CLASS SCHEDULE & LECTURE NOTES

Week I (Jan. 25-27)

• Jan. 26 Lecture: "Into the Darkness of Prehistory: Our Long Quest for Origins"

Week II (Jan. 30-Feb. 3)

• Jan. 30 Discussion: Introductions; Policy Review; Overview of Syllabus; Icebreakers
• Jan. 31 Lecture: "Clocks in the Rocks: The Geologic Record & Geologic Time"
• Feb. 2 Lecture: "Bones in the Stones & Shells in the Shales: Fossils and Fossilization"

Week III (Feb. 6-10)

• Feb. 6 Discussion: The Scale of Geologic Time in-class activity; Homework 1 due
• Feb. 7 Lecture: "Bringing Fossils to Life: Paleobiology and the Methods of Science"
• Feb. 9 Lecture: "'What is It?': Identifying Fossils and the Nature of Species"

Week IV (Feb. 13-17)

• Feb. 13 Discussion: What are Scientific Papers, and How Do We Read Them?; Homework 2 due
• Feb. 14 Lecture: "Descent with Modification: Evolution & Natural Selection"
• Feb. 16 Lecture: "Tempo & Mode: Origins & the Fossil Record"

Week V (Feb. 20-24)

• Feb. 20 Discussion: Platform Presentations overview; Guide to making PowerPoints; Homework 3 due
• Feb. 21 Lecture: "The Tree of Life: Reconstructing the Patterns of Evolution"
• Feb. 23 Lecture: "Climate Emergencies Past & Present: The PETM and the Anthropocene Contrasted"

Week VI (Feb. 27-Mar. 3)

• Feb. 27 Discussion: Midterm I Review; Homework 4 due
• Feb. 28 Lecture: "Awful Changes: Mass Extinctions"
• Mar. 2 Lecture: "Death from Above: The Cretaceous/Paleogene Mass Extinction"
• ONLINE MIDTERM EXAM I Mar. 2-4 (Covers 1/26-2/21)

Week VII (Mar. 6-10)

• Mar. 6 Discussion: Presentations Part I; Final Presentation PowerPoints due for all students
• Mar. 7 Lecture: "Death from Below: The Permo-Triassic Mass Extinction & Mass Extinction Wrap Up"
• Mar. 9 Lecture: "First Impressions to Shell Games: The Garden of Ediacara and the Cambrian Explosion"

Week VIII (Mar. 13-17)

• Mar. 13 Discussion: Presentations Part II; Homework 5 due
• Mar. 14 Lecture: "A Tale of Two Dynasties: The Rise and Fall of Trilobites and Ammonoids"
• Mar. 16 Lecture: "'Fearfully Great Lizards': The Rise of the Dinosaurs"

Spring Break Week (Mar. 20-24)

Week IX (Mar. 27-31)

• Mar. 27 Discussion: Presentations Part III; Midterm II Review
• Mar. 28 Lecture: "'Behold the Mighty Dinosaur': Gigantism, Ontogeny, and Dinosaur Paleoecology"
• ONLINE MIDTERM EXAM II Mar. 28-30 (Covers 2/23-3/14)
• Mar. 30 Lecture: "In the Court of the Tyrant Kings: Paleobiology of the Tyrannosaurs"

Week X (Apr. 3-7)

• Apr. 3 Discussion: Presentations Part IV
• Apr. 4 Lecture: "Feathered Dragons: Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds"
• Apr. 6 Lecture: "Furry Conquerors: Cenozoic Mammalian Diversification"

Week XI (Apr. 10-13)

• Apr. 10 Discussion: Fossil Record in Popular Culture project overview; Homework 6 due
• Apr. 11 Lecture: "Drawing Out Leviathan: The Origins of Whales"
• Apr. 13 Lecture: "The Scatterlings of Africa: The Origins of Humanity"

Week XII (Apr. 17-21)

• Apr. 17 Discussion: Fossil Record in Popular Culture presentations I; Midterm III Review; Fossil Record in Popular Culture PowerPoints due for all students
• Apr. 18 Lecture: "Last Man Standing: The Rise of Homo sapiens"
• Apr. 20 Lecture: "Out of Eden: The Spread of Homo sapiens"
• ONLINE MIDTERM EXAM III Apr. 20-22 (Covers 3/16-4/11)

Week XIII (Apr. 24-28)

• Apr. 24 Discussion: Fossil Record in Popular Culture presentations II
• Apr. 26 Lecture: "The Call of Distant Mammoths: The Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinctions"
• Apr. 28 Lecture: "The Sixth Extinction: The Holocene Extinctions & Modern Defaunations"

Week XIV (May 1-5)

• May 1 Discussion: Fossil Record in Popular Culture presentations III; Homework 7 due
• May 2 Lecture: "Reversing the Tide? Conservation Paleontology, Rewilding, and De-extinction"
• May 4 Lecture: "The Earth After Us: The Fossil Record of the Anthropocene and Beyond"

Week XV (May 8-11)

• May 8 Discussion: Final Exam Review; Homework 8 due
• May 9 Lecture: "Lies, Hoaxes, Profits & Paleoethics"
• May 11 Lecture: "What Good is the Fossil Record? Perspectives of the Prehistoric Past"

Final Exam Season

• May 14-16: FINAL EXAM online

For a formatted printable copy of the complete syllabus, click here.

To the main syllabus

Last modified: 23 January 2023