Oceanography

Course ID

SCI-172

Department

Science

Level

9th - 12th Grade

Instructor

Ken Ebersole

Semester

Spring 2020

Credit

The course is presented much like a 100-level college course, with reading performed outside of class followed by primarily a lecture format. This course will be offered in the spring semester 2020.

Students may take Oceanography as a science elective during their junior or senior year. It is a one-semester course. Prerequisites are the successful completion of biology and chemistry. The following are the overarching units of instruction, followed by the specific objectives used during each unit.

The main goals of Oceanography are to provide students an introductory course to the interdisciplinary study of the world’s oceans. Units covered will include seafloor geology and bathymetry, seawater chemistry, atmospheric effects, ocean circulation, waves and tides, shore processes, and marine biology.

Unit 1 – Introduction to Oceanography; The Water Planet (Chapters 1 & 2)
Unit 2 – Ocean Geology (Chapters 3 & 4)
Unit 3 – Seawater Chemistry (Chapters 5 & 6)
Unit 4 – Air-Sea Interaction (Chapter 7)
Unit 5 – Ocean Circulation (Chapter 8 & 9)
Unit 6 – Waves (Chapter 10 & 11)
Unit 7 – Nearshore Oceanography (Chapters 12 & 13)
Unit 8 – Plankton and Microscopic Life (Chapters 14-16)
Unit 9 – Marine Vertebrates (Chapter 17)
Unit 10 – Algae and Marine Invertebrates (Chapter 18)

Time	Place	Room	Date Range	Instructor
TBD – TBD	Online	Virtual	January – June	Ken Ebersole

Text Used: An Introduction to the World’s Oceans by Sverdrup and Armbrust, 9th edition; published by McGraw-Hill

Duration of Classes: Secondary (9-12): 85-minute block sessions lasting one semester.

By the end of the semester, students should have a good appreciation for the interdisciplinary nature of the science of oceanography, spanning topics in geology, chemistry, physics, and biology. The intended big “take-away” for students is that the oceans make our planet unique among others. The oceans make life on earth possible, both in the sea and on land.