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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > Palaeontology > General
""Special Papers in Palaeontology"," published by The
Palaeontological Association, is a series of substantial separate
works conforming to the style of the ""Palaeontology"" journal. Two
issues are published each year and feature high standard
illustrations.
This issue investigates the forty-two graptoloid graptolite species
which are described from the upper Hirnantian persculptus Biozone,
lower Rhuddanian ascensus-acuminatus and vesiculosus biozones and
Aeronian of Jordan.
Studies the recent interest in modelling the deposition of the
organic-rich shales of latest Ordovician and early Silurian age in
Jordan which has led to the collection of a considerable number of
graptolites.
Brings together researchers, geologists and enthusiasts who
continue to find material of significance.
Includes 2 plates and 22 text-figures.
The 'detective' power of stable isotopes for processes that
occurred in the past, and for elucidating mechanisms at the
molecular level, has impressed researchers over the past 100 years,
since the time when isotopes of elements were first discovered.
While most are interested in the normalized abundance ratios of two
isotopes of an element, further power was unleashed when
researchers investigated the relationship of three or more isotopes
of the same element, e.g. 16O, 17O, and 18O for oxygen. This
Element focuses on the history of discovery of triple isotope
effects, the conceptual framework behind these effects, and major
lines of development in the past few years of triple oxygen isotope
research.
This volume, aimed at the general reader, presents life and
times of the amazing animals that inhabited Earth more than 500
million years ago. The Cambrian Period was a critical time in Earth
s history. During this immense span of time nearly every modern
group of animals appeared. Although life had been around for more
than 2 million millennia, Cambrian rocks preserve the record of the
first appearance of complex animals with eyes, protective
skeletons, antennae, and complex ecologies. Grazing, predation, and
multi-tiered ecosystems with animals living in, on, or above the
sea floor became common. The cascade of interaction led to an
ever-increasing diversification of animal body types. By the end of
the period, the ancestors of sponges, corals, jellyfish, worms,
mollusks, brachiopods, arthropods, echinoderms, and vertebrates
were all in place. The evidence of this Cambrian "explosion" is
preserved in rocks all over the world, including North America,
where the seemingly strange animals of the period are preserved in
exquisite detail in deposits such as the Burgess Shale in British
Columbia. Cambrian Ocean World tells the story of what is, for us,
the most important period in our planet s long history."
'A splendidly illustrated and thoughtfully constructed account of
one of the greatest ideas ever conceived by the human mind —
evolution.' Donald C. Johanson, Founder of the Institute of Human
Origins, and author of From Lucy to Language. 'Splendid
photographs, vivid language and concise text: a great read.'
—Nature. 'The amount of evolutionary ground covered in the
relatively short text, and the clarity with which it’s laid out
for the benefit of the reader, are exemplary.' Reports of the
National Center for Science Education. Extinction and Evolution
recounts the research of paleontologist Niles Eldredge, whose
discoveries overturned Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution as a
slow and inevitable process. In his 1859 treatise On the Origin of
Species, Darwin posited that evolutionary changes happen very
slowly over millions of years. Eldredge’s work, however,
disproved the accepted Darwinian view, proving instead that
significant changes occurred after a mass extinction event.
Eldredge’s groundbreaking work is now accepted as the definitive
statement of how life evolved on Earth. This book chronicles how
Eldredge made his discoveries and traces the history of life
through the lenses of paleontology, geology, ecology, anthropology,
biology, genetics, zoology, mammalogy, herpetology, entomology and
botany. Remaining rigorously accurate, the text is accessible,
engaging and free of jargon. Extinction and Evolution features 160
beautiful colour plates that bridge the gap between science and
art, and show more than 200 different fossil specimens, including
photographs of some of the most significant fossil discoveries of
recent years. This is a book with appeal to a broad general
audience and especially those with a deeper interest in evolution.
New online resources are opening doors for education and outreach
in the Earth sciences. One of the most innovative online earth
science portals is Macrostrat and its mobile client Rockd - an
interface that combines geolocated geological maps with
stratigraphic information, lithological data, and crowd-sourced
images and descriptions of outcrops. These tools provide a unique
educational opportunity for students to interact with primary
geological data, create connections between local outcrops and
global patterns, and make new field observations. Rockd
incorporates an aspect of social media to its platform, which
creates a sense of community for users. This Element outlines these
resources, gives instructions on how to use them, and provides
examples of how to integrate these resources into a variety of
paleontology and earth science courses.
Research on learning and cognition in geoscience education research
and other discipline-based education communities suggests that
effective instruction should include three key components: a)
activation of students' prior knowledge on the subject, b) an
active learning pedagogy that allows students to address any
existing misconceptions and then build a new understanding of the
concept, and c) metacognitive reflections that require students to
evaluate their own learning processes during the lesson. This
Element provides an overview of the research on student-centered
pedagogy in introductory geoscience and paleontology courses and
gives examples of these instructional approaches. Student-centered
learning shifts the power and attention in a classroom from the
instructor to the students. In a student-centered classroom,
students are in control of their learning experience and the
instructor functions primarily as a guide. Student-centered
classrooms trade traditional lecture for conceptually-oriented
tasks, collaborative learning activities, new technology,
inquiry-based learning, and metacognitive reflection.
Hands-on learning in paleontology, and geology in general, is
fairly common practice. Students regularly use rocks, fossils, and
data in the classroom throughout their undergraduate career, but
they typically do it sitting in a chair in a lab. Kinesthetic
learning is a teaching model that requires students to be
physically active while learning. Students may be involved in a
physical activity during class or might be using their own bodies
to model some important concept. This Element briefly discusses the
theory behind kinesthetic learning and how it fits into a
student-centered, active-learning classroom. It then describes in
detail methods for incorporating it into student exercises on
biostratigraphy, assessment of sampling completeness, and modeling
evolutionary processes. Assessment data demonstrates that these
exercises have led to significantly improved student learning
outcomes tied to these concepts.
Integration of research experiences into the undergraduate
classroom can result in increased recruitment, retention, and
motivation of science students. 'Big data' science initiatives,
such as the Paleobiology Database (PBDB), can provide inexpensive
and accessible research opportunities. This Element provides an
introduction to what the PBDB is, how to use it, how it can be
deployed in introductory and advanced courses, and examples of how
it has been used in undergraduate research. The PBDB aims to
provide information on all fossil organisms, across the tree of
life, around the world, and through all of geologic time. The PBDB
Resource Page contains a range of PBDB tutorials and activities for
use in physical geology, historical geology, paleontology,
sedimentology, and stratigraphy courses. As two-year colleges,
universities, and distance-based learning initiatives seek
research-based alternatives to traditional lab exercises, the PBDB
can provide opportunities for hands-on science activities.
People hold a variety of prior conceptions that impact their
learning. Prior conceptions that include erroneous or incomplete
understandings represent a significant barrier to durable learning,
as they are often difficult to change. While researchers have
documented students' prior conceptions in many areas of geoscience,
little is known about prior conceptions involving paleontology. In
this Element, data on student prior conceptions from two
introductory undergraduate paleontology courses are presented. In
addition to more general misunderstandings about the nature of
science, many students hold incorrect ideas about methods of
historical geology, Earth history, ancient life, and evolution. Of
special note are student perceptions of the limits of paleontology
as scientific inquiry. By intentionally eliciting students' prior
conceptions and implementing the pedagogical strategies described
in other Elements in this series, lecturers can shape instruction
to challenge this negative view of paleontology and improve student
learning.
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