Students receive an introduction to oceanography including the history of marine science, exploring such topics as air and sea interaction, ocean currents, tides, ecosystems, ocean resources, pollution, and conservation. Students explore these topics through a variety of content sources including an integrated etextbook, videos, and interactives. Each lesson includes a quiz or assignment, and each unit culminates in a unit project. Through lesson assignments and unit projects, students will demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of ways including creative presentations, hands-on activities, writing, and more.
Prerequisites: None
Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to...
- Explain how scientists conduct research
- Explain why ocean exploration is necessary and important to sustain life, habitats, and climate systems on Earth
- Explain how the sun, earth, air, and ocean interact with one another
- Explain how ocean currents affect productivity and climates
- Recognize the properties of and different types of waves and graph tides
- Identify and explain the effects humans have of marine ecosystems
- Classify resources in marine ecosystems and analyze how humans interact with these resources
Course Outline:
Unit 1: Intro to Marine Science
Unit 2: Ocean Highways
Unit 3: Waves and Tides
Unit 4: Ecosystems
Unit 5: Resources A
Unit 6: Resources B
Unit 7: Pollution
Unit 8: Future of the Planet
Resources Included: Course eTextbook included at no additional cost: Life on an Ocean Planet. Current Publishing Corp. ISBN# 978-1-878663-34-4. Online lesson instruction and activities, opportunities to engage with a certified, online instructor and classmates, when appropriate, and online assessments to measure student performance of course objectives and readiness for subsequent academic pursuits.
Additional Costs: None
Scoring System: Michigan Virtual does not assign letter grades, grant credit for courses, nor issue diplomas. A final score out of total points earned will be submitted to your school mentor for conversion to their own letter grading system.
Time Commitment: Semester sessions are 18-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1 or more hours per day in the course to be successful. Summer sessions are 10 weeks long: Students must be able to spend a minimum of 2 or more hours per day, or about 90 hours during the summer, for the student to be successful in any course. Trimester sessions are 12-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1.5 or more hours per day in the course to be successful.
Technology Requirements: Students will require a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube.
Please review the Michigan Virtual Technology Requirements: https://michiganvirtual.org/about/support/knowledge-base/technical-requirements/
Instructor Support System: For technical issues within your course, contact the Customer Care Center by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.
Instructor Contact Expectations: Students can use email or the private message system within the Student Learning Portal to access highly qualified teachers when they need instructor assistance. Students will also receive feedback on their work inside the learning management system. The Instructor Info area of their course may describe additional communication options.
Academic Support Available: In addition to access to a highly qualified, Michigan certified teacher, students have access to academic videos and outside resources verified by Michigan Virtual. For technical issues within the course, students can contact the Michigan Virtual Customer Care by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.
Required Assessment: Online assessments consist of formative and summative assessments represented by computer-graded multiple choice, instructor-graded writing assignments including hands-on projects, model building and other forms of authentic assessments.
Technical Skills Needed: Basic technology skills necessary to locate and share information and files as well as interact with others in a Learning Management System (LMS), include the ability to:
- Download, edit, save, convert, and upload files
- Download and install software
- Use a messaging service similar to email
- Communicate with others in online discussion or message boards, following basic rules of netiquette
- Open attachments shared in messages
- Create, save, and submit files in commonly used word processing program formats and as a PDF
- Edit file share settings in cloud-based applications, such as Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
- Save a file as a .pdf
- Copy and paste and format text using your mouse, keyboard, or an html editor’s toolbar menu
- Insert images or links into a file or html editor
- Search for information within a document using Ctrl+F or Command+F keyboard shortcuts
- Work in multiple browser windows and tabs simultaneously
- Activate a microphone or webcam on your device, and record and upload or link audio and/or video files
- Use presentation and graphics programs
- Follow an online pacing guide or calendar of due dates
- Use spell-check, citation editors, and tools commonly provided in word processing tool menus
- Create and maintain usernames and passwords
Additional Information: None