Matt Friedman, Earth and Environmental Sciences | 2018-2019
This proposal targets a pair of paleontology courses in the 2018-2019 academic year, although we anticipate that our work will impact paleontological learning throughout U-M (see faculty letters associated with this proposal). First, we will use EARTH 437 (Evolution of Vertebrates; F18), an upper-level course with lower enrollment (15-20 students) as a partial roll-out of virtual specimens to guide best practice in terms of student engagement and benefit. This course explores the history of backboned animals through a combination of weekly lectures (3 x 1 hour) and laboratories (3 hours) involving original fossil material. The smaller course size, more experienced student body, and regular and extensive student/GSI/faculty interaction will permit rapid assessment of the effectiveness of different uses of virtual models to ‘tune’ the approach applied to larger courses. The initial trial in EARTH 437 will inform use of these models in EARTH 103 (Dinosaurs and Other Failures: W19). This is a popular mini-course with enrollment typically around 400 and which is often given several times a year. At present, this course is entirely lecture-driven, with minimal interactive component and no direct examination of fossils apart from still images presented in slides. EARTH 103 introduces a range of concepts in the earth and biological sciences using dinosaurs and other extinct organisms as examples. The course emphasizes how careful observation is the key to understanding major features of the natural world, but at present students do not have the opportunity to make such observations for themselves due to the logistical challenges of the large-course format. Virtual fossils will provide a wide range of U-M undergraduates with a unique learning experience where they can actively apply scientific principles rather than recite them.