INSTRUCTOR

SYLLABUS

TOPIC SCHEDULE

GRADES

STUDENT
CODE of ETHICS

ASSIGNMENTS

ACTIVITIES

RETURN TO A105

 A105 Human Origins and Prehistory 
Spring 2002 Syllabus
Instructor: Leslie Harlacker
Office: Student Building 348
Phone: 855-0870 
E-mail: lharlack@indiana.edu OR piltdown13@aol.com
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:00-11:30, or by appointment.

Course Goals : We will explore the story of how humans evolved over the past 5 to 7 million years, covering a wide range of topics including evolutionary thought, modern primates, and the ever-expanding fossil and archaeological record. We will also examine scientific explanations for some uniquely human characteristics.  I hope that by the end of the course you will have a better appreciation of the ways in which science has attempted to explain how humans came to be the way they are.

Required Text: Understanding Physical Anthropology and Archaeology by William A. Turnbaugh, Robert Jurmain, Lynn Kilgore, and Harry Nelson. 

 Class assignments will occasionally require you to consult sources other than your textbook; on those occasions, I will place materials on reserve at the Geography and Map Library, which is on the bottom floor of the Student Building, on the side nearest the Union.

 Though not required , I encourage any student having trouble with the genetic information presented in class to have a look at The Cartoon Guide to Genetics by Larry Gonick.  Those who become especially interested in that topic might find The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins of interest.  These should be available at local bookstores, or through the major online booksellers; I will also place my copies on reserve in the Geography and Map Library.  Many popular books concerning human origins and prehistory have been published in the past few years; I will be posting a list of some of the better ones on the course website for anyone who’s interested.

Course Website :  There is a website for this course, which can be accessed by pointing your browser to http://www.indiana.edu/~a105lh.  I urge you to familiarize yourself with it as soon as possible, as much of the “administrative” business of the class will be conducted online.  This syllabus and all course assignments will be posted on the site. I will also be posting grades online, so that you will always be able to track your performance throughout the semester.  Most likely this information will remain available through the summer.

 In addition to the website, I also maintain an e-mail list including everyone in the class. I’ll be using this list to notify you of any class updates that occur between meetings.  You should also feel free to use the e-mail list to ask one another questions (students in the past have set up study groups this way); just keep in mind that I’m on the list too, so don’t say anything on it you don’t want me to see!  If you have a question for me specifically, your classmates will thank you for addressing it to my e-mail address rather than the all-class list.

Course Requirements and Grading: Your grade in this course will be determined by your performance in three areas: participation, exams, and assignments.

1. Participation, ~10%.  This includes attendance (remember, you can’t participate if you’re not here!), completion of in-class activities, mini-assignments, and contribution to class discussions.

2. Exams, ~65%.  There will be three exams, two of which will be midterm-type exams (~17% each) and one of which will be a cumulative final (~30%). 

3. Assignments, 25% .  You will complete three assignments.  Each will require about the amount of work needed to complete a short essay, and will be worth about 8% of your final grade.

Participation Policy . Although attendance is not formally required to earn participation points, I will be passing around an attendance sheet during each class meeting at which an activity is not planned – I’ve found this to be much more trustworthy than my memory!  If you’re on the borderline between, say, a B and a B+ at the end of the session, having attended class regularly may push you to the higher mark.
   Most of your participation credit will be earned through the completion of in-class activities.  The in-class activities will occur on a semi-regular basis and will only be checked for completion and effort; you will not receive a letter grade except at the end of the semester, when I will evaluate the entire semester’s performance.  If you’ve done your best on them all, you’ll receive full credit. 
   Mini-assignments will be short (one page or less) responses to questions or issues that we will be discussing in class.  In general they will be opinion-based; there will be about three or four this semester.  

Exam Information.
   Exams will include multiple choice, machine graded items as well as short free-response items. Bring a pencil to the exams, as I cannot guarantee that I or your classmates will always have spares with erasers available!  Exams will cover the text, lectures, assignments – in short, anything is fair game.  There won’t be any “trick” questions; I will try to write exams so that the right answer is obvious to those who have studied but not to those who have not.
   The midterms will have about 50 questions and will be given during the first hour of class.  The final exam will be cumulative and contain about 75 questions: about 30 from the material covered on the midterms and 45 from material covered between the midterm and the final.  The questions taken from the midterms will be mostly rewritten questions on topics covered on those exams, along with a few new items.

 Make-up Policy : If you must take a make-up exam, it will include longer essay questions.  Make-ups are usually only given under the following conditions: 
1. You have a written medical excuse or a family emergency;
2. You contact me BEFORE the exam is given, via e-mail or phone. Since we meet in the evening, this should give you plenty of time.

Assignments: There will be three assignments, assigned on the dates listed on the topic schedule.  The first assignment will be the same for everyone, while you will have a choice of topics on the second two assignments.  Each of these will be related to a concept we’ll be exploring in class.  You must complete all three.  If you are extremely dissatisfied with your grade on an assignment, I will allow you to complete one additional assignment and drop the lowest grade from the four grades you will then have.  However, I strongly encourage you not to rely on this option; do your best on all the assignments and you’ll save yourself some work!

Grading: Each of your assignments will receive points, not a letter grade.  The assignment grade that forms 25% of your final grade will be based on the total number of points you accumulate on the three assignments.  Both your point total and your letter grade will be considered when calculating your final grade.
 Exams will each receive points and a letter grade based on a curve.  Participation is based on completion of in-class activities, as well as contribution to class discussions. I expect that most of you will receive full credit for participation.
 When it’s time to calculate your final grade, I will determine the total number of points each student has earned and assign a letter grade based on a curve.  I will also calculate an average letter grade based on the grades mentioned above.  The grade you will receive on your grade report will be the higher of the two.

Q & A:

Q: What is the best way to contact you?
A:  The best way to get in touch with me is through e-mail, which I normally check several times a day.  You can call the office phone number (which is for the AI office) listed on the front of this syllabus, but I’m only there during my office hours, and there are often times when nobody else is, so that you might not be able to leave a message. 

Q: Do we really have to let you know in advance if we’re going to miss an exam?
A: Yes.  You must make every effort to contact me before the exam is given if you’ll miss an exam, just as you would contact your employer if you were going to miss work.  This enables me to schedule the make-up as soon as possible.

Q:  Can I get extra credit?
A:  I don’t give extra credit assignments per se.  This is because if I gave such a chance to one student, I would feel obligated to give everyone the same chance, which tends to spiral out of control.  However, you do have a chance to replace one disappointing assignment grade, and the final exam is designed to reward those who learn from their mistakes on the midterm.