Whatcom Community College
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Ocean Science Pathway
This pathway assumes:
- You will be a full-time student.
- You will start in the fall.
- You are ready to take 100- and 200-level classes.
If not, you can still complete the pathway! You will just need to make adjustments. Talk with your advisor to customize your plan.
Follow this recommended pathway to earn the AS-T degree with an environmental science or biology focus, and prepare for the Marine & Coastal Science major at Western Washington University or ocean science / oceanography majors at other universities. Or you can customize your plan even more. Talk with your advisor about adapting it for your individual goals.
Scroll to the end for course suggestions.
| Description | Formerly GEOL 135. Study of plate tectonics, ocean currents, waves, tides, the coastal ocean, marine topography, marine sediment, landforms, marine life, ocean pollution, and ocean resources. Lab work and field trips included. (MSl) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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| Description | Introduction to selected physics concepts and theories. Emphasis on conceptual understanding of how physics explains our world. Class activities include learning about experimentation, measurement, and simple mathematical modeling. Recommended preparation: MATH 098. (MSl) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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| Description | The basic properties and graphs of functions and inverses of functions, operations on functions, compositions; various specific functions and their properties including polynomial, absolute value, rational, exponential and logarithmic functions; applications of various functions; conics. A graphing calculator is required. (QSR,MS) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of MATH 099 or MATH 132 with a minimum grade of C. |
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Total credits this quarter: 15
Course note: Take PHYS& 110 if you didn't take a year of physics in high school. It's a prerequisite for PHYS& 221 in Quarter 6. If you took physics, take OCEA& 101 now instead.
Career exploration: Find your people! Attend area-of-study activities and connect with clubs related to your career goals.
Career exploration: Participate in original undergraduate research in OCEA& 101.
Action item: Meet with your advisor to draw up your degree plan.
Action item: Have your transfer-in credits officially evaluated.
| Description | This course helps students become more effective writers in academic and professional settings. Students learn to enter ongoing academic conversations, analyze and use secondary sources to formulate, develop, revise, and communicate ideas in writing, and shape their message to different purposes, audiences, and media. (CC) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of ENGL 95 or placement in ENGL& 101. |
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| Description | Second in a two-course sequence designed to prepare students for the study of Calculus. Intended for students planning to major in math and/or science. Course to include right triangle trigonometry; trigonometric functions and their graphs; trigonometric identities and formulae;applications of trigonometry; parametric equations; and polar coordinates. A graphing calculator is required. A graphing calculator is required. (QSR,MS) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of MATH& 141 with a minimum grade of C. |
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| Description | Intended for science majors. Composition and structure of earth, identification of common rocks and minerals, formation of surface features of continents and ocean floor, and interpretation of land forms frommaps. Lab work and field trips included. (MSl) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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Total credits this quarter: 15
Course note: Take GEOL 211 if it's available this quarter.
Career exploration: Check out the interdisciplinary Marine & Coastal Science major at Western Washington University. Are you more interested in a physical science or biology focus? Also, look for marine science / ocean science / oceanography majors at other universities you're interested in.
| Description | This course looks at the study of functions, limits, continuity, limits at infinity, differentiation of algebraic, exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions and their inverses, and applications. Graphing calculator required. (QSR,MS) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of MATH 133 or MATH& 142 with a minimum grade of C. |
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| Description | Intended for science majors. Composition and structure of earth, identification of common rocks and minerals, formation of surface features of continents and ocean floor, and interpretation of land forms frommaps. Lab work and field trips included. (MSl) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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or HUMANITIES from suggested list below or click for complete list (5 credits)
SOCIAL SCIENCE from suggested list below or click for complete list (5 credits)
or HUMANITIES from suggested list below or click for complete list (5 credits)
LEARNING CONTRACT (optional, 2 credits)
Total credits this quarter: 15-17
Course note: If you didn't take GEOL 211 in Quarter 2, take it now.
Course note: You need three courses from humanities and social sciences (one of each, plus a third one that can be in either area).
Course note: A learning contract is an independent study with a faculty mentor. Use it to dig deeper into a topic or do research of your own.
Career exploration: Look for a summer job or internship related to your career goals.
Action item: Check the GPA and other entry requirements for your future major. Are you on track?
| Description | First of a three-course sequence designed for science, engineering, and other majors needing a full year general chemistry sequence. Covers basic principles of modern chemistry, structure of atoms, chemical reactions, stoichiometry, bonding, and molecular geometry. Lab work included. Recommended preparation CHEM& 121 or one year of High School Chemistry. (MSl) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of MATH& 141 with minimum grade of C |
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| Description | This course is designed to prepare the student for further studies inthe field of biology or related fields. Basic information about evolution, genetics, biodiversity of life forms, and ecology will be taught and assessed. This is the first in a three-quarter sequence for biology majors. (MSwl) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Prior or concurrent enrollment in CHEM& 161 and placement in ENGL& 101 |
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| Description | The study of Riemann Sums, methods of integration, numerical methods, polar and rectangular forms, fundamental theorem of Calculus, areas of regions, volumes of solids, centroids, length of curves, surface area, and an introduction to differential equations. Graphing calculator required. (QSR,MS) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of MATH& 151 with a minimum grade of C. |
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Total credits this quarter: 15
Action item: Meet with your advisor about applying to universities. Start your transfer applications.
Action item: Apply for next year's financial aid.
| Description | Second of a three-course sequence designed for science, engineering, and other majors needing a full year general chemistry sequence. Covers gases, thermochemistry, states of matter, solution chemistry, kinetics, and chemical equilibrium. Lab work included. (MSl) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of CHEM& 161 with minimum grade of C |
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| Description | This course is designed to prepare the student for further studies inthe field of biology or related fields. It covers basic information about cell metabolism, biological molecules, structure and function of cells, gene regulation, and development in plants and animals. (MSwl) |
| Enrollment Requirements | BIOL& 222 |
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| Description | Multivariate integral and differential calculus. Geometry in R3 and in the plane. The study of vectors, acceleration, curvature; functions of several variables, partial derivatives; directional derivatives and gradients; extreme values; double and triple integrals; applications. Graphing calculator required. (QSR,MS) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of MATH& 152 with a minimum grade of C. |
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| Description | Rigorous introduction to statistical methods and hypothesis testing. Includes descriptive and inferential statistics. Tabular and pictorialmethods for describing data; central tendencies; mean; modes; medians; variance; standard deviation; quartiles; regression; normal distribution; confidence intervals; hypothesis testing, one and two-tailed tests. Applications to business, social sciences, and sciences. (QSR,MS) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of MATH 088 or MATH 099 with a minimum grade of C. |
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Total credits this quarter: 15
Career exploration: Participate in original undergraduate research in BIOL& 222.
Action item: Apply to graduate by week 3 of this quarter.
Action item: If you're aiming for the Marine & Coastal Science major at WWU, apply to the major before March 1st.
| Description | Third of a three-course sequence designed for science, engineering, and other majors needing a full-year general chemistry sequence. Coversacids, bases, acid-base equilibria, solubility and complex-ion equilibria, thermodynamics and equilibrium, electrochemistry, and special topics. Lab work included. (MSl) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of CHEM& 162 with minimum grade of C |
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| Description | This course is designed to prepare the student for further studies in the field of biology or related fields. Basic information about the structure and functions of living organisms will be taught and assessed. This is the third in a three-quarter sequence for biology majors. (MSwl) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of BIOL& 222 with minimum grade of B- |
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| Description | Basic principles of mechanics. Emphasis on critical analysis, interpretation, and problem solving, energy and momentum conservation, rotational motion, static equilibrium. (MSl) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of MATH& 151 with a minimum grade of C and placement in ENGL& 101; and one college level physics course or a high school physics course. |
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Total credits this quarter: 15
Course note: If you choose a physical sciences emphasis in the Marine & Coastal Science major at WWU, you'll take more courses in physics after you transfer.
Career exploration: Participate in original undergraduate research in CHEM& 163.
Action item: Attend the spring job fair.
Course Suggestions
You're encouraged to choose classes that complement your interests. Don't be afraid to reach out and try something new!
Humanities or electives
- Philosophy courses can help you develop the critical thinking important in the sciences:
- PHIL& 101 Intro to philosophy
- PHIL& 115 Critical thinking
- PHIL 130 Intro to ethics
- PHIL 132 Environmental ethics
- Since ocean science is a global discipline, another language may be helpful:
- ASL& 121, CHIN& 121, FREN& 121, GERM& 121, JAPN& 121 or SPAN& 121
You can use 5 credits of 100-level language as a humanities course. If you take a second course to become more proficient, that course will be an elective.
- ASL& 121, CHIN& 121, FREN& 121, GERM& 121, JAPN& 121 or SPAN& 121
- Ocean science involves a lot of sketching and drawing specimens and observations of the world around you:
- ART 112 Drawing I
- Ocean science intersects with many other disciplines. Consider these options (by no means the only ones) for expanding your knowledge of other worldviews:
- ENGL 124 Environmental literature
- ENGL 136 Science fiction and fantasy
- ENGL 238 Gender and literature
- ENGL 286 Mythology
- ENGL 267 Native American literature
- FILM 240 Documentary film
- FILM 265 American LGBTQ+ cinema
- HUM& 101 Intro to the humanities
- IDS 161 Literature, science and gender
- IDS 180 Visual media and culture
Social Sciences or electives
- If you're interested in exploring human history and how people play a role in the marine environment:
- SALI 201 Intro to the Salish Sea (spring only)
This class weaves together sciences and social sciences in its focus on the Salish Sea.
- SALI 201 Intro to the Salish Sea (spring only)
- Geography overlaps with physical geology, but goes further into surface processes and human constructs of spaces:
- GEOG& 100 Intro to geography
- GEOG& 102 World regional geography
- GEOG& 250 Geography of the Pacific Northwest
- If you're interested in the overlaps between ocean science and government systems:
- POLS& 101 Intro to political science
- If you're interested in an education focus, some foundation in the principles of teaching will be useful:
- EDUC 202 Intro to education
- If you're thinking about a park ranger path or government work:
- CJ& 101 Intro to criminal justice
- Consider these interdisciplinary options for expanding your understanding of the ways we explain the world and the ways our practices impact / are impacted by that world:
- IDS 112 Ethnomathematics
- IDS 113 Quantitative methods in the social sciences
- IDS 161 Literature, science and gender
- IDS 170 Intro to sustainability
- IDS 180 Visual media and culture
- IDS 210 Science, economics and politics of sustainable resources
Electives
- Communicate your science to others:
- CMST& 101 Intro to communication
- CMST& 210 Interpersonal communication
- CMST& 230 Small group communication
- CMST& 220 Public speaking
Many scientists present their work at conferences. Learn to organize a presentation and practice the art of giving one.
- Develop your critical thinking with a logic course oriented toward math and symbolism:
- PHIL& 117 Traditional logic