AP Environmental Science to be offered next school year

As of next year, students will have the opportunity to debate current events and learn about complex topics in a brand new classroom setting, for Samo will add AP Environmental Science to its list of available courses, according to S-House advisor Al Trundle. new interests and undertakings.In the College Board’s AP Environmental Science course description, the course is designed to be the “equivalent of a one-semester, introductory college course in environmental science,” and “unlike most other introductory-level college science courses, environmental science is offered from a wide variety of departments, including geology, biology, environmental studies, environmental science, chemistry and geography.”Because the course incorporates a wide range of topics, the curriculum can “stress scientific principles and analysis and that often include a laboratory component; emphasize the study of environmental issues from a sociological or political perspective rather than a scientific one,” according to the College Board's AP Environmental Science's course description.To go about bringing the course to Samo classrooms, chemistry teacher Graham Lockett, who previously taught the course at Beverly Hills High School, brought a descriptive flyer to various chemistry classes that informed students about what AP Environmental Science would entail, and asked students to sign it if they were interested in participating in the class.“With this grassroots approach, I got about 400 student signatures, so I knew students were interested,” Lockett said. “I presented the signatures to [Principal Eva] Mayoral, along with an outline showing how the course would be taught, and it was approved.”According to Lockett, Samo students could benefit immensely from taking such a course.“Because we live in a very environmentally conscious city, I felt the a course would be really effective at teaching people in the community about [environmental processes and issues],” Lockett said.  “At the same time, the course allows kids to have the opportunity to take an additional AP Class, especially if they havent taken one in the first place.”If Lockett ends up teaching the course, he plans to include fun, investigative labs into his class that will teach students complex material in new, intriguing perspectives.“In my laboratories, I’ll try to involve many different disciplines, like English, History, Economics,” Lockett said. “For example, one of the labs that I do is similar to the game 'Roller Coaster Tycoon,' but instead of roller coasters, students would [assemble] their own national parks. They’re only allocated a certain amount of money to run it, and at the same time, they’re forced to be environmentally conscious. I also want to incorporate a range of documentaries and current events into my curriculum.”Marine Biology student Michael Lappen (’15) believes this course is a compelling topic, and an attractive transition from Marine Biology.“I imagine that Marine Biology and AP Environmental Science have a lot of overlapping topics, and it would be interesting to have the opportunity to go more in depth into some issues we only skimmed over,” Lappen said. “Taking both courses would certainly make me a more rounded student, and though I imagine the class is work intensive and time consuming, it definitely sounds fun and I’d consider taking it.”jstaraci@thesamohi.com