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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The materials are free and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
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Initial Publication Date: November 22, 2016

Astrid Schnetzer: Using Ocean Sustainability in Marine Biology at North Carolina State University

About this Course

An introductory class for non-majors.

68
students

Two 75-minute lecture sessions
per week

SYLLABUS_MEA220_2016 (Acrobat (PDF) 240kB Jun27 16)

A Success Story in Building Student Engagement

I piloted this module in a fairly large class with up to 100 students who have rather strong pre-notions of the subjects to be introduced in a "marine biology" class (e.g., sharks and whales). The additional coverage of chemical and physical ocean characteristics and build up to themes of global climate change and its impact on ecosystems and organisms as a whole "caught some by surprise." A number of students did not welcome the use of active teaching tools right away, but in the end, they all embraced the challenge and were excited about the opportunity to share their opinions. The link that was made between the health of marine ecosystems and our actions (i.e. carbon footprint) left the students with a sense of empowerment.

As one of the students noted that the class, the module: "... gives great motivation for being a bright environmental advocate."

My Experience Teaching with InTeGrateMaterials

The activities were slightly modified to allow their use in a larger class format (i.e, group sizes). Also, several of the activities were modified to be accessible electronically through the course webpage. This allowed the students to complete assessments after additional review of lecture notes and additional material outside the class room when needed.

Relationship of InTeGrate Materials to my Course

The module made up one third of the marine biology course, and the units within the modules were all piloted at the end of the semester. This is certainly not what I plan to do next time around, since the more active style of teaching took some students by surprise after having been in the previous lectures that followed more of a traditional format (lecture, clickers, home assignments etc). Piloting the material at the end of the semester also restricted the time available for reflection and full consideration "of lessons learned" from the previous classes.

Assessments

The assessment we used was entirely modified to better challenge students to convey their knowledge. In essence a concept map with fill-in tasks was replaced by the charge to create a fact sheet that requires them to "walk an audience through" the facts and concepts they were introduced to, establish links, and explain and disseminate complex concepts to a general audience. The students are allowed to choose their own specific topic (i.e., temperature increase or ocean acidification) and exemplify how these environmental changes due to human activities affect marine habitats, ecosystem resources, and by extension humans. They were also provided with a guiding rubric to support their approach for the fact sheet.

Outcomes

My expectation and hope was that students would be actively engaged and grow intimately concerned with themes of ocean sustainability. That they would gain an understanding of how their actions affect the oceans, and feel a need to engage and feel empowered to change and convey what they learned. I believe that most of the students had a much better understanding of how abiotic and biotic factors interlink, of how humans affect marine ecosystems and, as a consequence, how ecosystem and human health can deteriorate. Most of the students had no knowledge of ocean acidification or geoengineering, yet they left with the understanding that their personal choices impact the carbon footprint we leave and that they will be the ones to vote on the path that is taken to prevent or mitigate deterioration in ocean health due to global climate change.

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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
Explore the Collection »