Fairview High School
Inventing Quality Work For Students

Essential Outcomes

1st Trimester Essential Outcomes

1. The learner will be able to evaluate the design, predictions, data, and conclusions of scientific experiments and modeling in the study of ecology.
2. The learner will be able to describe the characteristics of the biosphere including the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, and the atmosphere.
3. The learner will be able to correlate the chemical pathways of photosynthesis and respiration with the abiotic needs of organisms including oxygen, water, carbon dioxide, food/nutrients, space, and temperature.
4. The learner will be able to describe the five levels of organization (organism, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere) and the interactions within an ecosystem including abiotic (water, soil, and climate) and biotic factors (interactions of organisms, competitive exclusion principle, and symbiotic relationships).
5. The learner will be able to compare and contrast producers, consumers, scavengers, and decomposers and their niches and trophic levels within an ecosystem.
6. The learner will be able to construct and /or evaluate diagrams and descriptions of feeding relationships of organisms within an ecosystem including food webs, trophic levels, and ecological pyramids of organism numbers, biomass, and energy transfer.
7. The learner will be able to discuss biomagnification and its relevance on the history of ecology as a science (Rachel Carson author of Silent Spring).
8. The learner will be able to discuss the dynamic relationship between the population sizes of predator and prey within an ecosystem.
9. The learner will be able to label diagrams and discuss nutrient biogeochemical cycles within the biosphere including carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and water.
10. The learner will be able to discuss density-dependent and density-independent limiting factors (including nutrients, space, competition, predation, disease, and natural disasters) and their effect on the carrying capacity of a niche or an ecosystem for a population (including interpreting an S-shaped population curve and a boom-and-bust curve).
11. The learner will be able to discuss the principle of the rain shadow effect.
12. The learner will be able to compare and contrast the major abiotic characteristics (latitude/location, temperature, rainfall, soil, sunlight, depth of water, distance from shore, …)of the seven major terrestrial biomes of the world (desert, tundra, coniferous forests, deciduous forests, rainforests, temperate grasslands/prairies/steppes, and savannas) and the two aquatic biomes (fresh and salt water).
13. The learner will be able to compare and contrast characteristic organism adaptations, types of communities, and food webs typical of each of the major world biomes.
14. The learner will be able to discuss the complexity and unique characteristics of the rainforest biome, estuaries, and coral reefs in terms of abiotic and biotic factors.
15. The learner will be able to correlate the transmission of sunlight and the type of life present with the particular zone of the ocean.
16. The learner will be able to discuss what biodiversity means, hot spots of biodiversity, and advantages of maintaining biodiversity.
17. The learner will be able to interpret data to compare and contrast human population growth around the world in terms of numbers, density and demographics.
18. The learner will be able to correlate the impact of the Industrial Revolution, the Green Revolution, the understanding of germ theory and the biomedical revolution on the human population and the subsequent impact of energy and food requirements on the hydrosphere, the lithosphere, and the atmosphere.

2nd Trimester Essential Outcomes

19. The learner will be able to discuss causes, processes, and effects of major environmental concerns (pollution) related to the biogeochemical cycles and the atmosphere, including greenhouse effect and global warming, depletion of the ozone, and acid precipitation.
20. The learner will be able to discuss methods of natural air pollution controls and human methods of reducing pollutants to the atmosphere.
21. The learner will be able to discuss the impact of human activity through deforestation, habitat fragmentation, introduction of exotic species, overgrazing, and hunting/fishing practices on the dynamics of ecosystems and biodiversity.
22. The learner will be able to discuss the relevance of renewable and non-renewable resources in a sustainable future for energy sources, mineral mining, industry, and agricultural practices.
23. The learner will be able to discuss the relevance of conservation efforts, restoration projects, preserves, recycling, and the Endangered Species Act in controlling habitat destruction.
24. The learner will be able to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of alternative energy sources such as nuclear, solar, wind, and geothermal power.
25. The learner will be able to recognize and discuss how environmental protection may be carried out at the local, state, federal, and international levels.
26. The learner will be able to discuss the cost/benefit analysis of implementing and maintaining environmentally-conscious practices in industry, waste management, and sustainable agriculture and energy.
27. The learner will be able to recognize and discuss hoe environmental protection may be carries out at the local, state, federal, and international levels.
28. The learner will be able to discuss the formation of soil and its composition in relation to supporting living organisms.
29. The learner will be able to inter prêt data and discuss the relevance of soil analyses including moisture content, water-holding capacity, percolation rate, and capillarity.
30. The learner will be able to discuss the process of desertification and its correlation with soil mismanagement.
30. The learner will be able to compare and contrast standing water and flowing water ecosystems including stream bottom characteristics.
31. The learner will be able to compare and contrast eutrophic and oligotrophic lake ecology including eutrophiciation and its effects on lake ecology.
32. The learner will be able to discuss the parameters assayed and examined to determine the water quality with respect to its ability to support life including pH, dissolved oxygen content, temperature, turbidity, transparency, flow velocity, and indicator species.
33. The learner will be able to describe and evaluate present and past methods to dispose of sold wastes including hazardous wastes.

2595 Fairview Blvd.
Fairview, TN 37062
Phone: 615-472-4400   Fax: 615-472-4421

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