Students in Environmental Science will explore local land and ocean based ecosystems while applying First Peoples perspectives and knowledge. There is an emphasis on hands-on experiential and project based learning in the class.   Projects will investigate the sustainable use and care of local resources such as the school garden, ocean shoreline and community parks.  The class will engage in the process of renewing and recovering degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems with invasive species removals, native species plantings, citizen science projects and ecological engineering. There may be a number of field trips during the course.

The Big Ideas for this course are: 

• Complex roles and relationships contribute to diversity of ecosystems and biodiversity.
• Changing ecosystems are maintained by natural processes.
• Human practices affect the sustainability of ecosystems.
• Humans can play a role in stewardship and restoration of ecosystems.

Evaluation is based on: assignments, lab reports, project work and tests. There is no final exam.

Students who successfully complete Environmental Science 11 can use it as the Science 11/12 credit necessary for graduation.