lecture: D229, Mon & Wed
11:00-11:50
seminars: B328, 1: Thu 11:00-11:50, 2: Fri: 11:00-11:50
lab: A101, open lab (you should plan to be in the lab approximately 2 hours per
week)
additional text:
Darwin, C., The Origin of Species (available in bookstore or read the full text on-line at: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/origin.html)
HONORS GOALS
Develop ability to analyze and evaluate a primary work of scientific research, present a clear description of that analysis to a broad audience
Develop ability to defend scientifically-based assertions in front of an audience that is likely to challenge them.
Develop skills in identifying, analyzing, and evaluating secondary resources that agree and disagree with the primary work
Develop abilities to organize and work in small, project-based groups.
HONORS SECTION REQUIREMENTS
Seminar We will read and discuss “The Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin. At the end of the semester, the students will present a review of key components of Darwins’s book and explain how those ideas have or have not been supported by research that has taken place in the 150 years since Origin was published.
Visit to Field Museum We will visit the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago to tour the Evolving Planet exhibit and speak with a paleontologist about fossils and evolution.
Presentation(s) During the second half of the semester, the students The Honors students will need to consider the background and viewpoints of their audiences and develop materials designed to engage and educate an audience that will likely be skeptical of and potentially hostile to the theory of evolution.
| week of | READING T: chapters to be read from "Historical Geology" |
SEMINAR TOPIC Chapters in The Origin of Species (linked to on-line edition) |
LAB
EXERCISE DUE L: lab chapter (handouts for rock and fossil identification are attached) |
| 1/11 | Introduction to Honors Historical Geology | ||
| 1/18 (off Mon) |
T 1: The Dynamic
and Evolving Earth T 2: Earth Materials - Minerals and Rocks |
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| 1/25 | T 2: Earth
Materials - Minerals and Rocks T 6: Sedimentary Rocks |
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| 2/1 | T 2: Earth
Materials - Minerals and Rocks T 6: Sedimentary Rocks |
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rock
descriptions & origins - 15 pts. (L: Chapter 1 ) |
| 2/8 | T 5:, p. 85-87: Fossils |
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fossil
descriptions - 15 pts. L 4: p. 142-147 |
| 2/15 (off Mon) |
T5: Rocks, Fossils, & Time |
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| 2/22 | T5: Rocks,
Fossils, & Time project introduction T 6: Sedimentary Rocks |
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Stratigraphy
- 20 pts. rock core description and correlation L3: p. 112-120, parts A, B, C |
| 3/1 | T 3: Plate
Tectonics WED: TIME SCALE EXAM |
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Facies mapping - 15 pts.
L 3: (101-106) ex. 3-2, 3-3, 3-4 |
| 3/8 | L: Chapter
2, p. 86-87, ex. 2-9 L: Chapter 5, p. 232-235, Map B, ex. 10 MID-TERM EXAM (take home) |
Chapter 13: Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology: Embryology: Rudimentary Organs | match rocks to environments of formation - 30 pts |
| 3/15 (off Fri) |
MON: MID-TERM EXAM
DUE MON: The Archean Eon
WED: T 4: Geologic Time |
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| 3/22 |
SPRING BREAK |
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| 3/29 |
MON: T 4: Geologic Time WED: Proterozoic Eon |
Chapter 14: Recapitulation and Conclusion | Time and
Ordering of Events - 15 pts. L: Chapter 2, p. 70-76, parts A-F ex 2-9 (p. 86-87) Radiometric Dating - 15 pts. |
| 4/5 |
MON: Cambrian & Ordovician WED: Silurian & Devonian |
Genetics | Early
Paleozoic fossils - 15 pts. (handout) L: Chapter 4, p. 147-150, 156-198 Handbook of Illinois Stratigraphy |
| 4/12 |
MON: Mississippian - Permian WED: Triassic & Jurassic |
Paleozoic Rocks of Illinois |
Late
Paleozoic fossils - 15 pts. (handout) L: Chapter 4, p. 142-150, 156-198 Handbook of Illinois Stratigraphy |
| 4/19 |
MON: Cretaceous WED: Paleogene & Neogene |
Mass Extinctions | Mesozoic
fossils - 15 pts. (handout) L: Chapter 4, p. 142-150, 156-198 Handbook of Illinois Stratigraphy |
| 4/26 |
MON: Pleistocene & Holocene WED: T7: The Diversity of Life |
presentation prep OR presentation | Cenozoic
fossils - 15 pts. (handout) L: Chapter 4, p. 142-150, 156-198 Handbook of Illinois Stratigraphy |
| 5/3 | T 7: Evolution |
wrap-up and evaluation OR presentation | cladogram - 10 pts. |
| 5/10 | T 7: Evolution | ||
| FINAL EXAM (Wednesday, 5/12) | |||