Welcome to…

Who am I?...  Mrs. McLeod   We will use a blog as a way of communication in this course.  There will be notes, homework, and instructions on journal responses and upcoming events… The blog needs to be checked regularly. 

What will we be covering!?  This is a PROJECT BASED LEARNING course.  Which means:  “students will… follow a guided inquiry process that will result in a final product based on an environmental issue. While the end product is an important part of the work, the inquiry process leading up to the final product is significant due to the scope and range of skills required to complete the process.”  More to come over the following days.

Materials you will need…  Pen and paper.  Binder  Textbook: Living in the Environment (Miller and Hackett)  A voice…  You need to have an opinion  Journal entries and responses to discussions.

Textbook  You will need your textbook with you everyday as we will be doing a lot of independent work throughout the course.  You can use this as a tool for your portfolio work but the use of other sources will help you think more critically and provide you with more details.

There are 6 Major Sections to the course:  PBL component  Introduction to Environmental Science  Ecological Principles  Human Population and Carrying Capacity  Natural Resources  Food, Soil, Oceans, and Energy  Environmental Challenges and Successes

“Learning how to learn is life’s most important skill”.  Get organized!!!!  To do lists in writing… in your PBL group and for your portfolio work.  Set up study area (distraction free)  Avoid procrastination (to be successful in this course you cannot put things off until later)  Make hills out of mountains – breakdown major projects, assignments, and tests.

 Look at the big picture first.  Ask and answer questions as you read  Focus on key terms  Interact with what you read  Review consistently to reinforce

 Become a SOLID note taker  Write out answers to questions and focus on reinforced learning  Use the buddy system.  Develop an optimistic outlook  Take time to enjoy life

Learning how to think critically is a skill you will need throughout life  Critical thinking involves developing skills to help you analyze and evaluate the validity of information and ideas you are exposed to as well as to make decisions.  You need to examine information and conclusions or beliefs in terms of the evidence and the chain of logical reasoning that supports them.  It helps you distinguish between facts and opinions, see relationships, integrate information into your own lives and help you deal with new and different problems.

 Question everything and everybody  Do no believe everything you read on the internet (or T.V.)  Identify and evaluate your personal biases and beliefs  Be open-minded and flexible.

 Evaluate how the information related to an issue was obtained.  Question the evidence and conclusions presented.  Try to identify and assess the assumptions and beliefs of those presenting evidence and drawing conclusions.  Do the arguments used involve common debating tricks?

BECOME A SEEKER OF INFORMATION NOT A VESSEL OF INFORMATION.