In today’s class, Matthew continued his video lessons on pollution. Firstly, he learned about thermal pollution, including shade conservation, waste, or anything that diminishes the quality of water. We discussed how this affects our day to day and future lives as individuals living on this planet. Additionally, Matthew learned about persistent organic pollutants, including what it is and how it affects water/soil/etc.

Matthew watched an AP classroom daily video (8.5) this morning, which concentrated on Bluegill fish near power plants. It also examined the effect of Temperature and used coolant water from power plants on aquatic life. Matthew remained attentive on the videos, worked independently, and took copious notes; he replayed one or two parts to insure adequate comprehension of the material.

JPaul was asked to watch a video on oil spills, and answer comprehension question over the video.

Matthew viewed three videos about coral reefs and the environmental factors that threaten them, such as physiological stress, high temperatures, excess nutrients, and low oxygen-tolerant species of fish. The video discussed excess nutrients and oxygen levels in the water, and oxygen-tolerant and low-oxygen species. The three videos were 8.2 and 8.4, and the latter one discussed the relationship between the two vectors: biological oxygen and dissolved oxygen levels. Video 8.5 discussed the eutrophication of our surface waters and the environmental effects of such things as phosphates in detergents in aquatic systems. An example that was provided was algae blooms in Lake Erie, which was used to illustrate the conditions and environmental effects of detergents as compared to examples of stable aquatic systems. Matthew took copious notes and synthesized the material effectively.

In today’s class, we would have continued a discussion about the management of forests by both private organizations and the federal government. We would have continued talking about harvesting for royalty, defining and differentiating between clear cutting and selective cutting.

In today’s class, Matthew continued reading his textbook (specifically Ch. 16 - Modules 51 & 52). Primarily he learned about the three “R’s”, which stand for Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. He learned what each one means and how they play a part in keeping our environment clean. We also watched a short video on the topic as well.

JPaul's teacher was absent, so we used the class time as a study hall for him to complete his homework.

Today we reviewed the content that will be on the AP Exam.

I substituted for Dr. Dan's AP Enviromental class. He had no sub plans, but Matthew had English work to complete. He spent the class time writing an essay on his laptop.

Matthew was absent from class this morning.