Land or sea, an example of how to use Margalef’s way of thinking in order to enhance Ocean Literacy

Abstract

Ramon Margalef had the ability of asking open questions which always fostered further thinking and making “mental experiments”.Margalef, who had a profound and detailed knowledge of ecosystems, thought in a very holistic way, and this allowed him to seesimilar processes and mechanisms in those very diverse ecosystems. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see in his texts comparisonsbetween terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, or even comparisons of the functioning of our technological human society and thefunctioning of natural ecosystems. These comparisons allow for a quick and efficient way of getting the general picture of howNature works in different ecosystems and therefore allow for a better approach to unknown ecosystems, as they facilitate theirknowledge and thus their comprehension and further conservation. Taking from Ramon Margalef his holistic and creative way ofthinking we have developed different didactic materials meant for approaching students to knowing the Ocean. Why the Ocean? Be-cause despite its utmost importance for life and our planet, it still remains quite unknown and it is alarmingly underrepresented intext books and in the examples provided in schools. This causes an enormous gap in the knowledge of the Ocean, which mightimply a scarce or non-existent comprehension of the impact of human activities on the Ocean and its further impact, in turn, on hu-mankind. Following Margalef, we have chosen analogies and similarities as educational tools in order to attain a better OceanLiteracy in society, while stimulating creativity