The First Minutes of Class

The first five minutes of an environmental science class may be the most important minutes of the entire period. They offer an opportunity to capture students' attention, spark curiosity, and establish a compelling reason to learn.

One of the most effective ways to do this is through phenomena: observable events or patterns that make students wonder why something is happening and motivate them to investigate.

A powerful image can invite students to make observations, propose explanations, and recognize that they need scientific knowledge to understand what they are seeing.

Here's a few suggestions for AP Environmental Science:

• Unit 1: Ecosystems: A lake covered in green algae with dead fish floating on the surface.

  
  

• Unit 2: Biodiversity: A volcanic island showing bare rock alongside areas where vegetation has returned.

  
  

• Unit 3: Populations: A graph showing changes in wolf and moose populations on Isle Royale.

  
  

• Unit 4: Earth Systems and Resources: A mountain with lush vegetation on one side and a dry desert landscape on the other.

  
  

• Unit 5: Land and Water Use: An aerial view of tropical rainforest being cleared for agriculture.

  
  

• Unit 6: Energy Resources and Consumption: A landscape showing a coal-fired power plant, wind turbines, and solar panels.

  
  

• Unit 7: Atmospheric Pollution: A city skyline obscured by photochemical smog on a sunny day.

  
  

• Unit 8: Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution: A stream flowing through farmland after a heavy rainstorm.

  
  

• Unit 9: Global Change: A comparison of Arctic sea ice coverage at two different points in time.

The photograph itself is only the beginning. Give students a moment to observe it and consider what they notice. Invite them to share possible explanations and identify what they would need to investigate to understand the phenomenon. Resist the temptation to explain everything immediately.

This approach changes the role of the student. Instead of passively receiving information, students begin asking questions, developing explanations, and thinking about the evidence needed to support their ideas. Their initial explanations may be incomplete, but those ideas provide a starting point for learning.

The phenomenon should also connect directly to the learning that follows. The image of the algal bloom can lead to an investigation of nutrient pollution and dissolved oxygen. The cleared rainforest can lead to an exploration of land use, biodiversity, and soil erosion. The shrinking sea ice can lead to an examination of climate feedback mechanisms.

As students develop their understanding, return to the original photograph. Can they now explain what they observed? What evidence supports their explanation? Have they changed their thinking?

Environmental science is especially well suited to this approach because the world around us provides an endless supply of compelling phenomena. A photograph of a changing landscape, a polluted stream, a declining wildlife population, or an unusual weather event can create a genuine need for scientific understanding.

As teachers, we spend considerable time planning what students should know by the end of class. We should also consider what will make them curious enough to want to know it.

The first five minutes are not simply the time before learning begins. They are our opportunity to present a phenomenon that makes students curious enough to investigate the world around them.