Evolution and Catastrophes

Description of Course Goals and Curriculum

This course is a survey of major mass extinctions that have occurred in geologic time. However, the topics covered do not follow chronologically. Each week tends to cover a separate extinction event. Professor Keller compares different theories regarding the causes and effects of extinction events, and which species evolved before and after. Very little background knowledge is assumed for this class; participation requires instructor approval and it is helpful to have taken some GEO/CHM/EEB courses to show that you are interested. There is a week-long field trip during fall break.

Learning From Classroom Instruction

This class may seem unattractive due to the fact that it is a three-hour lecture block. However, Professor Keller does not lecture for a full three hours. She will usually lecture for 1-1.5 hrs, take a 10 min break, lecture for another hour, and a quick quiz and student participations will follow. The slides are usually posted before class, and it is helpful to print them out ahead of time and take notes in the margins. This prevents you from having to write down anything that has been written for you, and allows you to focus on connecting what was said to what was referenced from the slides.

Learning For and From Assignments

The main assignments in this course are readings and quizzes based on the readings. Each week, several readings are assigned (either textbook chapters or research articles), and 10-min quizzes are give the following week to assess your understanding of the readings. Some questions are strictly recall, while others force you to challenge the assumptions or findings of certain studies. Preparing for quizzes requires close reading of the articles, with close attention to the motivation, background, assumptions, and conclusions. It is helpful to identify these elements in the readings, and synthesize an outline. These outlines can then be reviewed and prior to class in preparation for the quizzes. Understanding questions that you might have missed from quizzes is helpful for exam preparation. Twice per semester, each student will be asked to present on a reading. Presentations require students to understand and reflect on the readings. This requires isolating regions where articles may be unclear, or where assumptions and results could be reasonably challenged. While demonstrating understanding of the readings is important, it is crucial to critically analyze articles by identifying gaps in reasoning or faulty logic. The midterm and final are focused on readings and lectures. One way to prepare for exams is to compare your notes (outlines) from readings to lecture notes, and see how they similar or complement each other. Lectures will often criticize readings and identify their strengths and weaknesses in methods and reasoning. Understanding elements that strengthen and weaken arguments is helpful in answering exam questions. Other questions are more recall-based, and require you to demonstrate understanding of the environmental and evolutionary characteristics that define certain geologic periods. During lecture, Professor Keller will quite clearly express her stance on certain parts of the literature that are controversial. It is important to understand her justification of her criticisms, as these criticisms tend to show up on the exam. The field report is based on notes from the field trip. It is meant to provide students a chance to reflect on what they observed during the trip, and connect observations to topics covered in class. It is expected that students take thorough notes and pictures of geologic sites. Succeeding in this assignment is simple – it is simply meant to show that you have taken good notes and synthesized them into an in-depth understanding of geologic periods and extinction events.

External Resources

Office hours with the TA are very helpful in clearing up questions that you might have regarding missed questions on quizzes.

What Students Should Know About This Course For Purposes Of Course Selection

Many students find this course appealing because of the field trip. While the field trip was a very rewarding experience (both academically and culturally), it required spending long hours outside observing geologic sites, and lengthy car rides between sites. Thus, you should not take this class just for the trip, especially since you will have to prepare a field report based on the trip. If you do this, the trip will not be worth the time that you spend in class. However, if you are indeed interested in the subject matter, the trip is an excellent opportunity to understand how geologic evidence is used to make inferences on past environments, and learn about Moroccan geography and culture. This is a great course to take for students who have an interest in GEO/CHM/EEB topics. It can serve as a departmental requirement for GEO, departmental elective for related departments, or simply a distribution requirement for other majors. Professor Keller is not only THE leading expert in the volcanic K-T mass extinction theory, but also has an amazing life story and teaching style. Having the opportunity of learning from her is independently a great reason to take this course.