needs in the Florida school case, examine the land resources required in their own lives, and compare their usage to the rest of the world. They compare their calculations to the amount of actual available land. |
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| Lesson 2: Energy WorldWatcher, an Earth science visualization and analysis program, helps students compare the air temperature predictions to actual data. Students also learn about different types of available energy and human energy consumption. |
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| Lesson 3: Water Using WorldWatcher, students learn about Earth's water distribution. They also explore their own water consumption practices and determine how best to divide the water and energy resources for their community. |
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| Lesson 4: The Protein Dilemma Students look at the benefits and trade-offs of changing their source of dietary protein, while taking into consideration the effects of their decision on family, friends, the environment, and themselves. |
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| Chapter 4: Ecosystems | |
| Lesson 1: Animal Land Use By reading about gopher tortoises and exploring the ways animals use land, students compare their calculations for the land needs of the school to those of the natural environment. |
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| Lesson 2: Food Chains and Food Webs Students investigate ecosystem relationships and how energy is transferred within the system. Construction of food webs helps students explore how changes in certain animal populations can alter the entire food chain and ecosystem. |
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| Lesson 3: Interdependent Relationships Students explore the different types of relationships that exist in ecosystems and the importance of each species to the balance and survival of the system. |
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| Chapter 5: Case Studies | |
| Lesson 1: Invasive Species and Bridges and Tunnels Using their knowledge of ecosystems, populations, and environmental decision-making, students analyze the consequences of and solutions to natural and man-made hazards to the environment. |
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| Chapter 6: Florida School Project | |
| Lesson 1: Setting Up the Problem Given their new understanding of populations, resources, ecosystems, and environmental decision-making, students reevaluate the constraints and considerations that must go into deciding on the plans for the new Florida school. |
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| Lesson 2: Narrow Options Students decide on the three best size and placement options for the school based on the constraints and considerations they developed in the previous lesson. |
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| Lesson 3: Evaluate and Compare Creating Stakeholders Charts helps students evaluate all the possible effects of their decision for the Florida school. |
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| Lesson 4: Decide and Present Students select the best option for the Florida school, assemble a report, and present their decision to the class. |
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