1. Introduction to Marine Science/Oceanography
Course Structure
Lauren Sahl, Maine Maritime Academy

2. The Traditional Structure
1. History of our growth in knowledge about the oceans.
2. Build the Earth.
3. Make the oceans through plate tectonic processes.
4. Modify the sea floor through sedimentation.
5. Fill the oceans with water.
6. Let the atmosphere and the ocean water interact and the
water circulates.
7. Other types of circulation- waves and tides.
8. Move closer to shore and look at beach and estuarine
processes.
9. Put organisms in the ocean.
10. Examine the bottom of the food chain and work your way up.
11. Move off shore and look at deep ocean habitats.
12. Human interaction with the ocean- resources, pollution, the
role of the ocean in climate change.

3. A Different Approach
Discovering the Oil/Plastics Cycle
• Active learning starts on day one.
• Students discover their stake in the course.
• Student created course structure anchors the
course.
• Mind map product sets the stage for geoethics
discussions throughout the course.

4. Stomach contents video
Discovering the Oil/Plastics Cycle
First class meeting

5. The Homework Assignment
Plastic in the Ocean
Homework
As a class we watched a video showing the gut contents of a dead baby
albatross on Midway Island. If you want to watch it again it is at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DA4vb9bbQQ
Plastic it not a naturally occurring substance, nor is it naturally found in bird
guts or the ocean. Below, write down as many steps as you can that led to a
baby albatross ingesting plastic. Think deeply, beyond plastic getting washed
into the sea and then fed to the chick. There are many types of plastics, but
for our purposes we will examine them as a group.
Bring your “chain” of events to our next class meeting.

6. • Props- giant post-its, colorful markers.
• Small group work/all class work/small group
work/all class work.
Discovering the Oil/Plastics Cycle
Second class meeting

7. Albatross and plastic
Marine plankton,
plankton ecology and
primary production
Water and marine
chemistry, layering in the
ocean, upwelling
Marine sediments
Plate tectonics and the interior of the
Earth
Sea floor morphology
Circulation of the ocean and the
atmosphere
Life in the ocean
Food webs and trophic
pyramid
Organic rich
sediments
lead to oil
Folding of
sedimentary
rocks leads
to oil pools
Circulation
aggregates
plastic
Bioaccumulation of
plastic?
Effects of plastics on
other organisms?
Upwelling leads to
high primary
productivity and
organic rich
sediments
Effect of
microplastics
on plankton

8. • Have students identify how they fit into the
cycle. Add as different colored post-its.
Discovering the Oil/Plastics Cycle
Second class meeting

9. Discovering the Oil/Plastics Cycle
Third class meeting
• Hand out mind map developed in previous
class, and a syllabus with topics in same order
as mind map.

10. • Develop exercises related to the mind map
that
– Improve scientific thinking and computation skills
– Probe the geoethics of the use and abuse of the
ocean
Discovering the Oil/Plastics Cycle
During the semester

11. 1. How long does it take to make oil? How long
does it take to use it up?
2. Still in development…..
Possible Geoethics Exercises