Investigations in Environmental Science is composed of three major units that explore environmental issues at global, regional, and local scales. There is also four weeks reserved for the investigation of the local environment.

In each unit, students pursue a number of central questions about the relationship between humans, the physical environment, and the biosphere. CASES engages students in investigations of realistic environmental problems, in which they must make recommendations for sustainable uses of resources. In the course of these investigations, students employ a variety of scientific research techniques, including computer tools for the visualization and analysis of geographic data.

Land Use (8 weeks)
This unit sets the stage for the year. Students are introduced to the practices (data analysis, decision-making) that they will use throughout the curriculum. They begin to wrestle with the challenges of sustainability as they investigate the growth in human population and resource usage.

• Content focus: Carrying capacity, global population trends, resource consumption, food webs, ecosystems, sustainability, geographic visualization and information analysis technologies, and environmental decision making.
  
  
• Geographic data:
  Global: climate, water resources, plant, animal, and human populations.
  United States: population trends.
  
  
• Sequence:
  
  How fast are human populations growing?
  Students study the growth and spread of human population that has resulted from human use of technology. They compare and contrast trends in population growth on local, regional and global scales.   Students are introduced to the concept of sustainability through investigations of human population.
  
  What resources do humans consume?
  Students generate a list of resources necessary to support human populations, and locate those resources in the environment.   Focusing on energy, water, and land, they calculate current consumption and predict future availability. Finally, students explore technologies that increase land use efficiency and carrying capacity.
  
  How does our resource consumption affect ecosystems?
  Students study ecosystems content through the example of the gopher tortoise in the Florida Upland ecosystem. They explore the relationships between food chains, food webs, and energy flow through trophic levels. Students discover the idea of niches and interdependent relationships, predicting what will happen to ecosystems when disrupted.
  
  
• Culminating activity: Students construct a plan for building a new school on a plot of land in the Upland Florida ecosystem that is home to a community of protected gopher tortoises. The plan must meet the needs of the local school district and maintain a viable population of tortoises.
  

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Energy Generation (12 weeks)
In the Energy Generation unit, students learn about electrical power generation and its environmental impacts. Students apply the technology and decision making skills they learned in Unit 1 to projects and activities in Unit 2. This unit focuses on the growing demands for energy in the upper Midwest.

• Content focus: Power generation, energy transformation, efficiency, renewable and nonrenewable resources, mining and landscape transformation, air quality, acid deposition, thermal pollution, global carbon cycle, greenhouse effect, global climate change, sustainability, and environmental policy.
  
  
• Geographic data:
  Global: energy resources and consumption, energy balance, and climate change.
  United States: energy resources and consumption.
  Upper Midwest regional: population, land use, water resources, air quality.
  
  
• Sequence:
  
  How do we get electricity from fossil fuels?
  Students study the growth and spread of human population that has resulted from human use of technology. They compare and contrast trends in population growth on local, regional and global scales.   Students are introduced to the concept of sustainability through investigations of human population.  
  
  What are the impacts of burning fossil fuels?
  Students investigate the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels. They look at three specific issues: toxic emissions, acid rain, and global warming. Students are asked to make a recommendation for the best location for a coal-burning power plant in the case region based on resource and environmental tradeoffs.
  
  What energy alternatives are there?
  Students investigate the question, Is there a practical alternative that has less impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels? Students investigate alternative sources of energy for generating electricity. They conduct research on the benefits and risks associated with different energy sources and present their findings.
  
  
• Culminating activity: Students compare alternatives to building a coal-burning plant for meeting the demands of the case region for electricity in the year 2010. They establish scientific criteria, such as energy transformation processes, efficiency, global and local resource needs, and environmental impacts, and then use those criteria to evaluate alternative energy sources and select suitable geographic locations for their recommended power plants.
  

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Water Management (12 weeks)
In the Water Resources Management unit, students investigate the balance between the natural supply of water and the increasing human demand for it. They explore the question, How can water resources be managed to support human needs and natural ecosystems? The unit focuses on the case of water resource management in California.

• Content focus: Soil structure and composition, porosity, nutrient needs of plants, evapotranspiration, irrigation systems and water management for agriculture. Topographic mapping, dams, river hydrographs, salmon lifecycles, effects of dams on salmon populations. Wells, percolation, aquifer recharge, human water use, impacts of water engineering.
  
  

• Geographic data: California's Great Central Valley region: land use, elevation, water table depth, climate/vegetation, watersheds, dams, population, soil type, irrigation, crop yield.
  
  

• Sequence:
  
  Why does agriculture use so much water?
  Students begin by examining the chemical and physical properties of soil as the basis for understanding the main use of water in California -- irrigation. They explore the relation-ship between soil, water, and crop yield by growing their own plants under a variety of different conditions.
  
  What sources can be tapped to make more water available?
  Students investigate water engineering techniques in California. They look at how humans have been able to transport water over large distances to support urban growth, and how they have been able to regulate the natural flow of water to control flooding and irrigate farmlands, achieving tremendous agricultural bounty in California's Great Central Valley.
  
  What are the environmental effects of water engineering?
  Students investigate the environmental effects of building dams, including impacts on salmon migration and land use changes around dams. They also explore the issue of aquifer drawdown and accompanying problems like saltwater intrusion and land subsidence. Finally, students realize the social and economic effects of water engineering - when industries rely on water that local residents also need.
  
  

• Culminating activity: Students develop a plan for managing the water within an agricultural-intensive California watershed in order balance a regional water budget. Their plan must meet specific requirements to supply irrigation water for agriculture, allow for some urban growth, and maintain natural water flows in the environment.
  

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Investigating the Local Environment (4 weeks)
The Investigations curriculum allows time for teachers and students to conduct fieldwork, use geographic data for their own community, or conduct library research to investigate a local environmental issue. The curriculum is designed with the assumption that teachers will devote four weeks to local environmental activities interspersed throughout the year.

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