Abstract

I have been teaching the Marine Ecology (BIO 458) course at ORU (Oral Roberts University) since its inception in 1985. Marine Ecol. lec & lab counts as an upper division Biology course for MMB and Bio majors and fulfills the field biology requirement for Bio majors and minors. The lecture is a normal 3 credit course during every other spring semester and the lab (1 cr.) is centered around a 1 week. field trip to a marine location, which over the years has been to Key Largo or another Florida Key (5-6 times), Jamaica (3x), Belize (1x), Puerto Rico (1x), Bonaire (1x), and most commonly to Cozumel, Mexico (12x) because it’s truly one of the best SCUBA diving locations in the world, it’s relatively cheaper than other destinations, and we know and trust the people there who run the diving, boats, and hotel. For the lab, we encourage but don’t require students to either be SCUBA-certified before going on the trip or to take the HPER SCUBA course beforehand at ORU.