Introduction/Background:
My knowledge on the ocean is pretty vague at the moment. I dont know as much as I would like to know as of right now. So far what I know about the ocean is that is it unquestionably deep. There is parts in the ocean that have no light at all and some animals adapt to it. There is plenty of different variation of creatures living there as well. There is also lots of ship wrecks and artifacts due to all that. Humans ruin the ocean due to pollution because of all the trash and waste that ends up in the ocean because we throw it out into our enviornment. Global warming also ruins the ocean because it causes exessive heat, changing the oceans water levels causing fish and natual sea plants to die. My knowledge on plate tectonics is not very advanced at this point. What I know so far would be that it is some what the floor of the ocean and that execsisve heat can cause the plates to move. Plate tectonics are the earth's outer shell that move. The major circulation patterns revolve around the amount of heat caused to the ocean. The principles of waves and tides cause the ocean to rise. I dont know a lot of about the principles of the ocean and how they affect the marine life but if I had to guess it would have to do with the density of the water, as well as the temperature.
Goals and objectives:
My SMART goal in this course would be to focus my designated time to study and to actually let the criteria sink into my head. I want to dedicated at least 3-4 hours a week outside of the course to read the textbook, study the material, as well as to watch educated videos on the topics we are learning. I tend to procrasinate a lot towards the middle/end of the semester and I really hope I dont do that this semester. This class seems to be really intresting to me because I want to learn a lot about the depth, temperature, and movement of the ocean.
Methods:
Some ways that I can think of to help me grow in this class is communication. I want to be able to ask for help whether its to my classmates or to my professor. I do not want to slack in this class, I want to actually focus and when I show up to class be able to be there fully. My thoughts as we go into the semester regarding the idea of ungrading is very new to me. This is the first class that I take that doesnt have a grading policy and I feel like personally it takes the edge off the class a lot. I do not have to worry about studying so hard for an exam and failing it just because I was nervous and overwhelmed. I think that the ungrading policy is a really good way to help a student relax and enjoy the course and actually want to learn rather than to cram information into our brains for the exams. It is a little weird since I dont really know what to expect since its the first course that doesnt grade, but I know that I will have to participate to be able learn.