JanTerm 2004 Home Page

Plants & Civilization — Class Schedule — JanTerm 2006
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Day	Date	Class Topic	Reading Assignment

Tues	3	Class Introduction (Schedule; Preparing for Lab; Research Paper; Plant Impacts on Civilization—Overview); Science as a way of knowing; Field Lab—Fossils—Duck Creek; Austin Chalk; Waterloo Lake	The Nature of Science; Evolution & the Nature of Science
Wed	4	Evolution as an organizing principle; Natural Selection; Evidence for Evolution	Why Teach Evolution?; Major Themes in Evolution; The Perimeter of Ignorance; World Record Pumpkin; Sadly, An Honest Creationist (You may find the last reading controversial—it's optional)
Thur	5	What are plants? Angiosperms; Flowers and Fruits; Coevolution—Pollination and Dispersal; Field Lab—Major Plant Groups—Buckner Biological Preserve	Text Chapter 1; Introduction to Plants; Introduction to Angiosperms; Coevolution and Pollination
Fri	6	Origins of Agriculture, Evolution of Crop Plants & Impacts of Plants on Civilization	Text Chapter 2

Sat	7	No formal class—work on Research Paper

Mon	9	Impacts of Plants on Civilization & the Columbian Exchange	How Did Humans First Alter Global Climate (W.F. Ruddiman); Only the Beginning (B. McKibben); The Arrow of Disease

Tue	10	Plant Defense—The Eternal War With Animals; Exam 1; Special Guest Speaker---afternoon session: Poisonous Plants	Text Chapters 11 & 12; Kiss Proves Fatal; Girl Declare Brain-Dead; Poisonous Plants
Wed	11	All Day Field Trip to Dallas World Aquarium
Thu	12	Major food plants	Text Chapters 4, 5, & 6; Text pages 180--191; Major Food Plants
Fri	13	Spices; Field Lab—Plant Defense Lab	Text Chapter 8; The Lure of Spices
Sat	14	No class

Mon	16	Medical, drug, and poisonous plants; DRUG PLANT WRITE-UP DUE; Inside Lab—Economic Botany	Text Chapters 13 & 14
Tue	17	Forensic Botany (use video); Inside Lab—Forensic Botany Lab	Forensic Botany
Wed	18	Tropical Rain Forests	Tropical Rain Forest
Thu	19	All Day Field Trip to BRIT & Botanical Garden; RESEARCH PAPER DUE
Fri	20	Plant Extinction and the Biodiversity Crisis	The Real Biodiversity Crisis
Sat	21	No Class

Mon	23	Plant Conservation—Ways to Make a Difference; STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
Tue	24	EXAM 2; PRESENTATIONS