NOTE – This website is from the offering of GEOSC 40 in Fall 2014, when I went out to sea on the NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson. If you are taking GEOSC 40 with me after Fall 2014, please see all materials in Canvas, as the course is now fully online and utilizes all of the information from my time at sea.
From the official Penn State University Bulletin (the online “Blue Book”):
GEOSC 040 (GN) The Sea Around Us (3) Introduction to marine sciences and the world ocean, including physical, chemical, biological, and geological aspects of oceanography.
OK, but what is this course really about? It is about the feature that covers 71% of the surface of the Earth. It is about how ocean process impact ocean processes, ocean processes impact humans, and how humans impact the oceans. It is about increasing our science content knowledge about the oceans from reliable sources, and then doing something with this knowledge that can make a difference? At the end of this course, you should be able to tell clearly articulate scientific arguments for why the oceans matter.
How are we going to learn all of this new knowledge, and what exactly will we be learning? We’ll have videos, readings, lab activities, classroom discussions, and so much more, all around the content that YOU suggested as it ties in with the ocean literacy principles!
Hang on, because we are about to set sail…