General Syllabus: Geosci PS 1600, Dinosaurs and The Fossil Record

Meeting Times: Tuesdays, 5:30 to 8:20
Meeting Place: North Ridge High School
Instructor: Ben Dattilo
Phone: Days (SLC) 536-4173 evenings 773-2468
Email: bdattilo@qwest.net

Required Text: History of Life, by Richard Cowen, 3 rd edition, 2000, Blackwell Science, Inc., ISBN 0-632-04444-6.

Week	Date	Chapter	Subject	Web Notes (provide some helpful info)
Week 1	August 28	1	Origin of Life	What are fossils and what are they useful for? Fossilization. Geological time. Nature of the rock record: environments and missing time Origins of the earth, Ocean, atmosphere, and life.
		2	Earth's Earliest Life
Week 2	September 4	3	Sex and Nuclei: Eukaryotes	The Precambrian fossil record The Origin of the Eukaryotes Classification of organism Organic evolution
		4	The Evolution of Animals
Week 3	September 11	5	Life in a Changing World	Structure of Marine communities The record of plankton and nekton. Filter feeders More filter feeders - the bivalves . Detritus feeders. Marine invertebrate predators Refugees and ancient climates. Processes of extinction
		6	Extinction
Week 4	Sept 17-22	Test 1	Chapters 1 through 6	Exam is available in any Testing Center, Monday through Saturday of week 4.Don't be late--check testing center schedule.
Week 4	September 18	7	The Early Vertebrates	The origin and early evolution of land communities (all three this link).
		8	Leaving the Water
Week 5	September 25	9	Amphibians and Reptiles	The rise of amphibians and the importance of eggs. and everything else you need to know Paper topics due. Paper Requirements
		10	Reptiles and Thermoregulation
Week 6	September 30	11	The Triassic Takeover	The rise of dinosaurs.
Week 7	October 9	12	Dinosaurs
Week 8	October 16	13	Warm-Blooded Dinosaurs?
		14	The Evolution of Flight
Week 9	October 23	15	The Origin of Mammals
Week 10	Oct 22 - 27	Test 2	Chapters 7 through 15	Exam is available in any Testing Center, Monday through Saturday of week 4.Don't be late--check testing center schedule.
Week 10	October 30	16	Marine Reptiles	Marine vertebrate predators
		17	Why Flowers are Beautiful	Marine vertebrate predators
Week 11	November 6	18	The End of the Dinosaurs	Also Election Day
Week 12	November 13	19	Cenozoic Mammals	Early mammals. Paleobiogeography.
		20	Geography and Evolution	Early mammals. Paleobiogeography.
Week 13	November 20	21	Primates	Early primate evolution.
		22	Evolving toward humans	Early primate evolution.
Week 14	November 27	23	The Ice Age	Paper Due. Paper Requirements
		24	Humans and the Ice Age	Paper Due. Paper Requirements
Study Week	Dec 3-7			Final will also be available during study week Review
Finals Week	Dec 8-13	Final Exam	Comprehensive	The last day to take the final exam in the testing center is Thursday!! see me before the exam starts if this is a problem.

Class Work/ Grading

Item	Number	Percent of Grade
Exams	2	40%
Final Exam	1	30%
Project/Paper	1	30%

Letter Grades--maximum requirements

90-100	A- to A
80-89	B- to B+
70-79	C- to C+
60-69 <60	D- to D+ F

General Syllabus: Geosci PS 1600, Dinosaurs and The Fossil Record

Week

Date

Chapter

Subject

Web Notes (provide some helpful info)

Class Work/ Grading

Letter Grades--maximum requirements