ANTH 1301 Fall 2014 Online Course Calendar
Week 1 (Aug 25-29)Unit 1301.1 Introduction and course description, syllabus
Unit 1301.2 Major themes and perspectives:
Four key concepts
Scientific illiteracy
Reading assignment: Unit essays, 1301.1, 1301.2
Complete and return pre-test provided via Blackboard
Introduce yourselves in the discussion Coffee House
Week 2 (Sep 1-5)Unit 1301.3 Different ways of knowing
Comparison of myth and science
Creationism and intelligent design
Kitzmiller v Dover, separation clause of the Constitution
Reading assignment: Lewis, Chapter 1
Discussion session #1:Main post due Sep 4
Discussion closes Sep 6
Week 3 (Sep 8-12)Unit 1301.4 Scientific method
Indirect evidence and uniformitarianism/actualism
Hypotheses and theories
Principle of parsimony
Reading assignment: Lewis, Chapter 1, continued
Discussion session #2: Main post due Sep 11
Discussion closes Sep 13
Week 4 (Sep 15-19)Unit 1301.5 Evolution, the mechanism of natural selection
Darwin and the discovery of natural selection
How natural selection works
Reading assignment: Lewis, Chapters 2, 3
Discussion session #3:Main post due Sep 18
Discussion closes Sep 20
Week 5 (Sep 22-26)Unit 1301.6 Race: Humanity’s most dangerous myth.
Mendel, inheritance, recombination
Definition of race. What are species & sub-species? The modern synthesis and the 4 forces of evolution
Reading assignment: Lewis, Chapter 3, 5
Discussion session #4Main post due Sep 25
Discussion closes Sep 27
Week 6 (Sep 29-Oct 3) Unit 1301.6 Race: Humanity’s most dangerous myth, cont’d.
Reasons why race doesn’t work
Failed attempts to measure/classify diversity
Natural selection, mutation, gene flow and environment
Reading assignment: Lewis, Chapter 4
Complete sports quiz on American Anthropological Assoc. website
Paper #1 assigned; due Oct 10
Discussion session #4: Main post due Oct 2
Discussion closes Oct 4
Exam #1: Due by Oct 5
Week 7 (Oct 6-10)Unit 1301.7 Primate studies
Primate evolutionary trends
Comparative anatomy
Behavioral comparisons with humans
Reading assignment: Lewis, Chapters 6, 7
Discussion session #6: Main post due Oct 9
Discussion closes Oct 11
Paper #1 due Oct 10
Week 8 (Oct 13-17)Unit 1301.8 Fossil evidence for human evolution, part 1
Bipedal locomotion, the defining hominid trait
Australopithecus, Paranthropus, Homo habilis
Reading assignment: Lewis, Chapters 8, 9
Discussion session #7: Main post due Oct 16
Discussion closes Oct 18
Paper #2 topic assigned; due Oct 25
Week 9 (Oct 20-24)Unit 1301.9 Fossil evidence for human evolution, part 2
Homo erectus, Homo floresiensis
Homo sapiens and Neanderthals
Reading assignment: Feder & Park, Chapters 10, 11
Discussion session #8:Main post due Oct 23
Discussion closes Oct 25
Paper assignment #2 due Oct 25
Week 10 (Oct 27-31) Unit 1301.10 Origin and dispersal of modern humans
Archeological evidence for culture change
Models for the spread of modern humans
Symbolic communication and H. sapiens land use patterns
Reading assignment: Lewis, Chapter 12
Discussion session #9:Main postdue Oct 30
Discussion closes Nov 1
Exam #2:Due Nov 2
Week 11 (Nov 3-7)Unit 1301.11 Peopling of the New World
Hunter-gatherer behavior and evaluation of Overkill model
Clovis-first, or not? Reconsideration of traditional views
Glacial chronology
Reading assignment: Lewis, Chapter 13
Discussion session #10:Main reply due Nov 6
Discussion closes Nov 8
Week 12 (Nov 10-14)Unit 1301.12 Food Production and the Neolithic Revolution
Mesolithic/Archaic transitions
Hunter-gatherer vs. horticultural adaptations
Multiple geographic hearths of domestication
The agricultural trap; modern oil dependency
Reading assignment: Lewis, Chapter 14
Discussion session #11:Main post due Nov 13
Discussion closes Nov 15
Week 13 (Nov 17-21)Unit 1301.13 Evolution of civilizations
What it means to be civilized
What conditions or circumstances lead to civilization?
The nature of state level political organization
Systemic consequences
Reading assignment: Lewis, Chapter 15
Discussion session #12:Main post due Nov 20
Discussion closes Nov 22
Week 14 (Nov 24-28) Unit 1301.14 Global warming: legacy of human development?
Climate change denial
The evidence for human induced climate change
Choices in how we respond
Reading assignment: Lewis, Chapter 16
Sullivan, “Uncommon Grace”
Begley, “Global-Warming Deniers”
Discussion session #13:Main post due Nov 27
Discussion closes Nov 29
Paper #3 assignment due Dec 4
Exam #3: Due by Dec 7