College of Mount St. Joseph
IDS 255
"FOSSILS
AND
EARTH HISTORY"
Syllabus
Autumn Semester, 2008
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College of Mount St. Joseph |
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IDS 255 |
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"FOSSILS |
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Syllabus |
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Autumn Semester, 2008 |
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Course Description
Preface
Instructor
Texts and other materials needed
Course web-site
WebCT
Electronic-mail
Important dates and times
Attendance (and tardiness)
Field-trips
Assignments and preparing for class
Format for submissions
At test-time ----- And before
Grading
Academic honesty
Electronic devices in class
Tape-recording class-sessions
ADA
Relationship of this course to your liberal-arts education
About the photograph at the top of this web-page
About this web-page -- Caveat lector !
An introductory course designed to introduce the student to the science of paleontology. Emphasis of the course is on how fossils are interpreted and how they contribute to our understanding of Earth history and ancient environments. The course will focus on the fossil-record of major groups of organisms and will cover such aspects as their organic evolution, biogeography, and paleoecology.
No college-level science-background is needed.
Lecture, lab. Required field-trips will be scheduled. 4 credit-hours.
(The above is mostly from the Undergraduate Catalogue.)
Even as every course is a living thing, this syllabus is a living document. In the course of the term, it might be advisable (or even necessary) to make modifications in the syllabus. (Of course, proposed changes will be discussed in class prior to going into effect.)
A Note on Format:
This syllabus is designed for "The Web". Hence, some parts of of it are below, whereas others are reached by following links. If you choose to print out the syllabus, please, be certain to print out the documents reachable by links.
| office: | SC 304A (SC = Science Building) |
| mail-box: | the office of the Department of Biology, SC 205 |
| 'phone: | ext. 4699 (full number: 513-244-4699) |
| electronic-mail: | r_a_davis@mail.msj.edu |
| office hours: | [Please,
schedule an appointment on the sign-up sheet outside SC 304; if no available slot works for you, please, contact me, and we'll find a time of mutual convenience.] |
TEXTS and OTHER MATERIALS NEEDED
REQUIRED BOOKS AND MAPS
Davis, R. A., 1992, Cincinnati Fossils. An Elementary Guide to the Ordovician Rocks and Fossils in the Cincinnati, Ohio, Region: Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, 61 p. [ISBN 1-882151-00-3; paper-back; note that some copies bear the incorrect date, 1998, but the contents appear to be the same.].
Prothero, Donald R., "2004", Bringing Fossils To Life: An Introduction To Paleobiology (second edition): McGraw-Hill, New York, viii + 503 p. (ISBN 0-07-366170-8).
Feldmann, Rodney M., and Merrianne Hackathorn, editors, 2005, Fossils of Ohio (reprint of 1996 edition, with minor revisions): Ohio Division of Geological Survey, Bulletin 70, xx + 577 p. (ISBN 0-931079-05-5).
United States Geological Survey. Burlington, Ky--Ohio, 7.5-minute quadrangle map.
United States Geological Survey: Topographic Map Symbols. 4-page leaflet [ISBN 0-607-96942-3; supposed to be free!].
RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Davis, Richard Arnold, and Roger J. Cuffey, eds., 1998, Sampling the layer cake that isn't: The stratigraphy and paleontology of the type-Cincinnatian: Ohio Division of Geological Survey, Guidebook No. 13, iv + 194 p.
There are some other materials that you will find useful in the class-room. Please, do not go out and buy these before we discuss them in class:
1. pocket-knife (the blade of which you won't mind getting scratched) 2. iron nail 3. copper coin 4. small porcelain tile (white; unglazed) 5. small glass bottle or jar or small piece of window-glass with edges sanded (to remove sharpness) 6. hand-lens (wait until after first day of class to acquire) 7. lanyard or cord for your hand-lens 8. two sharp pencils (lead not too hard) 9. good eraser for same 10. protractor (circular and transparent [= clear] preferred) 11. straight edge with metric and English units (30-cm length) 12. graph paper (English units, 10 divisions to the inch) 13. stapler and staples 14. compass (the kind used to draw circles) 15. If you have a compass (the kind that points north), bring it, but you don't need to go out and buy one, unless you really want to do so.
Note: You should make it a habit of carrying your hand-lens with you at all times (and not just for lab.-sessions). You might need it unexpectedly some time.
MATERIALS NEEDED ----- in the field
In addition to the above, there are some other materials that you will find useful in the field. Please, do not go out and buy these before we discuss them in class:
1. plastic or paper bags (for collecting specimens) 2. fine-point, permanent marker (with which to write on the bags) 3. newspaper, aluminum-foil, or whatever, in which to wrap specimens collected 4. bound field-note-book 5. something with which to write in your field-note-book. Note that: "ink" of ball-point pens generally smears; the "ink" of some markers will run, if it gets wet, so these are not good in the field; too-soft pencil-"lead" will smear, too. 6. field-bag or back-pack in which to carry everything on field-trips, including specimens collected
RECOMMENDED MATERIALS
I strongly recommend that you acquire what you need to make back-ups of documents you generate on computer. For example, you could have a stock of CD-R discs and cases for them. Or you could use one of the so-called "flash-drives" or "thumb-drives".
In any case, you will need, from time to time, to submit material on disc.
There is a web-site specifically for this course. In fact, if you are reading this, you are at that web-site. The URL of the home-page is:
http://inside.msj.edu/academics/faculty/davisr/ids255/index.htm
WEB-CT, ELECTRONIC-MAIL, and so on
In this course, we will be using a soft-ware package called WebCT to provide you access to information pertinent to the course and the subject-matter of the course.
From time to time you will be sent electronic-mail messages; you will be expected to be aware of the contents of these messages. You also will be expected to communicate with the instructor by electronic-mail on occasion and with other members of the class, too. In short, if you are not already familiar with how to use the College's electronic-mail system, you should become so. Moreover, you should develop the habit of checking your electronic-mail on a daily basis.
Please, follow this link for further information, details, and advice on WebCT and electronic-mail in this course.
Unless otherwise announced, class meets from 1245 until 1530 (= 12:45 - 3:30 p.m.) on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, 25 August through 3 December 2008, with the exception of 27 November (Thanksgiving Day).
Tests will be administered on the following dates, unless otherwise announced:
| Tuesday, | 25 September *: | in class | |
| Tuesday, | 21 October *: | in class | |
| Thursday, | 6 November: | in class | |
| Wednesday, | 10 December: | 1030 - 1220 [= 10:30 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.] | -- "the final" |
[* = revised date]
(As you know, Friday, 26 September, is the last day you may drop a class without record; after that, at least a "W" must be assigned. The absolute last day on which a class may be dropped is Friday, 31 October; after that, a letter-grade must be assigned.)
All but one of the field-trips will take place during regular class-time. There will be one all-day field-trip; it is scheduled for Sunday, 02 November 2008. (For more information, see "Field-Trips".)
You will not be graded formally on whether you attend class. Having said that, I must point out that folks who attend class almost always do better in a course than do those who do not attend class. I very strongly urge you to attend each and every class- and laboratory-session.
I will be monitoring attendance in class and the lab. The purpose of taking attendance is not to keep tabs on you for the grading, but, rather, to provide information to aid in my helping you, in the case that you find you have trouble in the course.
Because people coming in late disrupt the class, you are expected to be in the class-room and ready to begin work at the scheduled start of each class- and laboratory-period. Your not being so may result in loss of points or your exclusion from the class-room.
Please, follow this link for further information, details, and advice on attendance in this course.
There will be several field-trips during the course.
On field-trip days, you should report to the specified location suitably attired
and equipped for the announced subject and nature of the field-trip. Use of radios, telephones, other communication devices,
and such like are not permitted on field-trips without the prior, specific permission of the instructor. Because it is so important actually to see and experience geology (including paleontology),
rather than just to hear or read about it, attendance on field-trips is required (as indicated in the official College class-schedule).
Lack of attendance on field-trips will have an effect on your cumulative score for the course. If you miss a field-trip, you still are responsible for the material covered on the field-trips,
and you will be assigned to prepare a lengthy paper on that material. ASSIGNMENTS and PREPARING FOR CLASS Because you are mature adults, I will not make specific reading assignments in the texts.
After all, authors and editors go to considerable time and trouble to compile tables-of-contents and indices for
their books. There may be specific reading assignments in sources other than
(and in addition to) the course texts. You should come to class familiar with
everything available in the texts, course web-site, etc., on the
announced subject or subjects of the class. A well-known guide-line is that a student should
work two hours outside of class for every hour in class ----- reading, studying,
organizing and rewriting notes, answering the questions at the ends of chapters
and in any published study-guide available, and so on. Thus, in this course,
which consists of a bit under six hours of in-class time per week, you should
expect to spend a minimum of some 12 hours of genuine work outside of class each
week. Please, follow this link for further information, details, and advice on
assignments and preparing for class in this course. Please, follow this link for information on the format,
and so on, that should be used in preparing anything that is to be submitted
in this course. Grades in this course are based on evaluation of
tests, home-work assignments, laboratory work and assignments, participation in
field-trips, and a final project. There will be four tests, including that
designated "the final"; all four will have equal weight. In order to allow
everyone to "have a bad day" without penalty, the lowest test-score of the first
three will be dropped and not used in determination of the course-grade (in
other words, the score of the fourth test may not be dropped). However, except
for an excused absence, if you miss a test, the score for that test, a zero,
will not be dropped. (Unless prior arrangements to the contrary have been made
with me [the instructor], you are expected to be present for all tests, and
make-up tests will NOT be administered on a routine basis. If you miss a
test due to illness or genuine emergency, bring suitable documentation [for
example, a letter from a medical doctor] and consult with me.) Because information on any given subject is
cumulative, thus also will be each test; however, unless otherwise announced,
each will emphasize material covered since the previous test. Tests will include both "objective" questions
involving definitions of technical terms, important names, dates, etc.,
and "essay-questions" and such like to test your understanding of ideas and how
to manipulate and use them, the terms, etc. In addition to tests, there will be some required
home-work/laboratory assignments, with the total points to be derived
being equivalent to those of a test. Attendance on Field-trips Because it is so important actually to see and experience geology
and paleontology, rather than just to hear or read about them, attendance on field-trips is required.
Unless other arrangements have been made with the instructor, lack of attendance on a field-trip
held during class-time or lab.-time will result in a deduction of 25 points from your cumulative
score for the course. Similarly, lack of attendance on an all-day field-trip will result in
a deduction of 50 points from your cumulative score for the course. Letter Grades Letter grades will be assigned on the basis of the pattern of distribution of
cumulative scores. As indicated previously, the score of one test of each student will be
dropped in the calculation of the final scores upon which the letter grades in the course are based. This poses a dilemma.
Because one score will be dropped, and because there is no way to know until the end of the course just which score will turn out to
be the lowest, a given student's cumulative score is definitive only at the end of the course. Hence, if a "letter grade"
were to be estimated at any point before the end, it would be misleading. The result is that, although a given
student will know his or her cumulative score at any given point in the course, that student will not know just what his or her
letter grade is prior to the end. In a recent offering of this course, the total cumulative-score possible was
600 points. Letter grades were assigned on the basis of the pattern of distribution of cumulative scores.
That pattern yielded the following scheme: per cent The above table is given to help you estimate how your letter-grade
might be assigned. However, the actual scheme that ends up being used this year may not match those of the above-given chart
----- depending on the actual distribution of the cumulative scores this year. Please, follow this link for further information, details, and advice on
grading in this course. The goal of this course is to add to your individual knowledge, perceptions,
skills, etc. Thus, in order to evaluate your, individual progress, we need
to be certain that what we see of your work really is yours. The College has adopted the policy on academic honesty printed in the College
Catalogue. Please, familiarize yourself with it ----- and conduct yourself accordingly. Please, follow this link for further information, details, and advice on
academic honesty in this course. TELEPHONES are not to be used in class or on field-trips, except in cases of
genuine emergency. Whilst you are in class or on a field-trip, any telephone in your possession:
letter grade
points
A
90.0 +
540 +
B
78.5 - 89.9
471 - 539
C
69.3 - 78.4
416 - 470
D
51.7 - 69.2
310 - 415
a. is to be set so as not to "ring" audibly b. is not to be within your sight
(thus, you are NOT permitted either to receive or send "text-messages")
Out of respect for the privacy ot others, you are not to record the sound or image of another person without obtaining his or her specific, prior permission.
RADIOS, AND SUCH LIKE, are not to be used in class or on field-trips.
COMPUTERS:
If you bring a lap-top computer to use in class, please, be certain it is fully charged before you arrive in the class-room. Because of the danger of cords strung across aisles, you may NOT connect your computer to an electrical outlet in the class-room.
If you use a computer in class or on a field-trip, it is to be used only in a way directly relevant to the class. If you are at all in doubt as to what constitutes "directly relevant", check with the instructor beforehand. ("Non-relevant" use may result in your being denied the use of a computer in the class-room.)
The following activities are not allowed during class or while on field-trips ----- unless you are specifically instructed to do so by the instructor:
a. text-messaging b. checking, receiving, or sending electronic-mail messages c. "surfing the WEB" d. use of ear-phones or similar devices e. use of a camera or other photographic capability f. use of a microphone or other sound-recording device
Tape-recording of class-sessions without prior, specific permission of the instructor is not allowed. Even when such permission is given, the student must agree that the recordings are for the personal use of the student and will not be shared with anyone else either by means of the original tapes, copies of the tapes, or any kind of transcription of the tapes. Moreover, the student must agree to erase or otherwise destroy the tape-recorded matter upon the completion of the course or upon withdrawal from the course.
RELATIONSHIP OF THIS COURSE
TO YOUR LIBERAL-ARTS EDUCATION
"Learning Outcomes" and "Performance Indicators"
The College of Mount St. Joseph has adopted the following "learning-outcomes" and "performance-indicators". (These are presented in the College's Undergraduate Catalogue [source: http://www.msj.edu/catalog/0305/core.htm on 05 January 2004]. The lettered items are "learning-outcomes", and the "performance indicators" are numbered thereunder.)
A. "Global/Citizenship" -- Understand and appreciate the interdependence and interrelatedness of all people as well as of people and their environment:
1. Document and reflect on participation in a service or leadership experience during the College years; 2. Demonstrate knowledge about global issues confronting persons in the contemporary world; 3. Explain aspects of the Judeo-Christian tradition as they intersect with other religions, philosophical ideologies, and global issues; 4. Reflect critically on personal and professional development during the college years in the context of global citizenship.
B. "Ethics" -- Understand the Judeo-Christian ethical tradition and recognize ethical responsibility in one’s personal and professional life:
1. Describe ethical responsibilities in the context of professional and/or scholarly practice; 2. Explain how the Judeo-Christian tradition emphasizes social justice and responsibility; 3. Assess ethical concerns of a problem or dilemma; 4. Construct and defend an ethical response to a problem or dilemma.
C. " Interdependence/Interdisciplinarity" -- Draw on disciplinary perspectives and integrate their insights through construction of a more comprehensive perspective:
1. Demonstrate a capacity for inclusive, not dualistic, thinking recognizing the presence of ambiguity; 2. Compare and contrast viewpoints from different disciplines and perspectives (multidisciplinarity); 3. Integrate knowledge and concepts across disciplines (interdisciplinarity); 4. Explain the global interconnectedness of social and natural systems.
D. "Sociocultural Relationships" -- Understand social and cultural influences on behavior:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of culturally held and socially maintained biases; 2. Explain the influence of social and cultural diversity on human systems; 3. Explain how religious and spiritual values influence social practices; 4. Demonstrate knowledge of the continual development of societies (for example, religious influences, economic conditions, philosophical ideologies, etc.); 5. Understand the interdependence of people from different social and cultural backgrounds.
E. "Communication" -- Construct and interpret various forms of communication including written, oral, and visual effectively and ethically:
1. Control surface features (syntax, grammar, punctuation, spelling), presentation and documentation; 2. Adapt messages (form and structure) to meet the needs of the audience and context; 3. Use communication media effectively and creatively.
F. "Critical/Creative Thinking" -- Reason in an open-ended manner to evaluate a situation, generate multiple solutions and support the reasoning behind a solution:
1. Distinguish among categories of information (e.g., fact, opinion; relevant, irrelevant; biased, unbiased); 2. Interpret quantitative and qualitative information; 3. Support a position with appropriate evidence; 4. Integrate one’s own ideas with those of others to address an issue; 5. Demonstrate an ability to apply a creative process using imagination and intuition to solve a problem.
Course Objectives in the Context of the LA & S "Learning Outcomes" and "Performance Indicators"
The word "paleontology" is derived from three Greek words that, together, mean "the study of ancient existence", or, by extension, "the study of fossils". Thus, paleontology is the science that encompasses the overlap of geology, which deals with the history of the Earth, and biology, which deals with Life.
This course is intended to provide students with knowledge and understanding of
a. the history of the Earth, and of Life on Earth, and of their relationships b. the evidence wherefrom we derive those histories and the interpretation of that evidence, viz., fossils and rocks c. the history of the study of paleontology and of the methods and ways of thinking used in that study ----- in yesteryear, today, and into the future d. the immense scale of the geologic history of the Earth e. the incredible diversity of Life as it has existed on Earth for the last several billion years f. Who "owns" fossils? What about those on federal or state property?
LA & S "Learning
Outcomes" and "Performance Indicators", and
Evaluation of Student Performance of Same
Successful completion of this course requires that students:
1. demonstrate a knowledge of and an understanding of: a. how planet Earth got to be as we see it today b. how life on Earth got to be as we see it today c. how incredibly long those histories have been (C1-C3) 2. demonstrate proficiency in locating and evaluating information (E1-E3) 3. develop and refine their abilities to make accurate and precise observations and measurements of geologic and paleontologic entities and phenomena (F1-F4) 4. develop and refine their abilities to use "the scientific method" in using those data to derive reasonable conclusions about the history of Earth and its organisms (E1-E3, F1-F5) 5. demonstrate a knowledge of the history of geology and paleontology and an appreciation of the impact this has had, and continues to have, on human perspectives (A2, A3, D1, D4) 6. demonstrate a knowledge of and an appreciation for the importance of geologic and paleontologic specimens and localities as the basis for human understanding of the history of Earth and of the life that inhabits the planet (B1, C4, D1, D4, E1)
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPH AT THE TOP OF THIS WEB-PAGE
The photograph at the top of this web-page is of the ammonoid cephalopod Discoscaphites gulosus (Morton, 1834) from the Maastrichtian Stage (Upper Cretaceous), Fox Hills Formation, South Dakota. This copyrighted photograph was published as the frontispiece in the book Landman, Neil H., Kazushige Tanabe, and Richard Arnold Davis, 1996, Ammonoid Paleobiology: Plenum Press, New York, xxiv + 857 p.
The photographer was J. Beckett. The image is number 45282 of the American Museum of Natural History, which holds the copyright.
ABOUT THIS WEB-PAGE -- Caveat lector !
This web-page was constructed using MS-FrontPage and its version of html. The results have been previewed by way of MS Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, things that look fine when viewed with Internet Explorer sometimes look rather peculiar when viewed with Netscape. For example, there can be unexpected and unpredictable changes in the size, shape, style of type, or some combination of these. Moreover, sometimes different versions of Internet Explorer do not present the same web‑page in the same way; for example, hyphens in one version can mutate into empty rectangles in another. Alas!
(To return whence you came,
please, use the "Back" feature of your web-browser.)
24, 25, and 28 August 2008; 02 September 2008; 02 October 2008