Bright Minds Environmental Science · Scope & Sequence

The course map.

Eight units — four per semester — the labs that anchor them, and the two-day rhythm that runs every week of the year. This is the planner’s view — the whole course on one page.

The weekly engine

Two days a week, and the work between them.

Every unit runs on the same rhythm: Concept Day → [student works at home] → Experiment Day → [student synthesizes at home] → next Concept Day. One day forces a choice between depth and breadth; two days allow both. More than two crowds out the at-home work where integration actually happens.

The solid path is the school week; the dashed return is the at-home synthesis that carries one week into the next.

Day one · ~2 hours

Concept Day

Arrival & warm-up — reconnect with the prior session
Pre-lecture discussion — surface what the at-home reading raised
Direct instruction — micro-lectures, worked problems, demonstrations
Problem set / model work — apply the concept, solo or in pairs
Misconception sweep & wrap-up — correct common errors, preview the lab

Guide's role: Socratic and diagnostic. Student's role: active participation; pre-reading required.

Day two · ~2 hours

Experiment Day

Pre-lab briefing — the question, the procedure, the safety
Safety check — goggles, gloves, field-site hazards; explicit, every time
Setup — field kit & sample containers, partner assignment
Execution — the lab itself; the guide circulates and coaches
Debrief & lab notebook — completed before the student leaves
Cleanup & waste disposal — to standard; non-negotiable

Guide's role: safety officer first, teacher second. Student's role: the lab notebook is THE artifact — predictions before results.

The concept spine

From energy flow to environmental policy.

The sequence is deliberate: each unit assumes the one before it. Click any unit to open its mastery rubric — the standard a student demonstrates against to advance.

Each unit assumes the one before it — energy flow first, policy last.

Unit	Big ideas	Anchor lab(s)	Integrates with
01 · Ecosystems & Energy Flow	Trophic levels, food webs, variable transfer efficiency, the 10% approximation, GPP/NPP and sampling limits	Quadrat & transect biodiversity survey	Darwin, Humboldt & the web of life (history, reading); biology; energy-pyramid & productivity math
02 · Biodiversity & Populations	Richness/evenness, defined diversity indices, conditional growth models, carrying capacity and survivorship	Population-growth & carrying-capacity modeling	Malthus & the limits-to-growth debate (history, ethics, writing); statistics; logistic-growth math
03 · Biogeochemical Cycles	Carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus & water cycles; tectonic, solar and gravitational drivers; reservoirs, fluxes and uncertainty	Soil & water nutrient sampling (nitrate, phosphate)	The Haber–Bosch process & the nitrogen age (history, ethics); biology; cycle-flux math
04 · Human Population & Resource Use	Demography and per-capita demand; fossil, nuclear and renewable energy; power/energy, efficiency, capacity factor and conservation	Documented or supplied-data energy audit; equal-service conversion and resource comparisons	EIA’s energy history; geography; kWh, costs/payback, generation, growth and IPAT calculations
05 · Water Resources & Pollution	Watersheds, scarcity, point/nonpoint sources, treatment, nutrient loads, oxygen and hazard–exposure–risk distinctions	Water-quality testing (dissolved oxygen, nitrates, turbidity)	The Cuyahoga fire & the Clean Water Act (history, policy); biology; water-quality-index math
06 · Air, Atmosphere & Climate Change	Atmospheric layers/circulation, ENSO, radiation balance, forcing/feedback, ozone, PM exposure and ocean acidification	Air-quality & greenhouse-gas data analysis	Keeling, the ozone hole & the Montreal Protocol (history, policy, writing); physics; climate-trend & regression math
07 · Land Use, Agriculture & Waste	Soil health and infiltration; equal-output land/water/erosion tradeoffs; deforestation, mining and waste-routing balances	Soil & land-use sampling (composition, permeability)	The Dust Bowl & the Green Revolution (history, geography); biology; land-area & yield math
08 · Sustainability & Environmental Policy	Shared-resource governance, cost-effectiveness, net benefit, sensitivity, constraints and dated environmental-law sources	Policy case-study debate with data	Carson to the EPA & the Paris Agreement (history, ethics, writing); economics; cost–benefit & risk math

Every unit carries the core spokes — History, Reading, and Writing — anchored to the story in the integration guide. The column above names each unit’s distinctive spokes; geography and soft social studies run where they fit, and students pick from elective spokes (data, ethics, economics, technology, art). An applied-math lane runs through every unit too — math used in service of the science, never as a separate program.

The three demonstrations

Where mastery gets proven in person.

Three times across the year, the student steps up to a demonstration that cannot be faked, outsourced, or generated. These are the AI-proof core of the course — understanding, shown in real time, against a rubric, in front of a guide.

After Unit 02

Field quadrat / transect defense

Run a biodiversity survey and defend the sampling design, the data, and the conclusions, out loud, under questions.

After Unit 05

Timed data interpretation

Read an environmental dataset — a population curve, a pollutant record, a climate trend — and justify the reading under time pressure.

End of each unit

Oral lab-notebook defense

Walk a guide through your own notebook: the question, the method, the data, the anomalies, the interpretation.

A note on pacing. The eight units split evenly across the two semesters — four units per semester, roughly four weeks each. That fills the school year’s ~36 instructional weeks: about 32 weeks of units, with the three demonstrations slotted at the natural seams and a short review-and-buffer window in each semester. Mastery-based progression means the calendar bends to the student, not the other way around — a unit is done when it is demonstrated, and the multi-section scheduling guide shows guides how to hold a cohort together when students master at different rates.

Assigned student learning

Open the eight learning pathways for specific reading sections, explanations, datasets, leveled practice, worked answers, and transfer evidence. Print the student unit pages alongside the separate assessment packets. Broad book recommendations do not replace the assigned sections.

AP domain/topic reference — eight local units, nine official domains

Status: These are authored learning activities, not a verified full AP syllabus, not AP authorization, not evidence of performed laboratory work, and not classroom-pilot or certification evidence. Foundation/core/honors are local readiness pathways, not AP designations. No ninth local navigation unit is being added.

Verified 2026-09-28 UTC against the official College Board AP Environmental Science overview. The topic names below follow that public overview; they are not an exhaustive essential-knowledge or numbered-topic audit of the Course and Exam Description. Weights are the official unit exam ranges, not proposed local time allocations.

Recommended prerequisites: College Board recommends two years of high-school laboratory science, including life science and physical science, along with at least one year of algebra. The current AP Central notice reports minor wording clarifications for 2026–27 without a course-content change; consult the official clarification document when planning.

Before any AP claim: The AP Course Audit requirements include at least 25% of instructional time in hands-on, inquiry-based laboratory investigations and/or field work, retained investigation evidence, and other curricular/resource requirements. A safe supplied-data activity does not establish those requirements or authorize an AP label. Confirm the current full requirements and actual course authorization separately.

AP-aligned authored case coverage and remaining verification; “AP-” labels are reference domains, not extra local units.

AP domain	Official domain and overview topics	Exam range	Authored local connections	Authored limits, human review and implementation
AP-1	The Living World: Ecosystems Ecosystems; terrestrial/aquatic biomes; primary productivity; carbon/nitrogen/phosphorus/water cycles; trophic levels; energy flow; food chains and food webs.	6–8%	Local Unit 01, Local Unit 03 Original energy/NPP, food-web and cycle budgets now include eight terrestrial/five aquatic biome cards, seasonal water-demand comparisons, controlled interaction contrasts and fresh transfer with Unit 1 criterion evidence. Case inventory: Water balance is not a biome label; Interactions need controls, not just plus/minus labels	Authored limits: representative profiles are not a worldwide biome atlas or a full essential-knowledge audit. Human review must calibrate explanation/transfer quality. Implementation still needs approved sampling evidence; synthetic plots are not performed labs.
AP-2	The Living World: Biodiversity Biodiversity; ecosystem services; island biogeography; ecological tolerance; natural disruptions; ecological succession.	6–8%	Local Unit 01, Local Unit 02, Local Unit 07 Island colonization/extinction curves, replicated tolerance records, primary/secondary succession trajectories and quantified ecosystem-service tradeoffs extend the original diversity work; each includes assumptions, uncertainty and a new case. Case inventory: Area and isolation change turnover balance; A sampled tolerance window is not a physiological limit; Recovery depends on what disturbance leaves behind; Flood storage, annual benefit and unpriced services	Authored limits: simplified turnover, short survival endpoints and partial monetary valuation do not describe every ecosystem. Human review must assess niche/service reasoning and sampling design. Implementation requires approved independent observations, not credit for the model tables.
AP-3	Populations Generalist/specialist species; survivorship curves; growth and resource availability; age structure; human population dynamics.	10–15%	Local Unit 02, Local Unit 04 A closed-cohort life table adds conditional mortality, survivorship and lifetime R₀; wider demography adds age-standardized mortality and a complete seven-band period TFR, with fresh denominators and transfer alongside growth/migration models. Case inventory: Survivorship is a proportion; mortality is conditional; Age composition can change crude rates without changing age-specific risk	Authored limits: fictional populations are not current census estimates or a complete demographic forecast. Human review must check age/period inference and independently assessed transfer. The entire CED assessment sequence and performed investigation evidence remain unverified.
AP-4	Earth Systems and Resources Tectonic plates; soil formation/erosion; atmosphere; global winds; geography and climate; El Niño and La Niña.	10–15%	Local Unit 03, Local Unit 06, Local Unit 07 Six hemispheric wind-belt cards and a dry/moist parcel rain-shadow calculation extend Earth drivers. Synthetic instrument-style soil records add density, texture closure, porosity, water content and measurement-bound reasoning beyond infiltration alone. Case inventory: Latitude, moving air and a mountain barrier; From instrument records to texture, pore space and water	Authored limits: idealized circulation/lapse rates are not local forecasts, and soil records are synthetic rather than measurements made by learners. Human review and site/protocol approval precede any implementation. Actual safe observations and inquiry-time evidence cannot be inferred from these calculations.
AP-5	Land and Water Use Commons; Green Revolution; irrigation; pest control; meat production/overfishing; mining; urbanization/footprints; crop rotation/aquaculture.	10–15%	Local Unit 04, Local Unit 05, Local Unit 07, Local Unit 08 New cases supply a Green Revolution factorial contrast, scouting/IPM threshold and efficacy test, equal-protein meat systems, wild-stock/aquaculture feed ledgers, and a six-component footprint/biocapacity method with trade and productivity factors. Case inventory: Seed response depends on an input bundle; Scout, prevent, decide and reassess; Equal protein, unequal feed and land boundaries; Wild-stock depletion and farmed-fish inputs; Six land-demand components, one explicit accounting method	Authored limits: synthetic factors are not official national footprint accounts, real farm recommendations or a fitted fish-stock assessment. Human review must calibrate boundary/constraint reasoning. Broader mining/urbanization depth and a full CED audit remain outside this named-gap block; safe practical implementation is not evidenced.
AP-6	Energy Resources and Consumption Energy sources/fuels including fossil fuels, ethanol and nuclear; global consumption/resource distribution; solar, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric; conservation.	10–15%	Local Unit 04, Local Unit 07, Local Unit 08 Dated EIA 2024 Washington/Arizona electricity observations now support geographic comparison, alongside a separately labeled delivery ledger, equal-output fuel/lifecycle cases, lifetime allocation and constrained chronological storage dispatch with conserved energy. Case inventory: A dated geographic comparison is not a global energy balance; Equal electricity, fuel mass and lifecycle boundaries; Equal energy totals can still leave an evening shortfall	Authored limits: two-state electricity is not a current global primary-energy/reserve dataset; lifecycle factors and four-hour dispatch are synthetic, not a year-long reliability study. Human review must confirm definitions and future source revisions. Safe inquiry implementation and actual lab-time evidence remain separate.
AP-7	Atmospheric Pollution Air pollution; photochemical smog; indoor pollution; reduction methods; acid rain; noise pollution.	7–10%	Local Unit 05, Local Unit 06, Local Unit 08 Silent logarithmic noise analysis, concentration-versus-mass control with bypass accounting, rainfall-weighted free-H⁺ deposition and precursor-limited smog contrasts add complete tasks, checked solutions, uncertainty and fresh transfer to the original air work. Case inventory: Noise levels do not average arithmetically; A lower concentration may be dilution, not removal; Rain acidity needs amount as well as pH; Precursor reductions need a chemistry and meteorology context	Authored limits: idealized sound, gas-flow and chemistry records are not exposure limits, field attribution or compliance analyses. Human review must verify logarithms, matched periods and causal limits. No hazardous noise/air sampling or performed control test is represented.
AP-8	Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution Pollution sources; ecosystem impacts; thermal pollution; solid waste/reduction; pollution and health; pathogens/infectious diseases.	7–10%	Local Unit 05, Local Unit 07, Local Unit 08 New thermal mixing/heat and oxygen-solubility models, a fictional case-defined outbreak cohort, and lead-speciation/chloride treatment cases extend load, hazard/exposure and waste work with unit-bearing calculations and independent transfer. Case inventory: A heat balance does not measure a safe river; Fictional disease surveillance: association, denominators and bias; Pollutant form determines what a filter can remove	Authored limits: heat means hide plume structure, epidemiologic association is not causal proof, and treatment fractions are not safety certifications. Human review must assess route/denominator reasoning. No clinical advice, water ingestion, unknown-organism culture or hazardous sampling is authorized or evidenced.
AP-9	Global Change Ozone depletion; climate change; ocean warming/acidification; invasive species; human impacts on diversity.	15–20%	Local Unit 02, Local Unit 06, Local Unit 08 Invasive-species BACI/detection analysis, thresholded twelve-week ocean heat stress with reef-cover response, and a fresh budget-constrained warming/invasion assessment now connect multiple units, mechanisms, official-policy readings and five-criterion evidence. Case inventory: A decline is not automatically treatment success or eradication; Accumulated marine heat stress and ecosystem response; Fresh assessment: connected habitat under warming and invasion	Authored limits: synthetic site comparisons and future habitat scenarios are not attribution studies or validated forecasts. Public answers are nonsecure; human review and a genuinely independent assessed response are still needed. No AP authorization, pilot outcome or hands-on investigation time is established.

Reading links and practice answers are available in the eight student pathways. The investigation/assessment inventory connects every new case to datasets and science criteria. Use the integration guide for the separate source-response strand and the binder for actual evidence records. A completed calculation alone does not establish implementation, AP authorization or practical mastery.

Investigation and assessment inventory: 28 authored cases

AP-aligned, not AP authorization: This block supplies the named crosswalk topic gaps with instruction, 39 additional datasets, source-focused readings, foundation/core/honors tasks, checked calculations, assumptions, uncertainty and fresh transfer. It is not an exhaustive CED/essential-knowledge certification, a claim of performed laboratory work, a classroom pilot, grade approval or demonstrated learner mastery.

Find a case: Follow its input link below. Its stable bracketed identifier labels the explanation, worked model, selected-level task/answer, transfer and evidence within that existing unit. Keep the eight units and their five-page assessment companions; student lesson pages may print longer. Each companion retains five science/practical criteria plus separately reported integration.

Assessment use: Require an independent first attempt before checking the public nonsecure calibration. Retain the first response, revisions, dataset identity/date/units, assumptions, uncertainty, source interpretation and fresh transfer. A case may inform the listed science criteria; it does not automatically pass the whole criterion or replace a required observed technique. For summative use, the instructor must supply an unseen variation or oral defense rather than call these public answers secure. Integration remains separately assessed; a required scientific explanation is not an extra integration score.

Proposed pacing, in minutes, not performed time: Budget 20–30 for reading/model discussion, 20–30 for independent analysis and comparison, and 10–15 for transfer/defense per case; split difficult cases across meetings. Select the foundation/core/honors level by readiness, not age. Proposed teacher preparation is 15–25 minutes per case to check sources, arithmetic and accessibility, plus 5–8 minutes per learner for a selected oral defense. These estimates are workload planning assumptions, not measured pilot results or a full-year timetable.

Safety and inland/data alternative: All new records can be analyzed on paper or in a spreadsheet. No unknown-organism culture, sample ingestion, hazardous air/noise/chemical sampling, wildlife capture, irradiation, combustion, electrical work or risky excursion is authorized. Optional observation must be instructor/site-approved, non-destructive and accessible; use a supplied photo grid or these records instead of a water edge, noisy site or field visit. Fictional health examples are not clinical advice or causal proof.

Separate remaining work: Authored limits are listed per AP domain above. Human review must independently judge scientific depth, source accuracy, accessibility, readiness, grading calibration and the full official CED mapping. Implementation requires approved protocols/resources and actual learner evidence. The AP Course Audit requires at least 25% of instructional time in hands-on, inquiry-based laboratory investigations and/or field work. Paper calculations and these proposed minutes are not evidence of that requirement. Record actual dates, time, question/design, technique observations, original results and limitations if approved investigations are later performed; never backfill fictional hours.

Unit 01: Energy budgets, food webs, and defensible sampling

Water balance is not a biome label — Unit 1 supplied inputs. AP-1: biome breadth.

Science criteria: 1. Trophic levels and food webs; 3. Primary productivity; 4. Biomes, niches and keystone effects.

Required evidence: Retain an annotated eight-biome comparison, aquatic constraint diagram and unit-bearing water ratios. Defend one failed classification and the new-profile inference against Unit 1 food-web, productivity and biome criteria.
Interactions need controls, not just plus/minus labels — Unit 1 supplied inputs. AP-1: ecological interactions.

Science criteria: 1. Trophic levels and food webs; 4. Biomes, niches and keystone effects; 5. Quadrat and transect technique.

Required evidence: Retain treatment contrasts, interaction diagrams and a plot-level replication/sham-control proposal. Use Unit 1 food-web, niche and sampling criteria; a synthetic treatment table does not pass a field-technique demonstration.

Unit 02: Diversity, growth limits, and what a sample can support

Area and isolation change turnover balance — Unit 2 supplied inputs. AP-2: island biogeography.

Science criteria: 1. Richness and evenness; 3. Population growth models; 4. Capacity and life histories.

Required evidence: Retain labeled rate curves, equilibrium equations, nonzero-turnover explanation and a matched-island sampling proposal. Use Unit 2 richness, model and capacity criteria; no trip to an island or organism movement is needed.
A sampled tolerance window is not a physiological limit — Unit 2 supplied inputs. AP-2: ecological tolerance.

Science criteria: 3. Population growth models; 4. Capacity and life histories; 5. Sampling and recapture technique.

Required evidence: Keep the response graph with sample denominators and duration, a sampled-boundary caveat, and an independent-record design. This supports Unit 2 population/capacity and data technique, not credit for harming or handling organisms.
Recovery depends on what disturbance leaves behind — Unit 2 supplied inputs. AP-2: succession.

Science criteria: 1. Richness and evenness; 3. Population growth models; 4. Capacity and life histories.

Required evidence: Retain two labeled succession trajectories, an interval-rate calculation and a composition-versus-cover critique. Use Unit 2 richness, model and capacity criteria; a photo sequence is not a completed field restoration.
Flood storage, annual benefit and unpriced services — Unit 2 supplied inputs. AP-2: ecosystem services.

Science criteria: 1. Richness and evenness; 3. Population growth models; 4. Capacity and life histories.

Required evidence: Keep a service/process map, volume and annual-benefit calculations, sensitivity range and one unpriced or distributional concern. Link the model to Unit 2 biodiversity/capacity evidence rather than grading a preferred restoration policy.
Survivorship is a proportion; mortality is conditional — Unit 2 supplied inputs. AP-3: life tables.

Science criteria: 3. Population growth models; 4. Capacity and life histories; 5. Sampling and recapture technique.

Required evidence: Retain the completed life table, interval denominators, lifetime reproduction sum and fresh-cohort defense. Assess Unit 2 population models, life histories and data handling without turning paper analysis into a capture record.
A decline is not automatically treatment success or eradication — Unit 2 supplied inputs. AP-9: invasive species.

Science criteria: 1. Richness and evenness; 3. Population growth models; 4. Capacity and life histories; 5. Sampling and recapture technique.

Required evidence: Retain site-level changes, a BACI diagram, imperfect-detection calculation and a native-response monitoring proposal. These address Unit 2 diversity, population, capacity and sampling criteria without claiming eradication or performed fieldwork.

Unit 03: Earth-system drivers, reservoirs, and measured fluxes

Latitude, moving air and a mountain barrier — Unit 3 supplied inputs. AP-4: global winds; geography and climate.

Science criteria: 3. Phosphorus, water and Earth drivers; 4. System boundaries and budgets; 5. Cycle-flux measurement and inference.

Required evidence: Retain a hemispheric wind/pressure sketch, unit-bearing parcel ledger and a seasonal map-comparison plan. Use Unit 3 Earth-driver, boundary and inference criteria; no weather forecast or excursion completion is claimed.

Unit 04: Human demand and energy resources: from watts to tradeoffs

Age composition can change crude rates without changing age-specific risk — Unit 4 supplied inputs. AP-3: wider demography.

Science criteria: 1. Demography, age structure and growth; 2. IPAT and resource accounting; 5. Audit and model defense.

Required evidence: Keep crude and standardized rate work, explicit standard weights, the full fertility-band sum and forecast limits. Use Unit 4 demographic/demand reasoning and data-defense criteria, not unsupported claims about real populations.
A dated geographic comparison is not a global energy balance — Unit 4 supplied inputs. AP-6: geographically scoped energy and resources.

Science criteria: 2. IPAT and resource accounting; 3. Energy resources and conversion; 4. Energy, efficiency and capacity factor; 5. Audit and model defense.

Required evidence: Keep source URLs, EIA dataset/year/units, geographic resource comparison, an observation-versus-model label and a closed delivery ledger. Use Unit 4 demand, source, energy and audit criteria; no claim of current global energy coverage is made.
Equal electricity, fuel mass and lifecycle boundaries — Unit 4 supplied inputs. AP-6: fuel and lifecycle comparison.

Science criteria: 2. IPAT and resource accounting; 3. Energy resources and conversion; 4. Energy, efficiency and capacity factor; 5. Audit and model defense.

Required evidence: Retain equal-output fuel and heat balances, a stage-by-stage lifecycle sum, time horizon and lifetime-output sensitivity. Use Unit 4 demand, resources, efficiency and audit criteria without claiming actual fuel sampling or a complete environmental ranking.
Equal energy totals can still leave an evening shortfall — Unit 4 supplied inputs. AP-6: time-resolved storage and reliability.

Science criteria: 2. IPAT and resource accounting; 3. Energy resources and conversion; 4. Energy, efficiency and capacity factor; 5. Audit and model defense.

Required evidence: Retain the chronological state-of-charge ledger, both power limits, round-trip efficiency, conservation check and fresh dispatch. Use Unit 4 demand/resource/energy/audit criteria; this is not electrical-work authorization or a year-long reliability certification.

Unit 05: Pollution, exposure, and health risk are different questions

A heat balance does not measure a safe river — Unit 5 supplied inputs. AP-8: thermal discharge.

Science criteria: 1. Watersheds and groundwater budgets; 2. Pollution sources and loads; 3. Nutrients, oxygen and aquatic effects; 5. Water-measurement technique.

Required evidence: Retain the flow/heat conservation calculation, local-plume caveat, uncertainty bound and oxygen-solubility distinction. Use Unit 5 water-system, pollution, risk-inference and data criteria; no hazardous thermal or water procedure is performed.
Fictional disease surveillance: association, denominators and bias — Unit 5 supplied inputs. AP-8: pathogen and disease epidemiology.

Science criteria: 2. Pollution sources and loads; 4. Treatment, exposure and health risk; 5. Water-measurement technique.

Required evidence: Retain the fictional label, explicit case/at-risk/follow-up definitions, two association measures, bias analysis and revised-case calculation. Use Unit 5 pollution, risk, treatment/health and data criteria without diagnosing or asserting causation.
Pollutant form determines what a filter can remove — Unit 5 supplied inputs. AP-8: pollutant-specific cases.

Science criteria: 2. Pollution sources and loads; 4. Treatment, exposure and health risk; 5. Water-measurement technique.

Required evidence: Retain form-specific outputs, overall lead removal, separate chloride units, a corrosion/source diagram and uncertainty bounds. Use Unit 5 pollutant/risk/treatment/data criteria; this is not a drinking-water assessment or performed sampling.

Unit 06: Atmospheric drivers, air exposure, and climate evidence

Noise levels do not average arithmetically — Unit 6 supplied inputs. AP-7: noise.

Science criteria: 4. Ozone, deposition, particles and noise; 5. Environmental data technique.

Required evidence: Retain the logarithmic/time-weighted calculation, compatible-reference note and matched-control design. Use Unit 6 pollution, controls and data criteria; supplied acoustic numbers do not certify a safe exposure or performed monitoring.
A lower concentration may be dilution, not removal — Unit 6 supplied inputs. AP-7: control performance.

Science criteria: 4. Ozone, deposition, particles and noise; 5. Environmental data technique.

Required evidence: Retain matched gas-volume units, inlet/outlet and bypass mass balance, residual-waste note and uncertainty bounds. Use Unit 6 pollutant/control/data criteria; no control equipment or hazardous emissions testing is performed.
Rain acidity needs amount as well as pH — Unit 6 supplied inputs. AP-7: deposition.

Science criteria: 4. Ozone, deposition, particles and noise; 5. Environmental data technique.

Required evidence: Retain concentration-to-area conversions, the non-arithmetic pH mixture, wet/dry deposition mechanism and buffering limits. Use Unit 6 pollution, control and data criteria; supplied storm values are not a hazardous sampling assignment.
Precursor reductions need a chemistry and meteorology context — Unit 6 supplied inputs. AP-7: photochemical smog.

Science criteria: 4. Ozone, deposition, particles and noise; 5. Environmental data technique.

Required evidence: Retain paired precursor/ozone contrasts, a nonlinear-chemistry explanation and a matched-period study proposal. Use Unit 6 pollutant, control and data criteria; a lower model concentration is not proof of compliance or safe air.
Accumulated marine heat stress and ecosystem response — Unit 6 supplied inputs. AP-9: ocean warming and ecosystems.

Science criteria: 2. Radiation balance and climate mechanisms; 3. Carbon records and attribution; 5. Environmental data technique.

Required evidence: Retain the thresholded twelve-week heat calculation, cover denominators, SST sensitivity bounds and a warming-versus-acidification mechanism diagram. Use Unit 6 radiation/climate/data criteria; an inland supplied-record alternative is the default.

Unit 07: Equal-output land, water, soil and waste tradeoffs

From instrument records to texture, pore space and water — Unit 7 supplied inputs. AP-4: measured soil-property reasoning.

Science criteria: 1. Soil formation and properties; 3. Land-use mechanisms; 5. Soil and land-data technique.

Required evidence: Retain texture closure, tare-aware density/water calculations, pore-volume check and instrument-bound sensitivity. Use Unit 7 soil-property, land-mechanism and technique criteria; supplied records are not performed soil measurements.
Seed response depends on an input bundle — Unit 7 supplied inputs. AP-5: Green Revolution.

Science criteria: 1. Soil formation and properties; 2. Agricultural resource tradeoffs; 3. Land-use mechanisms.

Required evidence: Retain the factorial table contrasts, historical mechanism/source note and a non-yield tradeoff with a proposed isolating design. Use Unit 7 soil, agricultural-resource and land-use criteria; no chemical application is assigned.
Scout, prevent, decide and reassess — Unit 7 supplied inputs. AP-5: integrated pest management.

Science criteria: 2. Agricultural resource tradeoffs; 3. Land-use mechanisms; 5. Soil and land-data technique.

Required evidence: Retain the monitored-block denominator, threshold arithmetic, prevention/natural-enemy note and efficacy sensitivity. Assess Unit 7 agricultural, land-management and data-technique evidence without awarding pesticide-handling credit.
Equal protein, unequal feed and land boundaries — Unit 7 supplied inputs. AP-5: meat production systems.

Science criteria: 2. Agricultural resource tradeoffs; 3. Land-use mechanisms; 5. Soil and land-data technique.

Required evidence: Retain the nested mass-fraction conversions, separate arable/grazing totals, binding constraint and one omitted lifecycle endpoint. Use Unit 7 resource, land-use and quantitative-defense criteria, without prescribing a diet or claiming measured farm outcomes.
Wild-stock depletion and farmed-fish inputs — Unit 7 supplied inputs. AP-5: overfishing; aquaculture.

Science criteria: 2. Agricultural resource tradeoffs; 3. Land-use mechanisms; 4. Waste hierarchy and material balance; 5. Soil and land-data technique.

Required evidence: Keep the stock ledger, target harvest, feed mass-basis conversions and a waste/escape/bycatch evidence request. Use Unit 7 resource, land/water-use, material-balance and data criteria; supplied records require no wildlife capture.
Six land-demand components, one explicit accounting method — Unit 7 supplied inputs. AP-5: ecological-footprint method.

Science criteria: 2. Agricultural resource tradeoffs; 3. Land-use mechanisms; 4. Waste hierarchy and material balance; 5. Soil and land-data technique.

Required evidence: Retain the six-component ledger, source method, yield/equivalence units, trade boundary, one-count biocapacity check and sensitivity. Use Unit 7 resources, land mechanisms, material accounting and data-defense criteria; no official footprint certification is implied.

Unit 08: Compare environmental decisions without preselecting a winner

Fresh assessment: connected habitat under warming and invasion — Unit 8 supplied inputs. AP-9: global-change assessment.

Science criteria: 1. Sustainability and shared resources; 2. Cost, benefit and uncertainty; 3. Domestic environmental law; 4. Treaties and implementation; 5. Data-grounded policy defense.

Required evidence: Retain an independent first attempt, conditional-area calculations, two-source mechanism memo, counterargument, sensitivity and monitoring trigger. Assess all five Unit 8 science criteria; integration remains separate and public calibration remains nonsecure.

Store actual learner evidence in the course binder; use the existing student pathways and assessment companions. More than one constrained, evidence-supported policy conclusion can be defensible.