Paleonet: Quick survey on paleontology courses in undergraduatecurricula

[James Farlow]

OK, see below

>>> Phil Novack-Gottshall <pnovackg at westga.edu> 4/20/2009 2:42 PM >>>
Dear Paleonet community:

Our department is evaluating some curriculum changes and I was hoping the Paleonet community would be willing to contribute some broader perspective.  Specifically, there is discussion of whether to switch Paleontology from a REQUIRED course in the Core major curriculum to a majors ELECTIVE (and replacing the required Core course with one on Geologic Resources).  If you are so inclined (and especially if you teach in or have recent direct knowledge of undergraduate-only geology programs), would you mind taking a few seconds to answer the following questions?  Yes/no (or similarly brief) answers are fine, but you are welcome to provide additional information if you wish.  (I recognize that this is not a proper statistical survey; I'm just looking for some rough numbers and anecdotal information to enlighten our discussions.  If you're aware of any formal studies, I'd especially appreciate a reference.)

Many thanks,
Phil


1. What college/university/institution are you providing information on?
 
  Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
 
 

2. Does this department confer an undergraduate geology (or similar geoscience) degree?
 
yes
 
 

3. Does this department primarily teach undergraduates?
 
yes
 
 

4. Is paleontology (or a content-similar course) a REQUIRED course in this degree?
 
yes
 
 

5. Do you offer any paleontology-content ELECTIVES in your degree?  If so, which one(s)?
 
Yes--We require a sophomore level intro paleo course, the lectures of which cover principles, and the lab introduces the major groups of plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates.  As electives we offer two senior-level courses in paleontology, one dealing with invertebrate paleontology, and the second with vertebrate paleontology.
 
 

6. Do you offer any deep-time/historical geology-related ELECTIVES in your degree?  If so, which one(s)?
 
No--We require both a freshman course in historical geology, and a junior level course in sedimentology/stratigraphy.
 

7. Do you offer a majors course(s) on geological resources/economic geology/mining?  If so, is it an elective or required course for the major?
 
No
 
 

8. If your program has changed paleontology from a required course to an elective in the past, how do you think this change has impacted your program?
 
N/A--And with three paleontologists in our six-person department, I think such a change is rather unlikely...





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Phil Novack-Gottshall                        pnovackg at westga.edu                       
  
  Assistant Professor                         
  Department of Geosciences
  University of West Georgia
  Carrollton, GA 30118-3100
  Phone: 678-839-4061
  Fax: 678-839-4071
  http://www.westga.edu/~pnovackg 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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