Dinosaurs and their Relatives: a way of teaching

paleontology (& science) to non-science undergraduates

Charles Marshall

Depts. of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology and Earth & Planetary

Sciences; Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology, Museum of

Comparative Zoology; Harvard University

1) Falling in love

2) Having secured the commitment

engendered by (1), teaching

technique

3) Helping the student transcend

their teachers, to realize their

own personal style

Undergraduate

Non-majors

Undergraduate

Majors

Graduate

School

The 3 Phases of Teaching the Creative Mind (loosely paraphrased from Benjamin Bloom,

University of Chicago)

Advantages of using dinosaurs as a

vehicle for teaching non-majors

science

1) Many students bring an interest in

dinosaurs, so they already bring

some interest and commitment …

Advantages of using dinosaurs as a

vehicle for teaching non-majors

science

2) Most sciences require skills non-

majors lack (e.g., math, physics,

chemistry). But with dinosaurs

perhaps the most important skill is an

understanding of anatomy, so they

bring some skills with them (an

experience of their own bodies) …

Lecture Style:

1) Daily handouts

2) Write on overheads, derived from handouts

Means I go slow enough that they can both write

and assimilate

All material examinable

3) Interspersed with power-point presentations

Illustrate with real fossils, drawings, cartoons

Not examinable

Students able to relax, lose concentration,

stretch several times during lecture -

they are relatively fresh after an 80

minute lecture (at least that’s my story

and I’m sticking to it) …

Synapsids

Sexual Selection

Parasaurolphus

Sample Handout Pages

Example of part of power point presentation:

Duckbill and Igaunodont feeding mechanism:

How do they chew, given that they can’t move

the lower jaw from side-to-side?

Rybczynski et al. 2008. Palaeontologia Electronica 11.2.9A

TDep

thBreadth

Choice of Content: Breadth and Depth

• Geology

• Stratigraphy

• Tectonics

• Evolution

• Species concepts

• All amniotes

• Etc …

• Theropods

• Sauropods

• Ceratopsians

• Hadrosaurs

• etc.

With a non-majors course I don’t feel a

responsibility to cover everything

Thus can spend time developing real

depth (on the dinosaurs)

And so can teach tools that require some

real depth, something I can’t do as well

with the majors!

Unexpected advantage of non-majors course:

Lab 3: Building a cladogram: the depth of the course

means that students come to know dinosaur morphology

sufficiently well that they can build character matrices

Teaching the Scientific Method

• Something I don’t do …

• There seem to be so many ways of

knowing, so many ways of choosing problems,

approaching problems, gathering evidence, etc.,

that I don’t know how to begin to teach The

Scientific Method!

• I teach that science is fundamentally about

story telling, or more correctly, compelling story

telling, and then I proceed to tell my stories (of

how species change, why continents drift, etc.).

Labs: Hands-on experience with the raw data

(fossils) from which our science flows

• Work in groups (students enjoy working together)

• Most specimen-based

• Cladistics - 2 labs

• Trackways

Assessment:

1) Each lab – hand in exercise at end of lab – 15%

Easy points - reduces competition/promotes

co-operation

2) Lab final – 35 stations – 25%

An Essential Component:

Lab 4: Saurischians

Lab 9: Marine Mesozoic Monsters

Winton trackway - Queensland, Australia

some 3,000 footprints …..

Lab 6: Dinosaurs in Motion

Thulborn, R.A. & Wade, M. 1984. Dinosaur trackways in the Winton Formation (Mid-

Cretaceous) of Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 21: 413-517.

Peninsula posited to

explain why little

dinos found running

in opposite direction

of carnosaur …

Students get

full credit for

any plausible

scenario

Spin-offs – as often happens when I teach, my own

understanding deepens:

For example, we all teach that

mammals ecologically

replaced the dinosaurs after

the K/T mass extinction,

and it is easy to fall into the

trap of claiming that

mammals were ecologically

more successful than

dinosaurs …

But while it is tempting to compare the success of

mammals (Synapsids) vs. Dinosaurs ….

SynpsidsSynapsids

Dinosaurs

Synapsids

Diapsids

… the correct comparison is Synapsids vs. Diapsids …

Thinking on cladograms changes your perspective

Theriot, E.C., A.E. Bogan, E.E. Spamer. 1995. The taxonomy of Barney. Annals of Improbable Research 1(1): 107-112

Last question on the final

exam [0 points]: Choose

the best cladogram, or

devise your own …

Where does

Barney go?

Keeping it fun ….

Keeping it fun …. End of semester showing

of Jurassic Park, with

Commentary …

How effective? – Evaluation Comments

Q: What did you learn? How did this course change you?

“I learned that there are ways to make science fun for people who hate

science …”

“I actually learned cool stuff. I hate science, but this class was a lot of fun”

“The course definitely re-started my love for the sciences”

“I learned about fundamental concepts in biology through a focus on Dinosaurs”

“I learned more about the Earth, not just dinos”

“Practical knowledge about evolution and biology, although focused on

dinosaurs, you get the big picture across the animal kingdom”

“I learned to think more scientifically and I gained a new appreciation for the

geologic timescale”

“Some knowledge of geology, dinosaurs, how to think scientifically”

“Now I love dinosaurs even more

“I can now impress 4 year-olds with my in-depth knowledge of dinosaurs …”

..

Questions?

Suggestions?

Comments?