Teaching Paleontology in the 21^st Century

Tools for Teaching

Classroom, lab, and field activities for teaching paleontoogy.
Descriptions of courses that address paleontology content, plus syllabi.
Internet Resources related to paleontology and teaching paleontology

Goals for Teaching Paleontology

What are we trying to accomplish in teaching a paleontology course? Participants at the workshop Teaching Paleontology in the 21st Century have offered their thoughts on what we might want students to be able to do after they have finished with an entry-level paleontology course. View example goals for teaching paleontology.

Paleontology Course Design

There is no one right way to organize an undergraduate paleontology course. Some courses are organized around taxonomy and sequential consideration of specific phyla, others around big picture concepts. Participants at the workshop on Teaching Paleontology in the 21st Century workshop (July 2009) offer their thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of four different approaches, along with suggestions for successful implementation.

If it's time to really shake the tree and do something about your paleontology course, try the online Cutting Edge Course Design Tutorial, which is designed to guide you through a practical, effective strategy for redesigning your course. You might also find the section on innovative teaching strategies helpful as you think about your course.

Paleontology Course Surveys

Participants at the Teaching Paleontology workshop submitted surveys that provide information on how paleontology is taught at the undergraduate level. The results of survey #1 (Microsoft Word 180kB Aug3 09) provide demographics on paleo courses, as well as information on student misconceptions, topics that students find particularly difficult, and recent advances that should be incorporated into paleo courses.

Field Trip Safety

Is your department thinking about developing field trip policy documents and forms? If so, we have some sample forms (including one patterned after the OSHA health and safety forms used by consulting firms) plus a short rationale for adopting policies to address the issue of the risks inherent in taking students into the field.

Module on Geochemical Instrumentation and Analysis

This module provides an on-line tutorial of the analytical techniques commonly used to characterize geological materials. The goal is to help novices (such as students or scientists working out of their field) to gain an understanding of mineralogical, petrological and geochemical analytical techniques. This module covers X-ray crystallography, electron microbeam, elemental analysis, mass spectrometers and more. See the entire list of techniques covered on this site.

Data Base of Geochemical Analytical Equipment

Our Analytical Instrument Database provides a browseable list of institutions who are willing to provide access to their analytical instrumentation for researchers, lab managers, instructors and students looking to gain access to analytical instruments such as SEM, electron microbeam, x-ray diffraction, x-ray fluorescence and more. The data base provides contact and terms-of-use policies. You can also add your equipment to the data base.

2009 Workshop

Follow this link for more information on the July 2009 workshop, being held at Cornell University and the Paleontological Research Institute in Ithaca, NY.

Join the Discussion

Join our paleontology email list. Share insights, ask questions, or network with other faculty. The link above will also provide access for list members to the email list archives and allow you to unsubscribe.