Human Origins: Evolution and Diversity
Spring 2014
ANTHROPOLOGY 1020
HUMAN ORIGINS: EVOLUTION AND DIVERSITY
Instructor:
Rachelle Handley
Email: rgreen2@bruinmail.slcc.edu
Mail Stop: HAN CT266
Phone: 801-949-0267
Class Location:
Class Time:
Office Hours:
Library Square Campus (LSC) Room 401
Saturday 11:30 AM – 02:20 PM
Saturday – Before Class 10:30 AM- 11:30 AM
Text: Essentials of Physical Anthropology by Jurmain et al., 9th ed.
http://www.cengagebrain.com/micro/1-1GQPR6F
Reserved Readings: Electronic Reserve on Canvas course page:
http://ereserve.slcc.edu/eres/default.aspx Password: darwin
(Note: Instructor will be Schafer)
Course Description: Introduction to biological anthropology; surveys of hominid fossils, primate biology
and behavior, human biological variation, ecology and adaptation, and evolutionary theory.
Student Learning Outcomes: By the end of this course, students will be able to describe the holistic
approach of anthropology, the subfields of biological anthropology, basic biological principles including
evolutionary theory, define topic-specific terms, critically evaluate the evidence biological anthropology
has to offer in support of human evolution, including the uniqueness of biocultural evolution, and
communicate effectively about evolution.
Requirements: There will be 400 points divided as follows:
1. Exams: there will be three non-cumulative exams (including the final) worth 100 points each.
These tests will consist of multiple choice, true/false, short answer and essay questions. The
lowest exam score will be dropped, therefore the total number of points towards your grade
will be 200.
2. Quizzes: There will be a quiz each week, this will be conducted online in canvas. The quiz will
need to be completed prior to class and will be on the reading materials that will be covered
that day in lecture (you will not have a quiz on the week we have an exam). Each quiz will be
worth 10 points, the two lowest quiz scores will be dropped, therefore the total number of
points towards your grade will be 100.
3. Writing Assignment: This is your signature assignment for your ePortfolio, this is required for
all General Education Courses. This assignment will be worth 25 points and will include a
written paper (20 points) plus an in class presentation (5 points).
4. Class attendance/participation: Attendance and participation in class will be recorded for each
class, this includes exam days (you cannot leave after exams as we will be holding class
afterward since we only meet once a week). Full credit will be received if you attend the entire
class and participate in class activities. Only partial credit will be given if only part of the class is
attended or if a portion of a class activity is missed. No credit will be given when a class is
missed entirely. There are 15 classes (not including the day of the final), each worth 5 points,
Human Origins: Evolution and Diversity
Spring 2014
therefore the total number of points towards your grade will be 75. You are allowed two
absences during the semester without any loss of points.
Extra Credit: There will be 4 opportunities to earn extra credit, each will be worth 5 points for a total of
20 possible extra credit points. These opportunities include:
1. Posting your signature assignment to your eportfolio page. Due at the time of your signature
assignment.
2. The other 3 opportunities will come from lab reports based on lecture and classroom
activity materials.
Exam Schedule: There will be no make-up exams except for pre-approved, documentable absences.
Test 1 – February 15
Test 2 – March 22
Test 3 – May 3
Grading
A
90-100%
B
80-89%
C
70-79%
D
60-69%
E
59% or below
Final Grades will include a (+) and minus(-) within the major letter grades.
Other Important Dates:
Classes Begin – Monday 01/13/2014
Last Day to Add Classes – Wednesday 01/22/2014
Tuition Due – Wednesday 01/29/2014
Last Day to Drop Classes with 100% Refund – Monday 02/03/2014
Spring Break – Monday 3/10/2014 – Saturday 03/15/2014
Last Day to Withdraw (No Refunds) – Monday 3/24/2014
Last Day of Classes – Thursday 05/01/2014
Reading Day – Friday 05/02/2014
Final Exams – Saturday 05/03/2014 – Thursday 05/08/2014
Fall Graduation (Commencement) – Thursday 05/08/2014
Grades Available – Wednesday 05/14/2014
Human Origins: Evolution and Diversity
Spring 2014
General Education E-Portfolio
This course fulfills the biological science requirement for the General Education Program at Salt Lake
Community College. It is designed not only to teach the information and skills required by the discipline,
but also to develop workplace skills and to teach strategies and skills that can be used for life-long learning.
This course, when combined with other General Education courses, will enable you to develop broader
perspectives and deeper understandings of your community and the world, as well as challenge previously
held assumptions about the world and its inhabitants.
For more information: http://www.slcc.edu/learningcenter/docs/EPortfolioManual.pdf.
SLCC requires all students enrolled in General Education courses to maintain a General Education
ePortfolio. Your ePortfolio will allow you to include your educational goals, describe your extracurricular
activities, and post your resume. When you finish your time at SLCC, your ePortfolio will then be a multimedia showcase of your educational experience. For detailed information including a Student ePortfolio
Handbook, video tutorials for each ePortfolio platform, classes, locations and times of free workshops and
other in-person help, visit www.slcc.edu/gened/eportfolio.
Your signature assignment will discuss and reflect on a current issue/development in the field of
biological anthropology due ON DATE ASSIGNED, NO EXCEPTIONS. Instructions are available on
Canvas.
Accommodations for Persons with Disabilities:
Salt Lake Community College is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere that
reasonably accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. Students with medical, psychological,
learning or other disabilities desiring accommodations or services under A.D.A. must contact the Disability
Resource Center. The DRC determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of these accommodations
and services for the college. Please contact the DRC at the Student Center, Suite 244, Redwood Campus.
(801) 957-4659 or by email: linda.bennett@slcc.edu. For more information see http://www.slcc.edu/drc/.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is taking credit for another person’s words, works, and ideas or failing to acknowledge that
person’s words, works, and ideas. If you borrow from someone else you must give that person credit
through proper citations. The first offense in which students are caught plagiarizing or cheating on
assignments and tests will result in the failure of that assignment. A second offense may result in course
failure. For more information, see http://www.slcc.edu/policies/docs/Student_Code_of_Conduct.pdf.
The instructor may use plagiarism-detecting service such a Turnitin http://turnitin.com/. Matches greater
than 25% are not acceptable.
Human Origins: Evolution and Diversity
Spring 2014
Student Responsibilities
Conduct and Expectations:
1. Students are referred to the Student Code of Conduct regarding appropriate behavior, cheating,
plagiarism, discrimination, etc. Please visit:
http://www.slcc.edu/policies/docs/Student_Code_of_Conduct.pdf.
2. Turn off all cell phones prior to class. We will be taking breaks, so please make/return text/calls at that
time.
3. Reserve non-course conversations, reading, web surfing, etc. for outside of class.
4. Disruptive students may be asked to leave the classroom.
5. Bring textbook to class as it will be referenced during lecture.
6. Students are encouraged to attend class as it is a part of the grade. Students are responsible for all
readings, assignments, and tests, regardless of attendance.
7.
No late work will be accepted and there will be no make-up exams for ANY reason.
The lowest test score and the two missed classes are dropped from the final grade to allow for any
necessary absences. Students must turn in their signature assignment on the scheduled day of their
presentation, and the presentation must be done on the day assigned. Students are responsible for
staying up to date on readings, attending class, keeping track of any assignments and due dates, and
being prepared for exams. The instructor does not provide any written notes nor are the PowerPoint
presentations used in class available outside of lecture. It is the student’s responsibility to obtain
lecture notes from another student if class is missed.
Schedule of weekly topics. Students are responsible for all readings. Readings need to be done before
class in order to have a basic understanding of the material lectured on in class, and to have background
information for class activities and quizzes. The Reserve Readings can be accessed online through the link
provided in Canvas; the password is sapiens.
Class videos are on SLCC’s Films on Demand: http://digital.films.com.dbprox.slcc.edu/Dashboard.aspx
Human Origins: Evolution and Diversity
Spring 2014
Note that the syllabus is not binding and is subject to change. Any changes will be announced in
class and on the Canvas webpage so you are advised to check in regularly.
Date
Topic
Reading Assignment
01/18/2014
Introduction to course
Introduction to anthropology
Scientific Method
01/25/2014
History of evolutionary theory
Natural selection
02/01/2014
Genetics
02/08/2014
Principles of Inheritance
Microevolution
02/15/2014
Exam 1
Text Chapters
1: Introduction
Reserve Readings:
Bad Breath Gangrene, and God’s Angels
Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs
Class Activity: Scientific Method – What is it? How does it Work?
Video: Ted Talks – Jane Goodall, Amber Case, Louise Leakey
Text Chapters
2: The Development of Evolutionary Theory
Reserve Readings:
Darwin’s Rib
Evolution as Fact and Theory
Class Activity: Natural Selection - Favorable vs. Unfavorable
Variation
Video: Darwin’s Evolution and Natural Selection: It’s Place in
Todays World
Text Chapter:
3: The Biological Basis of Life
Reserve Readings:
Which of our Genes Makes us Human?
Class Activity: DNA – How to Build a DNA Molecule
Somatic vs. Gametes – Mechanics of Cell Division
Video: The Book of Life: Genetics and Evolution
Text Chapter:
4: Heredity and Evolution
Appendix C, p. 391-393
Reserve Readings:
Curse and Blessing of the Ghetto
Class Activity: Punnett Squares – What are they? How do they
work?
Video: Peas in a Pod
Video: Journey of Man: The Story of the Human Species
02/22/2014
Survey of primates
03/01 /2014
Primate behavior
03/08/2014
Macroevolution
Primate evolution
Text Chapter
6: An Overview of the Primates
Appendix A: Atlas of Primate Skeletal Anatomy, p. 378-385
Reserve Readings:
Community Ecology
Close Encounters
Class Activity: Primates – What do they look like and where do
they come from?
Video: Among the Wild Chimpanzees
Text Chapter
7: Primate Behavior
Reserve Readings:
Dance of the Sexes
Class Activity: Primate Adaptations – What do they tell us?
Video: Cousin Bonobo
Text Chapter
5: Process of Macroevolution
8: Primate and Hominin origins, p. 186-200
Appendix B, p. 386-390
Reserve Readings:
What, if anything, is a Zebra?
Human Origins: Evolution and Diversity
Spring 2014
What is a Species
Planet of the Apes
Class Activity: Hominins & how they differ from Hominids
Video: Ape Genius
03/15/2014
03/22/2014
N O C L A S S
Exam 2
- S P R
03/29/2014
Australopithecines
Homo erectus
04/05/2014
‘archaic’ Homo sapiens
04/12/2014
Modern Homo sapiens
04/19/2014
Human biological variation,
adaptation, growth and
development
04/26/2014
Forensics
05/03/2013
Final Exam
I N G
B R E A K
Video: Becoming Human – First Steps
Text Chapters
8: Primate and Hominin origins, p. 198-227
9: First Dispersal of the Genus Homo
Appendix B, p. 386-390
Reserve Readings:
Finding Lucy
Littlest Human/How the Hobbit Shrugged
Class Activity: Who’s Who? Introduction to Hominins
Video: Becoming Human – Birth of Humanity
Text Chapters
10: Premodern Humans
Reserve Readings:
Food for Thought
Class Activity: Funny French words and the Paleolithic
Video: Becoming Human – Last Human Standing
Text Chapter
11: The Origin and Dispersal of Modern Human
Reserve Readings:
African Data Bolster New View of Modern Human Origins
Are Humans Still Evolving?
Class Activity: Brain Size and Ingenuity – Do they correlate?
Video: Will Our Kids Be A Different Species? – Juan Enriquez
Text Chapters
12: Human Variation
Reserve Readings:
Racial Odyssey
Differential Mortality and the Donner Party Disaster
Class Activity: Race – What does it mean? Does it exist?
Video: Skin Deep: Nina Jablonski’s Theory of Race
Text Appendices
Appendix A: Atlas of Primate Skeletal Anatomy, p. 378, 381-385
Appendix D: Sexing and Aging the Skeleton, p. 394-398
Forensic Anthropologists in the Contemporary World, p. 24--25
Paleopathology, p. 340-341
Reserve Readings:
Saartje Baartman
NAGPRA and the Future of Skeletal Research
Recovery and Identification of Civil Victims of War in Croatia
The Iceman Reconsidered
Class Activity: Forensic Identification – Guest Speaker Derinna
Kopp Utah State Forensic Anthropologist
Video: Nightmare In Jamestown