Earth & Environmental Science
ABOUT 240 students across Western Australia are examining issues such as climate change and recycled water as part of the new Earth and Environmental Science course being taught in Year 11 this year.
The Department of Education and Training's teacher development coordinator, Kim Grey, said the strength of the new course was its emphasis on current environmental issues.
"This course was written from scratch, so it is up-to-date and highly relevant and engaging for students and teachers," Mr Grey said.
Churchlands SHS Earth & Environmental Science student Joshua Schriver takes photographic evidence of plant growth for the grey water experiment.
Sarah Bowyer measures plant growth to determine the affect of grey water sourced from the bathroom, laundry, kitchen and laboratory.
"It covers issues such as the greenhouse effect, burning of fossil fuels, water supply and use - such as Perth's new desalination plant - and the re-use of household grey water," he said.
"The course will also empower students to make more informed decision-making throughout their lives.
"The two challenges faced by teachers of the course right now are the lack of textbooks developed specifically for the WA course as well as the uncertainty about assessment following the dropping of outcomes levelling.
"We're currently using high school textbooks from the eastern states and university textbooks from the USA, which are working well, but we would like to have more locally relevant texts in the longer term." Mr Grey, who teaches Earth and Environmental Science at Churchlands SHS, said the teachers of the course were all very enthusiastic, as it was more relevant to students than the former TEE Geology course.
"Over the last five years, around 50 students across WA sat the Geology tertiary entrance examination (TEE) each year. With 240 students enrolled in the new Earth and Environmental Science course, we expect at least 200 students to sit the external exam next year and that would be a 400 per cent increase on Geology numbers," he said.
"The course ties in well with our school's values education priorities, as well as our ongoing sustainability projects, such as Earth Avengers (which looks at energy efficiency and recycling) and Trees for Survival, which involves growing native shrubs and trees to plant in salinity-affected areas of the Wheatbelt.
"My 16 students at Churchlands are enjoying the course and are excited about the possibility of an upcoming camp.
"Coral Bay is a possible destination for a camp. We would visit the reef, examine the geology of the cape range, collect fossils and examine the land-use conflicts that were associated with the resort development that was proposed for the region.
"Another camp possibility is Rottnest, where students can examine the geology of the dunes and examine the sea level changes and tie that in with the study of climate change."
Mr Grey said around half of his students were considering tertiary studies and the course lent itself to degrees such as environmental science, geology, biology and botany.
Churchlands Senior High School student Sarah Bowyer (15) said she enrolled in the course because she had always had an interest in the environment, including rocks and tectonic plates.
"At the moment we're conducting an experiment on the impact of different types of household grey water on the growth of tomato plants," she said.
"We're comparing how well the plants grow when given recycled water from the bathroom, kitchen, laundry and laboratory.
"The results so far show that the laboratory sink water produces poor growth, but household grey water is not affecting growth and it could be used at home to conserve water," Sarah said.
