Each unit begins by presenting students with a controversial decision, with environmental implications, that a community is facing. After learning about the views of different stakeholders in the decisions, students enter the investigation phase of the unit, where they develop an understanding of the underlying science through a mix of lab activities, analyses of geospatial data, use of models and simulations, readings, discussions, and videos. In the final phase of the unit, students synthesize the findings of the investigation phase to select and justify a course of action for the community. Within the context of the cases, all three units highlight several central environmental science themes:

• The challenges of sustainable resource use in the face of human population growth and improving standards of living
• The tension between human demands for resources and the requirements of historic ecosystems
• A systems approach to understanding environmental processes
• Understanding environments as inter-connected geographic systems that can be analyzed through the use of geospatial data
• The potential for technology, policy, and individual action to reduce human demand for resources
• The role of scientific evidence and values in systematic decision-making

Curricular Sequence

CASES contains three units each addressing a different resource.

• Unit 1: Land Use
• Unit 2: Energy Generation
• Unit 3: Water Management

The three units are designed to take 32 weeks of instructional time, in order to allow four weeks of local environmental investigations.

• Unit 1 is designed as an introduction to the course themes, technology tools, and the decision-making process. Units 2 and 3 can be taught in either order, and teachers can construct a one-semester course from Unit 1 followed by either Unit 2 or Unit 3.