If There’s a Will,

There’s a Wave

MS 1 Personal Learning Portfolio | Victoria Hannah M. Mercado | BS Architecture

Week

01 The start of my first

GE in over a year

● When I found MS 1 in CRS I immediately tried to get a slot. I’ve heard from
many people how fun and worthwhile the class is. I could only take majors
and PEs for my whole third year and for this sem I only have space for one
GE so when I saw MS 1 in the selection, I tried to enlist immediately.
● The week so far has already proved how fun this GE is and from what I’ve
seen in the course guide, the topics already seem to be more interesting
than what I expected and it makes me excited to learn more.
● It was interesting to hear everyone’s experiences with the ocean, though I
was surprised that no one else has been able to experience releasing turtle
hatchlings on a beach. It was a fun experience that I hope more people get
to do with their friends and family.
● It was also nice to hear that people thought hard and were sincere with
their favorite marine animal and how diverse everyone’s choices were.
“Water is the most expressive element in nature. It
responds to every mood from tranquility to turbulence.”
Week

02
-Walter Phillips
● Learning more about the ocean currents and monsoon patterns reminded me of
when they were briefly mentioned in one of our Arki majors. Being an architect
requires knowing a lot about the climate and the environment of the are we design
so this new information will be very helpful in the future.

● The most interesting topic from this week were the environmental issues
due to the irresponsible development in the disputed regions. Most of the
time when there are news about the West Philippine Sea, they are about
the man-made structures and the conflicts with ships and bases. This is
the first time I have heard about the marine environment that was
affected by the developments and it shows how even the marine
environment proves the countries’ turbulent relationship and their
disputes over this region. It is evident that there is a lack of responsible
planning care for the natural resources that are being exploited.
● The activity for this week was to write a proposal on what the
government must do to boost our claim over the WPS. My ideas are
probably not new and are likely already being done but the main idea is
that there should be more assertiveness and constant improvement on
the monitoring of our sea.
Week

03 The things moving in

the deep blue sea
● Whenever I hear about how large the ocean is, it scares me a little because
of how much of the ocean we have not seen and learned about. We may be
the most influential living creature on earth but sometimes I think there are
creatures in the deep sea that might change our perspective as rulers of the
earth.
● It was fascinating to read about green fluorescent protein. Until this lecture I
thought the glow from the few jellyfish photos I’ve seen came from a filter
or an effect from the camera. Now I know that the glow is natural and is
from a protein in their bodies and not a photographic effect.
● For this week’s task, we were tasked to make an illustration on the how the
ocean impacts ours lives. For my submission, I made a simple illustration on
tropical storms and floods. They’ve caused some of the biggest impacts of
mine and other Filipinos lives because of our proximity to the pacific ocean
and being surrounded by water. It was interesting to learn more about how
all the activity in the ocean lead up to this impact on the land.
 Surprising Week

●
Developments
04
The topics on classification, zones in the ocean , and food chains reminded me of
grade school days when the science classes interested me enough to want to be a
marine scientist before. These topics were interesting then and interests me even
Adelie Penguin more now and I feel should be taught more in grade school.
Pygoscelis adeliae ● As more topics we learn in this class, I become more aware of how little I knew of
the basic knowledge of the ocean and its living creatures.
● The urchin video was interesting for me because I thought sea creatures were born
looking similar to their adult selves. Metamorphosis is apparently not only seen in
species on land but also in the tiny creatures of the ocean.
● I was surprised by the significance of phytoplankton in the world’s climate and
resources. I never realized until this topic how much plankton there were in the
ocean and how important they were for both the ocean and humans.
● Even in the simple assignment for making a profile on a marine plant and animal, I
learned that the gulaman that Filipinos love eating actually comes from a marine
Gulaman plant and not an animal byproduct which I thought prior to this topic.
G. verrucosa
 Week
● When people think of estuaries and where the ocean starts, most would think

05
of the fun activities that can be done there because of the facilities that have
been provided by people. The natural processes and animal activities that
happen in estuaries are actually significant to economic developments,
balances the natural environment, and provides protection from natural
disasters.
● For last week’s activity, one of my choices for the marine plant that I wanted
to research about were actually mangroves. The initial research I did before
choosing gulaman for my plant was only a very small part of what I learned
from this week. The activity from last week would have only made me
research on the very basics of these plants so these topics were interesting
The seaweed is
for me because it connects to what I wanted to learn about last week. always greener in
I was more eager to do the activities this week because the test types were
another ocean
●
unlike most academic tests. They were worthwhile and helped me remember
more of the important details from the lessons.
● These lessons on corals and marine plants made me more interested in these
weird but important living beings. Hopefully the general public would have
more interest in them so that the environment can continue to heal from
humanity’s negative impacts.
 Week The world’s most dangerous

07 predator is not one that lurks in

the ocean, it is man.
● I always knew the Philippines had a vast amount of oceanic territory but I never realized that our marine life and the
amount of resources we harvest is significantly greater than other countries. With all the resources we need for food
and other items in our daily life, it is even more important that we protect the living beings of the sea and the
environmental conditions in the ocean.
● To help conserve our fishery resources, the least I can do as a student who’s taking up this course is to encourage other
students to take this class. Since most of the people I encounter are those venturing into careers that are far from
marine studies, a significant action I can do is to spread awareness of issues like these and to encourage others to learn
about them. Seemingly unrelated careers may still impact others to act on the issues of the marine environment in
their own ways. An example is how an architect may promote marine research and sustainable fishing by designing a
restaurant and research center that allows visitors to see the full process of how marine animal end up in their meals.
● The ocean is a very vast body in the earth and every part of it can affect all of the ocean. That is evident when the
significance of mangroves were mentioned in the Aquaculture and Mariculture video. Despite this week focusing on the
fishing industry where fishermen venture into the further deeper parts of the ocean, the mangroves on land still have a
relation to them.
● The activities and amount of readings this week were pretty difficult to accomplish because the length of the videos
and readings and the amount of activities took time to complete. The title of this PLP was a constant reminder for me
while working on them because when there’s a will, there will definitely be a wave.
 ● This week’s lessons vaguely reminded me of a time when my family avoided
shellfish and other seafoods for a time because of news of red tides. Though
we did not know much about red tide, the information presented in this
lesson showed that it was a good decision for us to avoid it regardless of our
limited knowledge on red tide. It is evidently a dangerous occurrence that
harms marine life and could also affect humans.
● The video on red tides in Florida shows that it is very life threatening event
and can affects whole communities that live near the ocean. It was not a
surprise that it affected already 21 areas in the Philippines but it’s unfortunate
that a new one is added every 2 years. This increase will continue to be a
problem if governments and the general public continue polluting the ocean
and disregard its significance in our communities.
● This week’s activities were also more difficult that usual for me because I am
very weak with expressing myself and my research through writing. Despite
that, researching on the topic and the problem that Bolinao faces made me
more interested in red tides and the problems that people face because of

Week being neglectful on our actions towards the environment.

09 Disregard leads to disaster

 Week

11
This topic started with a large portion being about the world in general and not
The dangers coming
●
just about the ocean. Despite it being an issue for all parts of the world and not
only the ocean, it is good that it is discussed in this class because it is a critical
problem that everyone must be aware of by now. Although I have heard of a from above the sea.
lot of the information provided in the videos, they still reminded me of what
we need to know and I learned more about the issues in our environment.
● This week’s lesson shows that climate change cannot be fixed by looking only
into the problems we see in the land. The ocean is also affected by human
developments and over time, it will have a larger impact in our lives because
we rely on the ocean to survive.
● Filming decent videos is not part of my skill set and I rarely do it so it was
unusual for me to make a video on ocean acidification for class. But overall the
activity and the videos this week were productive ways of learning more about
the environmental issues and the natural processes humans have impacted.
Week

12 Where the land

meets the sea

● This week’s lessons had a seemingly broader scope compared to the past
lessons because so many things happen on coasts. As seen on the
Coastal Developments video and in the powerpoints, coasts are not only
important for its natural resources and its environment but the economic
gain and urban activity happening in these areas. There must be
● It was a surprise that the West Philippine Sea disputes was a topic again
because at first I thought we already learned enough of the basic
happenings occuring in that area. This week made me realize that even if
we already learned about the general politics and military actions that
should be done, I still didn’t know enough about the specific actions that
have been affecting the marine environment around the islands. The
following slide is the infographic I made for the developments in the
disputed area.