GEOL 104:  Dinosaurs: A Natural History
Fall Semester 2000

PLS 1140 10:00-10:50 am MWF

Instructor: Dr. Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Room: Centreville 1216	Office Hours: T 8:30-11 am, or by appointment
Phone: x54084, Email: tholtz@geol.umd.edu

Course Organization: 3 meetings per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday).

Grade:	Test 1:	25%		Quizzes and Homework:	15%
	Test 2:	25%		Smithsonian Trip:	10%
	Final:	25%		
No extra credit is planned for this course.

Dinosaurs: A Natural History is a CORE course.  CORE Distributive Studies courses are designed to ensure that you will take a look at several different academic disciplines and the way they create and analyze knowledge about the world.  A faculty and student committee approved this CORE Distributive Studies course because it will introduce you to the ideas and issues that are central to a major intellectual discipline and because it promises to involve you actively in the learning process.  Please take advantage of the opportunities this course offers you.

Required Text:  Spencer G. Lucas. 2000. Dinosaurs the Textbook. 3rd Edition.  McGraw-Hill. 278 pp.
Supplementary Text:  James O. Farlow & Michael K. Brett-Surman (editors). 1997.  The Complete Dinosaur.  Indiana University Press. 753 pp.

(Additional reading resources, not required for this class, are listed after the syllabus and on the web page).

Website:		http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/G104/104Open.htm
	The Website contains a copy of the course policies, the syllabus, lecture notes, copies of the handouts, dinosaur-related web links, and other features.  Please feel free to utilize this resource, and email Dr. Holtz with any suggestions on improving this resource.

Email Discussion List:	In order to facilitate discussion, an email discussion list will be organized for this class.  This list can be used to propose questions for discussion; to ask for clarification of topics; and so forth.  Details will be provided during the second week of class.

Policies:	Absolutely no cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, or plagiarism, as per the University of Maryland at College Park Code of Academic Integrity (see pp 44-47 of the UMCP 1999-00 Undergraduate Catalog).  All work on quizzes, tests, take-home assignments, etc. must be your own.  Although group study can be very useful, make sure that all your work you turn in is your own.

	Absences from exams will not be excused except for those causes approved by University policy (see p. 37-38 of the UMCP 1999-00 Undergraduate Catalog).  Only those students excused for these causes will be eligible for a make-up exam.

	Quizzes will, for the most part, be unannounced, be at the start of class, and cover both the readings and lectures.

	Attendance in class is not graded, but is most strongly encouraged.  Much of the information presented is not available in the textbook.  If you cannot make a certain lecture, try and find another student who might lend your their notes.  (In fact, establishing a study group early in the course has proven useful for many students in the past).  Furthermore, absence from class may result in you missing an unannounced quiz.

	Keep up with the required readings!  Although the format of the lectures and the chapters do not always match, the readings are important as well.  Some of the material to be tested is covered in more detail in the readings than in class.

	Readings should be done prior to the classtime they are listed.

	As part of the nature of the course, there will be a lot of memorization (less than a foreign language class, but more than that found in more mathematically-oriented introductory science classes).  This will include lots of anatomical, geological, and paleontological terms, as well as evolutionary and temporal relationships.  If you have difficulty memorizing, this may not be the class for you.  Also, if there are words or concepts with which you are not familiar, feel free to ask Dr. Holtz (in class, after class, over email, etc.) for an explanation or clarification.

MAIN SYLLABUS
(Readings from the required textbook are in bold, those from the supplemental textbook are in italics)
Aug. 30 	Introduction: What is Science? What is a dinosaur (version 1)?

Sept. 1	The History of Prehistory: Dinosaur research through time
	Reading: Chap. 1; Chaps. 1-5 (SKIM)

Sept. 4	Labor Day - No class meeting 

Sept. 6 	Fossils and Rocks
	Reading: Chap. 3; Chap. 6

Sept. 8	Deep Time: Dating the fossil record
	Reading: Chap. 9

Sept. 11 	Comparative Anatomy I: Principles and the skull
	Reading: Appendix; Chap. 7

Sept. 13 	Comparative Anatomy II: The postcranium
	Reading: Appendix; Chap. 7

Sept. 15 	Taxonomy
	QUIZ: Comparative Anatomy
	Reading: Chap. 8, pp. 92-97

Sept. 18 	Evolution I: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
	Reading: Chap. 2

Sept. 20 	Evolution II: Patterns and Processes

Sept. 22 	Systematics I
	Reading: Chap. 8, pp. 97-106

Sept. 25 	Systematics II
	Reading: Chap. 4; Chap. 10

Sept. 27 	Systematics III: What is a dinosaur (version 2)?
	QUIZ: Systematics

Sept. 29	Test Review

Oct. 2	TEST I
	
Oct. 4	Life on Land before the Dinosaurs
	Reading: Chap. 15

Oct. 6	The Origin of Dinosauria
	Reading: Chap. 16

Oct. 9	The Dinosaur Family Tree: What is a dinosaur (version 3)?
	Reading: Chaps. 17, 19

Oct. 11	Thyreophora: Defense, defense, defense
	Reading: Chap. 8; Chaps. 21-22

Oct. 13	Ornithopoda: Beaks, bills & crests
	Reading: Chap. 7; Chap. 24

Oct. 16	Marginocephalia: That’s using your head!
	QUIZ: Dinosaur relationships I
	Readings: Chap. 9; Chap. 23

Oct. 18	Sauropodomorpha: Size matters
	Reading: Chap. 6; Chaps. 19-20

Oct. 20	Theropoda I: Dinosaurs red in tooth and claw
	Reading: Chap. 5; Chap. 17

Oct. 23	Theropoda II: Tyrants, raptors, ostrich mimics, and more
	Reading: Chap. 5; Chaps. 17-18

Oct. 25, 27 No lectures: watch videos during week.

During the week of October 23 - October 28, you will be required to view a set of videos on Dial Access on the 4th Floor Nonprint Media room of Hornbake Library.  You will be required to turn in your answers to the take-home video quizzes on Monday October 30.

Oct. 29	Daylight Savings Time ends: Set your clocks so that you don’t miss class!

Oct. 30	Archaeopteryx and the Origin of Birds I
	Reading: Chap. 14

Nov. 1	Archaeopteryx and the Origin of Birds II: What is a dinosaur (version 4)?
	QUIZ: Dinosaur relationships II
	Reading: Chap. 14

Nov. 3	Dinosaur History I: Triassic and Jurassic
	Reading: Chap. 10; Chaps. 38, 40

Nov. 6	Dinosaur History II: Cretaceous 
	Reading: Chap. 10; Chap. 41

Nov. 8	TEST II

Nov. 10	Dinosaur Eggs, Babies, and Growth
	Reading: Chaps. 11-12; Chaps. 26, 27, 28, 30

Nov. 13	Tracking the Wild Dinosaur
	Reading: Chap.  11; Chaps. 36-37

Nov. 15	Hot- or Cold-Running Dinosaurs?
	Reading: Chap. 13; pp. 345-351; Chap. 32-35

Nov. 17	Hearts, Lungs, and Faces: New Approaches to Dinosaur Physiology
	Reading: Chap. 13; pp. 345-351; Chap. 32-35

Nov. 20	Eat or be Eaten: Dinosaur Paleoecology
	Reading: Chap. 13; pp. 345-351; Chap. 32-35

Nov. 22	Dinosaur Science in Jurassic Park and The Lost World; Smithsonian Trip Write-up Due
	Reading: SKIM Chap. 11

Nov. 23-26	Thanksgiving Recess: enjoy your roasted maniraptoran

Nov. 27	Dragons of the Sea and Air: Marine reptiles and pterosaurs
	Reading: Chap. 39

Nov. 29	In the Shadow of the Dinosaurs: The first 7/10th of mammalian history

Dec. 1	The Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction I: Definitions and Dramatis Personae
	Reading: Chap. 15; Chap. 42

Dec. 4	The Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction II: One REALLY Bad Day!
	Reading: Chap. 15; Chap. 42

Dec. 6	The Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction III: Not With a Bang, But a Whimper
	Reading: Chap. 15; Chap. 42

Dec. 8	The Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction IV: The Big Picture
	Reading: Chap. 15; Chap. 42

Dec. 11	Dinosaurs in Popular Culture
	Reading: Chap. 16; Chap. 43

Dec. 19	FINAL EXAM, PLS 1140, 10:30-12:30 am
	[PLEASE NOTE: Final Schedule according to Schedule of Classes, Fall ‘00 Second Edition.  Consult Final Edition for actual time and date, if any changes.  Changes have been known to happen!]