AP Environmental Science:

 Summer Assignment 2004-05 school Year

Most of you probably do not know much about the material covered in environmental science. In order to get you a little more knowledge before we begin in the fall, you need to complete the following summer assignment. This work should not take much time, but it will hopefully spark your interest in the class. The following will be due on or before the first day of class in the fall.

A.     Examine the topics below and become familiar with them. This can be accomplished by providing a simple definition of each term listed. Then, throughout the summer, learn to look for these topics on TV, in the news, on the radio, in the newspaper, in conversations, as movie ideas, etc... Create an electronic spreadsheet or data table and indicate the date, the source you heard it from, brief summary of the content. A suggested data table is provided:                                   

     Topics:

B.     Find a copy of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. It should be in most children's section of your local library. It is also available as a movie. Read or watch The Lorax and record the environmental issues that the author presents. Summarize each issue and relate them to the topics in section A of this homework assignment.

C.     Find five articles from the newspaper over the summer that deal with environmental science issues (preferably 5 different issues). Mount or photocopy each article on a piece of computer paper. Then write a one-paragraph summary of the article, followed by one-paragraph of your opinion about the topic. The following questions can guide you in providing your opinion. (1) What do you think? (2) What should be done? (3) How does this affect us? (4) Do you know anything about the topic that you could add to the article? Any opinion is acceptable as long as it is serious.

D.     Obtain and read the lab exercise Introduction and Lab Format. Answer the 4 questions posed at the end of the exercise.

E.      Select 2 out of the 5 community service project that you will commit your time to. These activities require time outside of class and will impact your grade for the class.

1.      Bucks County Environthon (May 05)

2.      Earth Day Activity (April 05)

3.      Working with 6^th graders about environmental awareness (7- day trips Fall and Spring)

4.      Eco-Leadership Summit (April 05) - 12 student maximum.

5.      Creating Community Environmental Resource Kits and present them to the community (Spring 05)

You can choose to summit an electronic copy of your summer assignment without the mounted newspaper articles by following the directions below:

1. Email to your teacher before midnight on August 27, 2004 using the email address provided:

      Mrs. Cotter                  mcapes45@yahoo.com

      Mrs. Michener              mmapes45@yahoo.com

2. The name of your summer assignment should be your first name initial followed by your last name. Use lowercase and no spaces. Example: Brenda Jones is bjones
3. If using a Macintosh computer at home, you need to provide an extension. For example, if using Microsoft Word, the extension is .doc, so Brenda's assignment name will be: bjones.doc. If using a PC, the extension is automatically added.
4. The assignment has to be an attachment, NOT found in the body of the email. You may choose to send your assignment as one attachment or in parts. Clearly identify each part of the summer assignment by labeling the parts by their letters A-E.
5. The mounted newspaper articles will be due the first day of class.

Grading Rubric for summer assignment- 100 points: