Marine Science Chapters

1.1.0

Beginnings


Science is all around us, in our environment and in our very being. Sometimes the word 'science' conjures up unpleasant memories for many people if they have had a bad experience with it in their schooling. The word 'science' can be defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as "a branch of study concerned with observation and classification of facts and especially with the establishment of verifiable general laws." It is what humans have developed to record and pass on information related to the world in an orderly manner and a manner in which 'facts' can be separated from 'opinions.' In this section I would like to introduce my students first to some general ideas about what 'science' is, some of the accepted scientific methodologies, a short history of marine science, and finally to a scientific theory about the origins of our universe including our planet Earth and its oceans.

With these ideas as background, the chapters that follow (physical ocean, marine ecology, bottom dwellers, water dwellers, and oceans' future) should have a greater overall value. Marine science is just one branch of all of science but one that enjoys greater attention from the general public because it is so aesthetically pleasing. It is my purpose in this first lesson to set the stage for the rest of this Marine Science course.

Origins of Earth


Science


Scientific Methods


History of Marine Science


Origins of Earth




 Copyright and Credits
(Revised 6 August 2007)
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