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Teaching next summer
When I was working at Dmanisi this summer, I used a lot of my free time to develop a course on human evolutionary developmental biology, or evo-devo. I submitted this to my department, and I’m excited...
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A poor depiction, indeed
As I’ve alluded to in some previous posts, in the Spring semester of 2012, I’ll be teaching “Anthrbio 297: Human Evo-devo” at the University of Michigan. It should be a really fun and interesting...
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Look inside bones for free on the interwebs
I forget how I stumbled upon this badass resource, but Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute made a “Digital Morphology Museum: an awesome online database of CT scans of sundry primate skeletal...
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Calotte or Carapace?
Is this the top of a hominid skull, replete with sagittal crest running down the middle, or is it the top of a tortoise shell? This image comes from great resource I just found (thanks to Louise Leakey...
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A new year of bioanthro student blogging in Kazakhstan
A new year is upon us, our hair is a bit grayer and our telomeres a touch trimmer. Twenty effing fourteen. It’s been a bit quiet here at Lawnchair, as I’ve been enjoying the holidays, but also writing...
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Online primate anatomy lab exercise
I work at a very freshly opened University in Kazakhstan, a school so young that we will not graduate our first class for another year. I came here for the exciting prospects of helping establish an...
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Lessons from limb lab (activity)
This semester I have added a lab component to my Introduction to Biological Anthropology class. Lab activities and assignments provide students with opportunities to gather data, to think about them in...
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Results of the toe-tally easy lab activity
Alternate title: Dorsal canting in primate PPP4s Earlier this year I suggested a classroom activity in which students can scrutinize the evidence used to argue that the >5 million year old (mya)...
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Virtual paleontology activity
Last week Nazarbayev University hosted an Instructional Technology Showcase, in which professors demonstrated some of the ways we use technology in the classroom. This was the perfect venue to show off...
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A new year of bioanthro lab activities
One of my goals in teaching is to introduce students to how we come to know things in biological anthropology, and lab activities give students hands-on experience in using scientific approaches to...
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Bioanthro lab activity: Estimating Miocene ape body mass
We’ve arrived at the Planet of the Apes, also known as the Miocene, in my “Bones, Stones and Genomes” course. The living apes are but a small remnant of what was a pretty successful radiation starting...
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Bioanthro lab activity: Primate proportions
My Intro to Bio Anthro course, focusing on human uniqueness, has moved from the brain to bipedalism. After the abysmally big brain, perhaps the most grotesque aspect of the human species is our wont to...
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Gracile & robust Australopithecus
Last week, I introduced my Human Evolution students to the “robust” australopithecines. It was a very delicate time, when we had to have a grown up, mature conversation about adult things. I reminded...
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Bioanthro lab activity: What species is it?
We’re learning about the divergence between robust Australopithecus and early Homo 2.5-ish million years ago in my Human Evolution class this week. Because of this multiplicity of contemporaneous...
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Bioanthro lab activity: Sexual dimorphism
A few weeks ago we examined sexual dimorphism – characteristic differences between males and females – in my Intro to Bioanthro class. Sexual dimorphism roughly correlates with aspects of social...
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Bioanthro lab activity: Hominin brain size
Last week in my Human Evolution class we looked at whether we could estimate hominin brain sizes, or endocranial volumes (ECV), based on just the length and width of the bony brain case. Students took...
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Updated bioanthro syllabi
This term I’m teaching two of my favorite classes, and I’ve updated their syllabi on my Teaching page. First is a 200-level class about human biological variation and issues surrounding race. Second...
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Scientific Racism
The site’s been quiet in 2017, with little time to blog on top of my regular professional responsibilities, and of course watching the fascist smoke rising from the garbage fire of our 45th...
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New anthropology syllabi for 2017
This Fall I’m teaching three courses at Vassar, two in Anthropology and one in Environmental Studies. Syllabi are posted to my Teaching page in case anyone wants to use them – here are the highlights:...
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