MCDB 3330: Evolution & Creationism


MCDB 3330 Evolution & Creationism M.W. Klymkowsky where and when to be announced course map current week

DATE

TOPIC - [read]

25 Aug.

Getting to know one another and finding out who knows what
[watch - openmindedness][watch - skewed views of science] [the secret life of chaos]
[read Grayling][read Wright] [listen to the problem of evil]

27 Aug.

Thinking scientifically and non-scientifically
[read- Demarcation of the absurd] [review - from biofundamentals]
[hubble deep field and understandable ideas]

1 Sept.

Thinking about the origins of variation (in class work).

3 Sept.

Discovering fossils and diversity
what evolution theory has to explain
[read - Evolutionary gems][read - transitional fossils]
"He who rejects this view of the imperfection of the geological record will rightly reject the whole theory" - Ch. Darwin.

8 Sept.

A little earth science [read relative time scale]
[geological time scale - image]
[read sections on plate tectonics, radiometric dating & deep time]

10 Sept.

Biological thinking before and after Darwin & Wallace
[read]
[if you can't stop - all six editions of the Origin of Species]

15 Sept.

Biological classification [a little formative assessment]
[read - Dennett - Universal Acid]
[read- Dimetrodon and tree thinking]

17 Sept.

Phyllogeny and biological unity [bring you laptop]
[phylogeny fun in class] [read]

22 Sept.

The new synthesis – Mendel, genes and mutations
[read - origin of the bacterial flagella]
[read - evolution of the flagella]
[read - evolution of the eye]
[read - mitochondrial transport machinery]

24 Sept.

Molecular promiscuity & chaperones - their effects on evolution
[read - Protein dynamism and evolvability]
[read- A quantitative index of substrate promiscuity]
[read - Multicopy suppression underpins metabolic evolvability]
[read - Chaperones and evolution]

29 Sept.

Gene and genome duplication
[read - The evolutionary significance of ancient genome duplication]
[read - Duplication of fgfr1 permits FGF signaling to serve as a target for selection during domestication]
read - Human lineage-specific amplification, selection, and neuronal expression of DIF1220 domains.
[read evolution after gene duplication]
[skim - Copy number variation in human health, disease, and evolution]

1 Oct.

Non-adaptive processes (drift and bottlenecks)
[read- human population bottlenecks]
[read -non-adaptive effects]
[listen to stochasticity][background - new homonid fossil]

6 Oct.

historic and genetic contingency :: Preliminary description of project due
[read - Historical contingency and the evolution of a key innovation]

8 Oct.

sexual selection,
[read - Sex is always well worth its two-fold cost]
[read - Monogamy and the battle of the sexes]
[read - The strategic use of sex in wild female western gorillas]

13 Oct.

evolution of morality: social scenarios
[read - the Social Brain][read - the evolution of morality]
morality

15 Oct.

[read: religious objections to evolution] [Darwin's quotes]
[Islamic creationism]
[optional - God & Nature: Historical essay on the encouter between Christianity and Science, D.C. Lindberg & R.L. Numbers]

20 Oct.

flavors of creationism: young and old earthers
[read - Pennock review]

22 Oct.

flavors of creationism: intelligent designer and interventionists
[read Biological design in the classroom]

27 Oct.

separation of church and state

[read Wedge][read Katzmiller]

29 Oct.

Why is teaching/accepting evolution hard (or is it)
[read "Teaching evolution effectively"]

student presentation topics (2009)

The evolution of migration
The evolution of vitamin C dependency in primates
Male pregnancy in seahorses
Evolution of whales
Evolution of blind cavefish
Evolution of the oral cavity
Evolution of the eye
Evolution of music (music appreciation)
Origin of the elements (atomic evolution)
Evolution of consciousness
Evolution of venom in lizards and snakes
Evolution of love
Evolution of the modern horse
Evolution of nematocysts (stinging cells)
Social Darwinism and social evil
Transitional fossils in evolution and creationism
Evolution of the Bombardier Beetle
Cancer as an evolutionary process
Interpreting H. floresiensis
Evolutionary origins of a moral sense
Homosexuality and evolution processes
Science/Religion: intelligent design and evolutionary theory
Defining humans: scientific and religious perspectives
Evolutionary reasons for imperfect design
Education policy and teaching science
Evolution of blushing

5 Nov.

10 Nov.

student presentations: 3-4-5-6-7 [presentations]

12 Nov.

student presentations: 8-9-10-11-12 [presentations]

17 Nov.

student presentations: 13-14-15-16-17 [presentations]

19 Nov.

student presentations: 18-19-20-21-22 [presentations] final handed out

Thanksgiving break

1 Dec.
[TEACH IN]

student presentations: 23-24-25-26-27 [presentations]

3 Dec.

student presentations: 28-29-30 [presentations] papers handed in (friday, the 4th)

8 Dec.

reviews returned - final exam questions considered - reviews handed back

10 Dec.

the end of the semester social - final paper due

FINAL EXAM DUE Monday, 14 December!!!

Course description: An intensive lecture/discussion course on the interrelationships among science, religion, and social policy. Includes historical and scientific development of evolution theory, social Darwinism/sociobiology, and the public perception of science.

This course is approved as an Arts & Sciences natural science and critical thinking course. Prereq., MCDB 1111/1150. EBio 1210, high school AP Biology, or instructor consent.