Course Overview 

Course pre-requisite(s): Studied life and health science, geography, geology, computer science, psychology or environmental science, Volunteering, such as beach cleaning, animal rescue…

The “Marine Biology” Summer School provides students with hands-on experience, working in the marine environment and an introduction to marine organisms’ identification skills. The course will build upon theorical and practical identification skills which many students will have gained during courses. The course provides the skills and experience vital to those wishing to pursue a commercial or academic career in Marine Biology.
4 sections will be treated in “Marine Biology” courses:
I- Important biological and ecological concepts
II- Taxonomy of marine organisms
III- Marine ecosystems
IV- Human impacts on the marine environment and management

Learning Outcomes

✓Students will demonstrate a strong content-knowledge foundation in their specific field of study (Marine Biology, Oceanography, Marine Entrepreneurship, or Marine Affairs).
✓Students will communicate effectively in both oral and written format to convey their scientific knowledge, interdisciplinary training, and findings to peers, professional audiences, decision-makers, and/or the public.
✓Students will demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving skills in their specific field of study by designing, carrying out, and interpreting the results of their experiments, by evaluating the literature published by professionals, by making recommendations to policy makers and/or by creating and innovating in their field
✓Students get to travel often and conduct fieldwork in exotic and appealing locations. They also have the opportunity to use cutting-edge technology for research, discover new marine species, and contribute to mankind's understanding of water systems.

✓Students will study the marine (oceanic) environment to develop solutions for environmental problems as well as explore more about the world. They help to monitor the good state of oceans and maintain aquatic ecosystems.
✓After completing courses, student might pursue career paths in marine biology research, fisheries, commercial aquaculture, sustainability, education or tourism.

Course Content 

I.IMPORTANT BIOLOGICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CONCEPTS
1.Introduction: Science and Marine Biology
1.1. Science and Marine Biology
1.2. Brief History of Marine Biology
1.3. Why Study Marine Biology?
1.4. How is Marine Biology studied? Using the Scientific Method
2. Fundamentals of Ecology
2.1 Study of Ecology
2.2 Environmental Factors that Affect the Distribution of Marine
Organisms
2.3 Populations and Ecology
2.4. Communities
2.5 Ecosystems
2.6. The Biosphere
3. Biological Concepts
3.1 Building blocks of life: macromolecules
3.2 Cells
3.3. Evolution and natural selection
3.4. Genes and Natural Selection
3.5. Evolution of new species
3.6. Biological Classification
II. TAXONOMY OF MARINE ORGANISMS
1. Marine Micro-organisms
1.1. Marine Viruses
1.2. Marine Bacteria
1.3. Archaea
1.4. Domain Eukarya
2. Multicellular Primary Producers
2.1. Multicellular Algae: Kingdom Protista
2.2. Marine Flowering Plants
3. Sponges, Cnidarians and Comb Jellies
3.1. Animals
3.2. Sponges: Phylum Porifera
3.3. Cnidarians
3.4. Phylum Ctenophora: Comb Jellies
4. Worms, Bryozoans and Mollusks
4.1. Bilateral symmetry
4.2. Marine Worms
4.3. Bryozoans (Phylum Bryozoa)
4.4. Mollusks
5. Arthropods, Echinoderms and Invertebrate Chordates
5.1. Arthropods
5.2. Echinoderms
5.3. Tunicates
6. Marine fishes
6.1 Jawless fish
6.2 Cartilaginous Fishes
6.3 Bony Fish
6.4. The Biology of Fishes
7. Marine Reptiles and Birds
7.1. General Characteristics and Adaptations
7.2. The Amniotic Egg
7.3. Marine Reptiles
7. Seabirds
8. Marine Mammals
8.1. Sea Otters
8.2 Polar Bears
8.3 Pinnipeds
8.4. Sirenians: Manatees and Dugongs
8.5. Cetaceans
III. MARINE ECOSYSTEMS
1. Intertidal Ecology
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Rocky shores
1.3. Intertidal Zones of Sandy Shores
2. Estuaries
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Physical characteristics of estuaries
2.3. Estuarine Productivity
2.4. Life in Estuaries
2.5. Estuarine Communities

2.6. Wetlands
3. Coral Reef Communities
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Reef Corals and the Formation of Reefs
3.3. Structure of Coral Reefs
3.4. Coral Reef Distribution
3.5. Comparison of Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Reefs
3.6 Coral Reef Ecology
3.7 Coral Reef Community
3.8 Evolutionary Adaptations of Reef Dwellers
3.9. Threats to Coral Reefs

4. Continental Shelves and Neritic Zone
4.1. Physical Characteristics of Continental Shelves
4.2. Benthic Communities
4.3. The Neritic Zone
5. The Open Ocean
5.1. Introduction
5.2. Regions of the Open Sea
5.3. Life in the Open Sea
5.4. Environmental Conditions of the Open Ocean
5.5. Adaptations of Organisms in the Open Ocean
5.6. Ecology of the open sea

6. Life in the Ocean’s Depths
6.1. Survival in the Deep Sea.
6.2. Life in the Dark
6.3. Giants of the Deep
6.4 Relicts from the Deep
6.5. Life on the Sea Floor
7. Marine birds and mammals in polar seas
7.1. General Characteristics of Polar Seas
7.2. Physical comparison of the Arctic and the Antarctic
7.3. Benthic communities
7.4. Marine Homeotherms in Polar Seas
7.5. The Arctic
7.6. The Antarctic
7.7. Polar Seas in the Future

IV. HUMAN IMPACTS ON THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT AND MANAGEMENT
1. Marine Biodiversity, fisheries and climate change
1.1. Diversity in marine ecosystems
1.2. Value of biological diversity
1.3. Impacts of fisheries on marine populations and communities
1.4. Impacts of climate change on marine populations and communities
2. Other Threats to Marine Biodiversity
2.1. Habitat destruction
2.2. Introduced species
2.3. Marine pollution
3. Marine Conservation
3.1. Marine Conservation Strategies
3.2. Marine Protected Areas: Spatial Protection
3.3. Controlling marine pollution
3.4. Ecosystem restoration
3.5. Endangered species legislation

4. Marine Conservation in Small Island Developing States

Instructional Method 

❖ Engaging students:
▪ Relate marine biology to everyday life
✓Share with students news items on marine discoveries,
✓Offer extra credit to students who will give a brief in-class report on a reference to a biological concept they came across in a television show, movie, etc. Ask them to explain the reference, what biological concept it dealt with, and why it is important.
✓Talk about careers that draw on marine biology (ex: own career)
▪Incorporate hands-on activities
✓Culture of animals in aquariums that allows obsercation of reproductive and feeding behaviour.
✓Dissect specimens to learn about anatomy.
✓Draw external morphology of selected species and samples on microscopic slides
▪ Incorporate multimedia materials
✓Make the course more lively incorporating videos, podcasts...

▪Preparing a review question
✓At the beginning of each session, asking student to write answers of review questions
▪Host biology-centered field trips
✓Organize a trip to coastal zone, research laboratory

❖Trying Different Learning and Teaching Styles
•Try different approaches to teaching.
✓Lecturing, Cooperative learning (students help each other learn about a topic), Discussion, Reading
• Make lectures participatory.
✓Making lectures more interactive
✓Asking periodically students questions

• Incorporate writing.
✓At the end of each session, have students write a paragraph summarizing what they learned. Rather than assigning a grade to their responses, open the next class session by discussing them
✓ Use peer teaching methods.
✓Break students into groups and assign each group the task of researching a certain aspect of a topic. Then, have each group report to the whole class on what they have learned. Students will enjoy the fun and responsibility of teaching their peers.

Required Course Materials

Data show- Lab Notebooks- stereomicroscope- optic microscope – microscopic slides samples- Dissection equipment – Marine animals for dissection (cuttlefish- oyster-mussel-clam- cartilaginous fish-bony fish-shrimp)

Assessment 

✓ Coursework (such as essays, briefing notes, lab notebooks and scientific papers)
✓ Written examinations (including review questions asked at the beginning of each session)
✓ Practical writeups
✓ Individual and group research projects