Welcome to the FALL

Welcome to the
FALL, 2009
GEOL 34061 INVERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY
writing-intensive course*
at KENT STATE UNIVERSITY

Students collecting Ordovician fossils at
Caesar's Creek State Park - Photo by D. Waugh, Dept. Geology, Kent State Univ.

Two Texts will be Used This Year: Benton & Harper, 2009, Paleobiology and the Fossil Record, and Neil Shubin's national bestseller, Your Inner Fish**. See Syllabus for details.

* To complete the writing-intensive course requirement, a grade of "C" (2.0) or higher must be earned in the course.

(See KSU undergraduate catalog 2009-10 for details, or follow the link above in "writing-intensive" for more information.)

In this web page you will find information to help you succeed in Invertebrate Paleontology.
More information will be added as the semester progresses. The web page currently contains…

COURSE SYLLABUS WITH IMPORTANT DATES

**Useful Weblinks for Further Information about Shubin's book Your Inner Fish

Tiktaalik roseae Virtual Homepage

Interview with the author on UTube - Conversation with History: Your Inner Fish with Neil Shubin

How to Calculate Your Grade in This Course

Grades, Essay & Exam Format, Class Policies, Academic Honor Code

Frequently Asked Questions about the Invertebrate Paleontology Course

Take the Practice Midterm II

LAB SYLLABUS and GRADING POLICY

Lab Presentation Information Center:
How to Assemble your Group Lab Report and Suggested Sources

How to make a simple taxonomic key (a Dichotomous Key)

Identify your Cincinnatian fossils with help from images on this University of Georgia Stratigraphy Lab Web Page by Steve Holland
Identify your Trilobite Fragments with This Great Web Page Link by the Dry Dredgers
See photos of Cincinnatian fossils from Ohio on this Paleontology Portal Web Page

GOT TRILOBITES? Check out Sam Gon III's amazing web page here

Geology Tutoring Lab, 223 McGilvrey Hall (SGE Reading Room) Hours, Beginning 3rd week of semester, are
11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, FREE

USEFUL LINKS

(MAT and Education Majors Note: Highlighted Links have Tools for Educators)

U.C. Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Web Page: Interactive Geologic Time Scale with Great Fossil images and Plate Tectonic Maps of the Past!

The Paleontology Portal: Explore the Fossil Record of the U.S.A., State by State

Step by Step Overview of Milankovitch cycles and glacial/interglacial events from NOAA Paleoclimate Program

See the Zachos et al. 2001 (Science, 292, p.678) Cenozoic Isotope and Tectonic Activity Figure-The BIG Picture

See Photo Images of Meteorite Craters with Age Dates at this Lunar & Planetary Society Web Page

Read about methane Gas Hydrates (Clathrates) and their roles in abrupt climate change and future energy sources on these U.S.G.S. and D.O.E. websites

Nucleosynthesis! See how the Elements are made in the Life and Death of Stars

Read about the Snowball Earth Hypothesis here in this online Geotimes article and on this great Snowball Earth web site funded by NSF

Looking for a Good Book On...

Catching Up on Evolution-Refreshing Your Memory on Key Processes Can be Done on this Berkeley Web Site

The North American Stratigraphic Code - Where to go when you want to know everything about Biozones

Love Horses? See The Fossil Horse CyberMuseum Website at the Florida Museum of Natural History

See the Virtual Cell Animation Movies and Watch ATP Production, Electron Transport, and More!

Chemosynthesis and Hydrothermal Vent Communities-see the video at this NOAA website

Find out about other Educational Tools for Environmental Literacy at this NOAA website

NPR's ScienceFriday "Kids' Connection" Resource Center for Science Teachers

Student Accessibility Policy

University Policy 3342-3-01.3 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sas for more information on registration procedures).

Registration Requirement

Registration Requirement: The official registration deadline for this course is September 13, 2009. University policy requires all students to be officially registered in each class they are attending. Students who are not officially registered for a course by published deadlines should not be attending classes and will not receive credit or a grade for the course. Each student must confirm enrollment by checking his/her class schedule (using Student Tools in FlashFast) prior to the deadline indicated. Registration errors must be corrected prior to the deadline. The last date to drop this course is November 8th.