Air Pollution Videos
Sounds crazy, but a good air pollution documentary doesn’t exist to show to our students. Instead, there are many smaller videos that work well. I live in Southern California, and …
Category: Methods & Lessons
APES Math
There are many ways to practice AP® Environmental Science (APES) math. As a teacher, you will decide which approach is best your own students. You may have students who find …
Teaching El Nino
Students and many teachers struggle with El Nino. Being in California, we have an advantage in that we know what “normal” conditions are so its easier to understand the “opposite …
LD-50 Graph and Math Practice
Students can use this worksheet to practice graphing LD-50 data. This is an important skill for the APES exam. Students will also practice dimensional analysis questions using LD-50 numbers.
Where to Find Science Grants and Other Funding
When I was beginning science teacher 20 years ago, a very wise science education professor told me to find the money and don’t buy supplies for my class out of …
Communicating “Why I flipped” to Students and Parents (or Admins)
I believe explaining WHY I do something in class is important for students. While they don’t get to decide or vote on the way my class is run, explaining the …
APES Exam and Bloom’s Taxonomy/Depth of Knowledge
I’ve always told people that the AP® Exam has a lot of higher order thinking questions, but never took to the time to actually count how many were in a …
Using and Teaching FRQs in Science
Students in an AP® Environmental Science class need to know how to write Free Response Questions (FRQs). These are short answer questions, not essays, and have special strategies that are …
FRQs and Peer Grading
Peer Grading FRQS Peer grading free response questions is a great way to 1. Teach kids how the questions are graded by the national readers and how picky and precise …
10 Tips for Teaching Large AP® Classes in High School
Teaching large classes can be daunting in any subject, but especially in a college-level AP® class. Ten years ago, when I started AP® Environmental Science at my school, I advertised …
To AP® or Not to AP®…What does the Research Say?
What does the research really say about taking an AP® class? Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of “rumors”, “here-say”, “anecdotal info”, &”verbal discussion” of the benefits of AP® …
15 Things a new AP teacher should know
Being a new AP® teacher is exciting and daunting! It will be a tough year to not only learn the material yourself, but also teach it to your kids. Hang …
Research About Flipping the Classroom
I recently led a couple of workshops about Flipped Classrooms for a technology institute. (Discalimer: I’ve only fully flipped for about a year. I’ve done a partial flip for several …
Why and How I Flipped this Year
Why I decided to Flip I decided to do a full flip in 2016/2017 out of self-preservation. My sections of AP® grew from 3 to 4 to 5 per day …
Sticky Note Methodology
I developed this method over a decade ago and it one of the main things that students report back as being so helpful in prepping them for the AP® Exam …
Group Data Analysis
At the end of Ecocolumns, my students graph their data and answer questions as a group. Here is an example of the questions they answer. This year, my students filmed …
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