GEOL 159: Prehistoric Life

Content of the Course

Welcome to GEOL 159! This course is an introduction to the history of life on our planet, beginning with the first oceans over 3.5 billion years ago. Because paleontology is an integrative science, basic information from a number of disciplines such as biology, geology, and chemistry will be used to understand the big picture. However, this course assumes no prior knowledge of biology, geology, or chemistry other than a high school-level background.

Evolution is currently the only viable scientific theory for the origin and history of life. As a part of science, evolutionary theory necessarily excludes metaphysical considerations such as ultimate origins (where the universe came from and why it exists) and whether a supernatural entity or force has also influenced the origin of life and its history. However, this course will go beyond the bounds of science to examine metaphysical alternatives to evolutionary theory. In doing so, we will explore the relationship between scientific and nonscientific perspectives.

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What You Will Learn

This course will cover the following topics:

• the scientific perspective

• the nature of life and the conditions and resources necessary for the maintenance of life

• the way that metaphysical explanations have shaped our views of the origin of life

• how fossils are formed, and how fossils and other scientific data are used to determine ages and the geological time scale

• the full range of life forms from the earliest bacteria to modern humans, excluding the plant kingdom

• what evolutionary theory entails and how it integrates scientific and historical data from many sources to explain the broad patterns of biological change through 3.8 billion years of Earth's history

• the origin of invertebrates and characteristics of major invertebrate taxa

• the origin of vertebrates and characteristics of their major groups

• evolutionary transitions linking fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals with their ancestral stock groups

• the nature of life in the Triassic Period, when mammals and dinosaurs first evolved

• the biology, life habits, classification, and evolution of dinosaurs

• the genealogy of our own species--human--beginning with shrew-like primate ancestors over 65 million years ago.

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Texts

• Prehistoric Life(CD-ROM), by Joseph G. Carter and Michael J. S. Tevesz, DFB Books (Chapel Hill), 2002

The CD-ROM is available from Higher Grounds at the Friday Center. You can order it online, or you can print out the book order form to fax or mail with payment for texts as indicated on the form.

The CD-ROM text is available in PC-format; it also works with Macintosh computers running OS X or higher.

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Library Resources

Students enrolled in Carolina Courses Online can access online library resources from the UNC Library System by linking to Library Services for Distance Education Students. This site includes information on using general online reference works as well as accessing e-reserves.

If you are using an off-campus computer, you will need to enter your UNC Onyen and password to access the library resources. The UNC library staff is available to assist any students who have difficulties accessing online library resources. If you encounter difficulties, please visit this Web page for reporting a problem and the Proxy Server Team will respond.

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Course Structure and Requirements

• Lessons and assignments: 40%
• Midterm: 15%
• Final: 15%
• Discussion forum participation: 15%
• Paper (1): 15%

All assignments are due by 11:59 pm Eastern time on the date indicated in the course schedule.

Midterm and final exams: The midterms and final exam will be e-mailed on the dates indicated in the Lesson Schedule and will have a specified time by which to complete and return them by e-mail. Exams not returned by the specified time will lose points in proportion to the number of minutes they are late. Note that these exams are e-mailed via the class listserv in Blackboard, so you must keep us informed of any changes in your e-mail address.

Discussion forum: The discussion forums will be online discussions of assigned topics between you and your group members or the class at large. Aside from posting your response to the primary discussion question, you must post at least two messages in the forum on three different days during each lesson to earn full participation points. Your participation in the forum will be monitored by your instructor, who will engage with you on the discussion forum when appropriate. Please use the forum to ask questions about the readings, share ideas and opinions, and work with fellow students throughout the semester.

Paper: You will turn in a two- to three-page, 12-point font, double-spaced paper on a scientific journal article pertaining to some aspect of paleontology (fossils, evolution, preservation, and so on—your choice, as long is it's relevant to the course). You MUST read a journal article from a journal such as Nature, Science, Paleos, and so on. Ask me if you need help finding a journal article.

The paper will be worth 15 percent of your grade. It will consist of three parts:

1. A summary of the article and an explanation of why it is important/relevant. (two paragraphs)
   
2. A critique of the article based on what you've learned in the class: that is, is the information correct? Is it thorough? How well did the author explain the material? What did the author do well? What needed work? (two to three paragraphs)
   
3. Four or five open-ended questions that the article brought up. You must also provide a complete reference for the article (title, author name, journal/paper name, volume, and so on).
   

Expectations: All assignments must be written in your own words. If you acquire information from sources other than the text (other Web sites, journals, and so on), then those sources must be clearly and completely cited in your work.

You should avoid close paraphrasing and frequent quoting from the text or other sources. Your assignments should show me that you have a firm grasp of the material; relying too much on the wording and structure of the text suggests otherwise.

If cheating or plagiarism is suspected, you will receive one warning. Subsequent suspected incidents will be reported to the Honor Council. You are expected to read and understand the Honor Code (see Honor Code section below).

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Course Mechanics

Blackboard

Some of your class components (discussion forums, exams, and announcements) are accessed through a software package called Blackboard, and you will need to login to Blackboard using a unique identifier known as your UNC Onyen (Only Name You'll Ever Need) and Onyen password.

There is a link to the Blackboard site in the gray navigation bar at the top of every page in this course. Click on that link, and then use your Onyen to login to Blackboard. Click on the "GEOL 159" link, and you will see navigation buttons on the left side of the screen labeled Announcements, Discussion Forum, and so on.

If you experience problems accessing Blackboard, this is what you should do:

• If you do not already have a UNC Onyen, go to the Onyen Web site and follow the instructions for creating an Onyen.
• If you have an Onyen but have forgotten it (or the password), you will find help on go to the Onyen Web site.
• If you have your Onyen but can't log in to Blackboard, contact Janice Durham at the Friday Center.
• If you can log in to Blackboard but can't find this course listed, contact Janice Durham at the Friday Center.
• If you can't locate an exam or discussion forum in Blackboard, contact the Instructional Designer.
• If you have other technical problems while using Blackboard, contact Blackboard Help (use the Help button in Blackboard, or call 919-962-HELP).

Library Services and E-reserves

Students enrolled in Carolina Courses Online can access online library resources from the UNC Library System by linking to Library Services for Distance Education Students. This site includes information on using general online reference works as well as accessing e-reserves.

If you are using an off-campus computer, you will need to enter your UNC Onyen and password to access the readings. The UNC library staff is available to assist any students who have difficulties accessing online library resources. If you encounter difficulties, please report your problem by visiting this Web page for reporting a problem.

E-mail

All communication from your instructor will go to your UNC Onyen e-mail address (the one that appears when you post to the discussion forum). Off-campus users can access their UNC e-mail using Webmail. You can have your e-mail forwarded to a different e-mail address by clicking “Forward e-mail” at the Onyen Web site.

If you use a filter on your e-mail account, you are responsible for ensuring that it does not prevent you from receiving messages from me, the course listserv, or Friday Center staff. Hotmail users should be aware that Hotmail will block messages sent from within Blackboard because Blackboard uses “blind carbon copy” to protect privacy. We recommend that you use your UNC Onyen e-mail account rather than forwarding to Hotmail for this course.

Submitting Assignments

It is extremely important for you to save copies of any work you send to me via e-mail. If I don't receive your work, you must have a duplicate copy, indicating the date sent, to prove that you submitted the assignment on time. It is your responsibility to maintain copies of your sent e-mails, as there is no way to guarantee that any e-mail message will be delivered.

Please check your e-mail software to see how it manages sent and saved messages. Some software automatically deletes messages one month after they have been sent; others only save messages if they are filed in folders; others save messages received but not those sent. You may need to send yourself a copy of your e-mailed assignment at the same time you send it to your instructor, or you may need to print a copy of the e-mail message and any attachments to keep in your paper files. No matter how your system works, make sure you know how to save a copy of all work that you submit to your instructor and that you save the copy for several months beyond the end of the course.

Other Questions

Contact your instructor with questions regarding the content of the course and your progress. There is an e-mail link to your instructor at the top of every lesson page. Please include "GEOL 159" in the subject line of your e-mail.

Contact the instructional designer at the Friday Center about problems with this Web site, including bad links.

If you have any logistical questions as you work through the course (enrollment, credits, withdrawal, and so on), contact the Student Services staff at the Friday Center for Continuing Education (phone 919-962-1134 or 800-862-5669)

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Lesson Schedule

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Honor Code

Remember that as a student of UNC-Chapel Hill, you are bound by the University's Honor Code, which states that "It shall be the responsibility of every student at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to obey and support the enforcement of the Honor Code, which prohibits lying, cheating, or stealing when these actions involve academic processes or University students or academic personnel acting in an official capacity."

All graded academic work must include a pledge comprised of the following: "No unauthorized assistance has been received or given in the completion of this work." An especially serious Honor Code violation is plagiarism. If you have questions, please consult your instructor. If cheating or plagerism is suspected, you will receive one warning. Subsequent suspected incidents will be reported to the Honor Council.

You should avoid close paraphrasing and frequent quoting from the text or other sources. Your assignments should show me that you have a firm grasp of the material; relying too much on the wording and structure of the text suggests otherwise.

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Lesson 1