This booklet is the first in a series of three interdisciplinary units which focus specifically on the Pacific Ocean and its surrounding countries. The booklet, designed for lower secondary students, provides an introduction to the ocean environment such that students can understand the physical factors underlying issues raised by the other two units. The readings and interdisciplinary activities (science, art, social studies, English, and home economics) are presented in sections dealing with these topic areas: (1) introducing the Pacific Ocean, including countries and islands of the Pacific; (2) ocean creatures, examining plankton (drifting populations), nekton (active swimmers), benthos (bottom dwellers), seabirds, and the flow of food (food chain, food web, and food pyramid); (3) exploring the surface of the ocean, examining how objects stay afloat, early navigators, waves, currents, tides and the composition of sea water; and (4) exploring the depths of the ocean, focusing on the shape of the ocean floor (including continental margins and the deep ocean floor), characteristics of deep water (light, temperature, salinity, and pressure), measuring the depth of the ocean, and the possibility of a city beneath the sea. (JN)