Student Learning Outcomes

• Students will be able to describe the basic methods of paleoanthropology and explain the various dating techniques.
• Students will be able to identify the origins of evolutionary thought and the major historical figures in the field.
• Students will be able to compare behaviors among primate species, including claims of language and other cultural attributes.
• Students will be able to identify living and fossil nonhuman primates in terms of skeletal attributes and observed or inferred behaviors.
• Students will be able to contrast and compare scientific and creationist views of evolution.
• Students will be able to evaluate the various genetic theories of human behavior and modern variation.
• Students will be able to define and illustrate the mechanisms of evolution (such as those responsible for genetic diseases) including mutation, natural selection, gene flow, genetic drift, and non-random mating.
• Students will be able to describe at least 5 physical and behavioral differences between monkeys and apes
• Students will be able to evaluate theories relating to the origins of bipedalism, tool use, language, modern Homo sapiens, art and symbolism.
• Students will be able to evaluate various approaches to the classification of nonhuman and hominid primates such as cladistics vs. traditional systematics and issues about lumping vs. splitting species.
• Students will be able to identify and differentiate among hominid fossils including the robust and other australopithecines; early genus Homo; Homo erectus; Neanderthals and other archaics; and modern Homo sapiens.