Teaching Biology and Earth Science

The course content is organized along six themes.  Specific course content will be selected from the following:

1.  Cell and molecular biology.  Cell theory; cell structure and organelles; a survey and comparison of biomolecules and their characteristics. Laboratory component will include microscopy and experimental methods.

2.  Organismal biology.  An introduction to plants and animals; vascular tissue; flower structure; organ systems: circulatory and respiratory, digestive, urinary and reproductive. Laboratory component will include animal and plant dissections.

3.  Evolution and ecology.  Process and mechanisms of evolution; evidence for evolution; life history theory; sexual selection; evolutionary medicine; trophic levels and food webs; population and community ecology; biodiversity and biological invasions.  Laboratory component will involve field excursions and laboratory analyses.

4.  The present as key to the past.  Geology as science; earth materials (minerals, rocks); age of the earth; interaction of earth systems (geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere); uniformitarian principle; the rock cycle.  Laboratory component will include: Characteristics and identification of common minerals, techniques for identification, rock classification and identification (hand specimens and microscopic thin sections), cross-section diagrams and interpretation of radiometric and relative dates.

5.  Global change, water, and life.  Long-term and short-term global change; plate tectonics; landscape evolution; the water planet; water as a geologic agent; hydrologic cycle; fossils as evidence of ancient life; fossil evidence for evolution; microorganisms and global change; “background” extinctions and mass extinctions. Laboratory component will include analysis of:  Plate tectonics models and three-dimensional visualization, water table experiments and observations; porosity and permeability; and examination, comparison, and identification of important fossil groups using representative specimens.

6.  Earth resources, hazards, and people.  Character and distribution of natural resources; resources and civilization; resource depletion and enhanced extraction technology; fossil fuels, their products, and energy; sustainability; soils; natural hazards; human influences on hazard frequencies; prediction of hazards; human influence on global change; importance of earth science literacy.  Field trip to review hazards in the BC Lower Mainland: Bedrock instability; mass wasting (soil creep, debris flows); human influences causing instability; earthquake-proofing of structures; acid rock drainage (stream sampling for water chemistry).