Embedded Files
Grade(s): 10-12
Length: one semester
Credit: 0.5
Prerequisites: Teacher recommendation or Biology
Course Overview:
Course Overview:
Marine Science explores the adaptation of marine organisms, ecological concepts, and physical processes that structure the marine environment. The course is a study of the environmental impacts of chemistry, geology, and other abiotic conditions and the organisms that live in marine environments. The course also examines human interactions with marine ecosystems and the many careers associated with it. Special attention will be given to students’ knowledge of Alaska’s marine environment, its importance to indigenous people, local economies, food production, and career possibilities.
Adopted Textbook:
Adopted Textbook:
New textbook to be determined.*
Marine Science (McGraw Hill) was adopted by the School Board in June of 2024.
Units
Units
(Recommended Order)
Physical and Chemical Oceanography
Organisms and Their Effects on Ecosystems
Biochemical Cycles
Interdependence Between Organisms
Evolution of Marine Species
Marine Sciences and Culture
Unit 1: Physical & Chemical Oceanography
Unit 1: Physical & Chemical Oceanography
Suggested Pacing: 3 weeks
Textbook Chapters/Lessons: TBD
Key Objectives:
Key Objectives:
Use the properties of water, salinity, and temperature to explain water stratification.
Describe and explain periodic variations in the marine ecosystem such as tides, currents, and seasons.
Explain how the surface of the Earth changes through plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, erosion, and deposition.
Give examples of interactions between marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
Describe how weather is affected by the oceans.
Develop a model to illustrate how Earth’s internal and surface processes operate at different spatial and temporal scales to form continental and ocean-floor features.
Plan and conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes.
Suggested Activities & Resources:
Suggested Activities & Resources:
Use a 10-gallon aquarium to demonstrate the effects of different densities and temperatures on stratification.
Label and color code a world map with sea/ocean names and locations of currents.
Read The Perfect Storm and use it for small group discussions of weather patterns and environmental impacts of the fishing industry.
Explain the impact of atmospheric CO2 on ocean acidification.
Standards List: ESS2.A: Earth Materials & Systems: HS-ESS2.1, HS-ESS2.2, ESS2.B: Plate Tectonics & Large-Scale System Interactions: HS-ESS2.3, ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes: HS-ESS2.5
Unit 2: Organisms & Their Effects on Ecosystems
Unit 2: Organisms & Their Effects on Ecosystems
Suggested Pacing: 6 weeks
Textbook Chapters/Lessons: TBD
Key Objectives:
Key Objectives:
Describe the major abiotic and biotic characteristics of the important ecological zones within the marine biome.
Describe how biochemical and anatomical characteristics define an organism’s anatomy and physiology, its behavior, survival and reproductive capabilities.
Explain how taxonomy is used to describe the diversity of phyla and classes.
List the characteristics of major chordate and invertebrate phyla that allow them to survive in a marine environment.
Compare environmental characteristics and the adaptations organisms have to adapt and survive.
Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
Suggested Activities & Resources:
Suggested Activities & Resources:
Build a bulletin board showing benthic habitats.
Use the characteristics of preserved invertebrates to develop a classification system.
Student reports on the major phyla.
Discussions of the abiotic challenges of various marine habitats and the physiological and behavioral responses of organisms.
Standards List: LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems: HS-LS2.1, HS-LS2.2, LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, & Resilience: HS-LS2.6
Unit 3: Biochemical Cycles
Unit 3: Biochemical Cycles
Suggested Pacing: 2 weeks
Textbook Chapters/Lessons: TBD
Key Objectives:
Key Objectives:
Describe the transfer of energy through marine ecosystems.
Describe the cycling of matter through marine ecosystems.
Provide examples of how cycles of matter and energy link living organisms and their environment.
Use mathematical representations to support claims for the cycling of matter and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem.
Suggested Activities & Resources:
Suggested Activities & Resources:
Draw models of energy flow.
Diagram the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous cycles.
Standards List: LS2.4: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems: HS-LS2.1, HS-LS2.2, LS2.B: Cycles of Matter & Energy Transfer in Ecosystems: HS-LS2.4
Unit 4: Interdependence Between Organisms
Unit 4: Interdependence Between Organisms
Suggested Pacing: 6 weeks
Textbook Chapters/Lessons: TBD
Key Objectives:
Key Objectives:
Give examples of the interdependence between marine organisms and their environment.
Describe the levels of organization in marine ecosystems from the individuals to populations and communities.
Describe theories that explain patterns of diversity from the equator to the poles.
Suggested Activities & Resources:
Suggested Activities & Resources:
Draw food webs of local marine plant and animal species.
Use individual student reports to explore the characteristics of predator/prey, symbiotic, and herbivorous organism interactions.
Standards List: LS2.D: Social Interactions & Group Behavior: HS-LS2.8; LS4.C: Adaptation: HS-LS4.5, HS-LS4.6; LS4.D: Biodiversity & Humans: HS-LS2.7
Unit 5: Evolution of Marine Species
Unit 5: Evolution of Marine Species
Suggested Pacing: 2 weeks
Textbook Chapters/Lessons: TBD
Key Objectives:
Key Objectives:
Explain how variation in the environment provides the mechanisms for natural selection, evolution, and diversity of species.
Give examples of how the natural variation in individuals allows species to survive in changing environments.
Describe the evidence scientists use to link the evolutionary history of organisms and their classification.
Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence.
Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.
Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in:
Increases in the number of individuals of some species.
The emergence of new species over time.
The extinction of other species.
Suggested Activities & Resources:
Suggested Activities & Resources:
Do a report on one of the extinct sea species from the Cambrian.
Standards List:
LS4.D: Biodiversity & Humans: HS-LS2.7, HS-LS4.6; LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry & Diversity: HS-LS4.1; LS4.C: Adaptation: HS-LS4.4, HS-LS4.5
Unit 6: Marine Sciences and Culture
Unit 6: Marine Sciences and Culture
Suggested Pacing: Ongoing throughout the course.
Textbook Chapters/Lessons: TBD
Key Objectives:
Key Objectives:
Recognize the importance of marine systems to society.
Describe how indigenous people use local marine organisms.
Give examples of how humans can alter ecosystems.
Explain why it is important for citizens to be knowledgeable on current issues and policies of natural resource use.
Give examples of specific examples of Alaskan marine use issues.
Describe human dependence upon the marine environment, concentrating on Alaskan uses.
List and describe marine careers.
Give examples of how humans can alter the structures of ecosystems.
Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity.
Suggested Activities & Resources:
Suggested Activities & Resources:
Research career possibilities in the field of marine biology.
Describe the fisheries of the North Pacific.
Standards List: LS4.D: Biodiversity & Humans: HS-LS2.7, HS-LS.4-6
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