depts. of organismic & evolutionary biology and earth ... · theriot, e.c., a.e. bogan, e.e....
TRANSCRIPT
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Dinosaurs and their Relatives: a way of teaching
paleontology (& science) to non-science undergraduates
Charles Marshall
Depts. of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology and Earth & Planetary
Sciences; Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology, Museum of
Comparative Zoology; Harvard University
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1) Falling in love
2) Having secured the commitment
engendered by (1), teaching
technique
3) Helping the student transcend
their teachers, to realize their
own personal style
Undergraduate
Non-majors
Undergraduate
Majors
Graduate
School
The 3 Phases of Teaching the Creative Mind (loosely paraphrased from Benjamin Bloom,
University of Chicago)
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Advantages of using dinosaurs as a
vehicle for teaching non-majors
science
1) Many students bring an interest in
dinosaurs, so they already bring
some interest and commitment …
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Advantages of using dinosaurs as a
vehicle for teaching non-majors
science
2) Most sciences require skills non-
majors lack (e.g., math, physics,
chemistry). But with dinosaurs
perhaps the most important skill is an
understanding of anatomy, so they
bring some skills with them (an
experience of their own bodies) …
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Lecture Style:
1) Daily handouts
2) Write on overheads, derived from handouts
Means I go slow enough that they can both write
and assimilate
All material examinable
3) Interspersed with power-point presentations
Illustrate with real fossils, drawings, cartoons
Not examinable
Students able to relax, lose concentration,
stretch several times during lecture -
they are relatively fresh after an 80
minute lecture (at least that’s my story
and I’m sticking to it) …
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Synapsids
Sexual Selection
Parasaurolphus
Sample Handout Pages
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Example of part of power point presentation:
Duckbill and Igaunodont feeding mechanism:
How do they chew, given that they can’t move
the lower jaw from side-to-side?
Rybczynski et al. 2008. Palaeontologia Electronica 11.2.9A
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TDep
thBreadth
Choice of Content: Breadth and Depth
• Geology
• Stratigraphy
• Tectonics
• Evolution
• Species concepts
• All amniotes
• Etc …
• Theropods
• Sauropods
• Ceratopsians
• Hadrosaurs
• etc.
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With a non-majors course I don’t feel a
responsibility to cover everything
Thus can spend time developing real
depth (on the dinosaurs)
And so can teach tools that require some
real depth, something I can’t do as well
with the majors!
Unexpected advantage of non-majors course:
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Lab 3: Building a cladogram: the depth of the course
means that students come to know dinosaur morphology
sufficiently well that they can build character matrices
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Teaching the Scientific Method
• Something I don’t do …
• There seem to be so many ways of
knowing, so many ways of choosing problems,
approaching problems, gathering evidence, etc.,
that I don’t know how to begin to teach The
Scientific Method!
• I teach that science is fundamentally about
story telling, or more correctly, compelling story
telling, and then I proceed to tell my stories (of
how species change, why continents drift, etc.).
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Labs: Hands-on experience with the raw data
(fossils) from which our science flows
• Work in groups (students enjoy working together)
• Most specimen-based
• Cladistics - 2 labs
• Trackways
Assessment:
1) Each lab – hand in exercise at end of lab – 15%
Easy points - reduces competition/promotes
co-operation
2) Lab final – 35 stations – 25%
An Essential Component:
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Lab 4: Saurischians
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Lab 9: Marine Mesozoic Monsters
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Winton trackway - Queensland, Australia
some 3,000 footprints …..
Lab 6: Dinosaurs in Motion
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Thulborn, R.A. & Wade, M. 1984. Dinosaur trackways in the Winton Formation (Mid-
Cretaceous) of Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 21: 413-517.
Peninsula posited to
explain why little
dinos found running
in opposite direction
of carnosaur …
Students get
full credit for
any plausible
scenario
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Spin-offs – as often happens when I teach, my own
understanding deepens:
For example, we all teach that
mammals ecologically
replaced the dinosaurs after
the K/T mass extinction,
and it is easy to fall into the
trap of claiming that
mammals were ecologically
more successful than
dinosaurs …
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But while it is tempting to compare the success of
mammals (Synapsids) vs. Dinosaurs ….
SynpsidsSynapsids
Dinosaurs
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Synapsids
Diapsids
… the correct comparison is Synapsids vs. Diapsids …
Thinking on cladograms changes your perspective
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Theriot, E.C., A.E. Bogan, E.E. Spamer. 1995. The taxonomy of Barney. Annals of Improbable Research 1(1): 107-112
Last question on the final
exam [0 points]: Choose
the best cladogram, or
devise your own …
Where does
Barney go?
Keeping it fun ….
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Keeping it fun …. End of semester showing
of Jurassic Park, with
Commentary …
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How effective? – Evaluation Comments
Q: What did you learn? How did this course change you?
“I learned that there are ways to make science fun for people who hate
science …”
“I actually learned cool stuff. I hate science, but this class was a lot of fun”
“The course definitely re-started my love for the sciences”
“I learned about fundamental concepts in biology through a focus on Dinosaurs”
“I learned more about the Earth, not just dinos”
“Practical knowledge about evolution and biology, although focused on
dinosaurs, you get the big picture across the animal kingdom”
“I learned to think more scientifically and I gained a new appreciation for the
geologic timescale”
“Some knowledge of geology, dinosaurs, how to think scientifically”
“Now I love dinosaurs even more
“I can now impress 4 year-olds with my in-depth knowledge of dinosaurs …”
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..
Questions?
Suggestions?
Comments?