Teaching Marine Science

Marine Science is the absolute best class to teach. Who doesn't want to spend their days talking about swim bladders, seahorse dads, and sea otters napping in kelp forests? ….. Alright, maybe a lot of people don’t, but we aren’t them!

It's a fun class to teach. But it isn't always easy.

Your district probably didn't hand you any materials (because there aren’t any out there). The textbooks out there aren’t really great, and you've probably already spent hours piecing together resources from all over the internet.

The content itself isn't overly difficult, but many students struggle with reading, writing, and organizing information. That's actually one of the reasons I love teaching Marine Science. Students come for the sharks and sea turtles, but along the way they're practicing scientific reading, writing explanations, analyzing graphs, and interpreting maps. They are applying science skills they've already learned in Biology and Earth Science, but now it’s related to great whites… or Hawaiian Islands… or coral reefs. It’s a review of basic concepts, just in a much more engaging context.

Marine Science isn't just about teaching students about the ocean. It's about using the ocean to teach students how to think like scientists.