Field & Laboratory Exercises in Environmental Science

The major objectives of a lab class, and this manual, are to provide students with hands on experiences that are relevent, easy to understand and applicable to the student's life, presented in an interesting, informative format. This lab manual has been extensively updated to provide the student with the latest information and most applicable laboratory activities possible. The manual has been expanded to provide students with more choices in activities that illustrate crucial environmental issues and relevent topics. Further, the expanded choice of labs allows each teacher to select activities that are tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of his, or her, class. Ranging from field and lab experiments to conducting social and personal assessments of the environmental impact of human activities, the manual presents something for everyone, regardless of the budget or facilities of each class. These labs are grouped by catagories that can be used in conjunction with any introductory environmental textbook. All lab activities have been field tested over the past 6 years, and are easy do within a 2 hour lab. Students, regardless of their science background, will benefit from the variety of laboratory activities offered. Relevence sections for each lab have been included to help the student see that he, or she, is doing more than just counting trees. The instructions for each lab have been clarified and all sections shortened and updated. Finally, the students themselves have had extensive input on how to best improve the lab activities, ensuring that the voices of those most impacted by the manual are also heard.