We will have an in class ib essay on soil on Monday, April 23
Your last IB practice question is due next Wednesday, April 25. You will need the resource booklet here to answer the questions.
Resource booklet. You can also find the question here if you lose your handout:
ib question 11
Due Wednesday, April 18: Review page 239-240 to hand in.
Friday, April 13: Soil lab report due. Here is the handout for the lab:
soil labWednesday, April 4: Test on food systems Study guide:
food systemsThursday, April 5: supermarket report due-here is the link to the activity if you missed class on Friday:
supermarket trip You need to fill in the page and write a half to a full page analysis of the trip including the information you could and could not obtain at the supermarket.
Tuesday, April 10: IB question 10 due
IB question 9 is due next Monday, April 2. Here is the link to questions 9 and 10 in case you lose your handouts:
ib questions 9 and 10Worksheet on the film "King Corn" is due Tuesday, March 27. Here is a link to the worksheet in case you lost it:
King CornDue Monday, March 5: IB question #8
Due Tuesday, March 6: Choose an example of a farming system and write a one to two page essay in which you describe and evaluate the system. Be sure to include vocabulary like: subsistence, commercial, cash-cropping, intensive, extensive et.
Due Friday, February 24: Read "The Rising Cost of Food" pages 245-246 in your course companion and answer the questions.
Due Monday, February 27: IB practice question 7 is due. You can access questions 7 and 8 here:
ib practice 7&8Week of Feb 13-17: Mock exams. No assignments due but you must finish and clean up your acid deposition labs.
No School Monday or Tues, Feb. 20 and 21. Wednesday, February 22: Acid Deposition lab due- PL, DCP, and DEC will be assessed.
Wednesday, February 22: IB practice question set 6 due.
Due Monday, February 6: IB question set 5 (sets 5 and 6 can be found here:
IB practice 5&6)
Thursday, February 8: Test on Global Warming
Please finish and cleanup your acid deposition lab by this Thursday. The report including PL, DCP and DEC is due on Wednesday, February 15
Due Monday, January 30: IB question set 4
Due Tuesday, January 31: DCP section of the soil lab.
Due Wednesday, February 1: Complete pages 141 to 144 in your text book.
Due Wednesday, January 25: Read the following article
The Fight Against Climate Change and answer the following. 1) summarize the major argument of the article. 2) List 4 measures to immediately reduce global warming. 3) Discuss why these 14 measures aren't being implemented.
Due Monday, January 23: IB question set 3
Due Friday, January 20: Hypothetical Global Warming Planning Lab due
On Wednesday, January 18 we will have lab in our double block. The report will be due on Tuesday, January 24 and will be assessed for DCP and DEC. I'm not printing a procedure for everyone. If you need a copy, here is the link:
Global Warming Lab
Due Wednesday, January 18: Global Warming worksheet is due. You can access all of the graphs by going to the website at the top of the worksheet or by clicking on the powerpoint presentation at the top of the page.
IB problem sets 3 and 4 are here if you lose your hand outs:
ib practice qu 3&4 In order to answer these, you need to use the Resource booklet. Please don't print the booklet as it is quite long.
Resource Booklet Due Monday, January 9: IB practice problem set 1
Due Tuesday, January 10: Hand out due on the film: Global Warming- The Signs and the Science
Wednesday, January 11: Acid deposition lab. Bring your planning section to the laboratory.
Test on Air Pollution including ozone depletion, urban air pollution, indoor air pollution and acid deposition on Friday, December 2.
Lab write ups on Eutrophication due on Friday, December 9th. All flasks must be cleaned and put away before christmas break.
Due Tuesday, November 29- Read pages 295 to 300 in your course companion and answer the To Do on p. 299. To hand in.
Due Monday, November 21. Formal write up due on Environmental Risk. Include: Introduction, table, answers to questions, map and one page risk assessment. The introduction should only be one paragraph explaining what a risk assessment is and why it is important.
Listen to the first 13 minutes of the first podcast called "Engineering Mosquitoes" on engineering mosquitoes Please answer the following questions: What do you think about this strategy to manage mosquitoes? What are the arguments against this strategy? Compare this strategy to the use of DDT. In your opinion, which is a better method to combat malaria? Please write up to hand in. Due Thursday, November 10.
Quiz on Monday. One page IB question on Eutrophication.
To hand in: Write the Planning section of the Eutrophication lab. Include: Research question, hypothesis, independent and dependent variables, materials and method. Also- we will meet in the computer lab to continue work on your essay questions which are due on Friday.
Your first exam will be on Thursday, October 27. Please review your notes and bring any questions to class on Wednesday.
Research paper: We began research in class on Thursday, October 20. The purpose of the project is to investigate an incident of pollution somewhere in the world. You will write a 5 paragraph essay assessing how the pollution was managed in the context of cultural values, political systems and economic systems. For example: The gulf oil spill. you would discuss the event- what happened, where et. When discussing cultural values you could discuss the value placed on tourism to places affected, the seafood industries in those places. You could also talk about the american culture as one dependent on oil and discuss how the spill would never have happened if it weren't for such dependence. Political systems: you could discuss the EPA and its role in clean up, talk about laws forcing BP to pay for and oversea cleanup. You could also discuss the role of politics in oil (ie government officials who get rich off of oil and oil subsidies). Economics- discuss the cost of oil vs the risk of spillage. Is it worthwhile for a company to take the risk of deep sea drilling? You could discuss the true cost of oil and the economics of moving away from oil. You could also discuss who has to pay for clean up and relate back to political systems. I used this as an example because no one chose it and I want to give you a concrete idea of what i'm asking for. Please do not write a paper about the Gulf oil spill. The essay due date is extended to Friday, November 4. You will also have to briefly (5 minutes) present your information to the class.
The document with the criteria for the internal assessment is listed under ESS SL I. Relevant info is on pages 57 to 61. If you want to print- please do not print the entire document as that is a big waste of paper. I hope this helps you in writing your labs.
Due Tuesday, October 18: Track the amount of waste you produce in a 24 hour period over the weekend. Make a chart in your notebook that categorizes the trash (ie food, paper, metal et.) Mark where the waste ends up. (ie trash, recycling bin, compost et)
Due on Monday, October 24: Macroinvertebrates Lab report. This must be typed and handed in and will be graded. It must include: Introduction, Research Question, Hypothesis, Results (Data Collection, Data Processing) and a Conclusion. You will receive a Newman grade for the entire report and an IB grade for the Discussion, Evaluation and Conclusion portion of the report. I will post the IB criteria by tomorrow. Please note: We will go out to the river one more time. Meet on Friday, October 14 if it isn't raining. If it is raining, we will go out next Tuesday. If the weather is still bad, I will push the due date of the report back to the following Monday.
Due Tuesday, October 11
Type an introduction and hypothesis for the macroinvertebrate field study. You won't hand these in, but I will check that you have a hypothesis ready. Your hypothesis needs to predict the water quality of the Charles River and be based on research or previous studies of the river. You should type this because you will eventually hand them in when you turn in the entire report.
I have attached the macroinvertebrate key, activity and the score sheet which includes colored pictures of various macroinvertebrates and a possible method for finding and identifying macroinvertebrates. There is information on the activity that may help you in writing your introduction.Macroinvertebrate key Score sheet -water quality Water quality classroom activity
Due Thursday, October 4
Read pages 276 to 279 and answer the Test Yourself Activity on page 279 in your notebook. You do not have to hand this in but we will discuss in class.
There is a website that contains a lot of the info for this course. If you ever forget your book, you may be able to use this site to help with homework and other activities. http://sciencebitz.com/?page_id=12
Biogeochemical CyclesRadiative ForcingGW and Human LinksESS SyllabusGlobal Warming US