Courses
How to Build an Animal (OEB 58)
Co-taught with Mansi Srivastava
Throughout the course, we consider 10 prominent features of animal anatomy (e.g. eyes, neurons, gonads); study their variation in form and function; and how they are made during embryonic development. Course instruction is a modified version of a ‘flipped classroom’, where we provide one lecture, follow it by a hands-on activity (e.g. dissecting a cow eye; measuring cockroach neuron activity; spawning sea urchins), and finish with a section that discusses a prominent paper from the primary literature.
Vertebrate Evolution (OEB 126)
Undergraduate course
This course provides a comprehensive survey of the origin and evolution of vertebrates through an examination of the fossil record. A primary focus will be on major events in Earth’s evolutionary history, with an emphasis on anatomical and physiological transformations in fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.
Includes a Lab component and a spring recess Fossil Dig which gives students hands-on experience with fossil identification.
Recommended prep: OEB 58, LifeSci 2, and/or one other whole animal biology courses (e.g. OEB 51, OEB 101, OEB 130, OEB 167, OEB 190)
Petrified Forest Spring 2016
Petrified Forest Spring 2017
What makes a....? (OEB 217)
A student directed course that explores the origin and evolution of a particular group of animals* through a mixture of literature discussions, cadaveric dissection and fossil observation. Discussion topics will be broad and far reaching, including such things as: evolutionary dynamics, ecomorphology, and feeding and locomotor performance. Alongside in class discussions, students will participate in dissecting cadaveric material with the aim to build hands-on musculoskeletal knowledge.
*The taxon of focus changes from year to year.Please contact Prof. Pierce for availability.
Prior years:
What makes a RODENT?Included dissecting a capybara What makes a CAT?
Included dissecting a"big cat"