An introductory course in human evolutionary biology. Natural selection and its genetic basis are used to highlight a variety of human traits. The fossil record is addressed, but the course takes more of an adaptationist than a paleontological perspective.
5
UnitsOptional
Grading1, 2, 3
PasstimeNone
Level LimitLetters and science
CollegeProfessor Gurven is a sweetie. I took Anth5 to fulfill some GE requirements, but you can tell he really cares about his students. The lectures were helpful if you didn't want to review material outside of class, but attendance wasn't mandatory. Grades are based mainly on a weekly assignment that's super easy, one midterm, and the final.
were told that the final would be online open note. A month before the final due to his lack of due diligence he is told by the school that the final has to be in person. Decides to ALSO make it closed notes only 2 pages cheat sheet after we BEGGED he didn't even want to give us 1 page at first. For a 80 question complex final. @ 8 am. Anth 5 btw
Hard to follow lectures if you don't do & understand the concepts from the reading but still doable if you fall a bit behind. His office hours are very useful if you have trouble with the homework. 1 take home final and 1 paper. Paper was interesting because he lets you choose your topic. Don't wait to start the take home final it takes time.
There are 5 HW assignments that require knowledge in basic stats and especially excel, but if you've taken Anth 161 or Anth 9, you should be fine. It's very basic excel stuff. The final paper is 4-5 pages long and is very easy. There was no midterm and a take home final exam, which was easy, with the exception of a couple questions. Easy stuff.
The tests were unnecessarily complexly worded. When students asked questions in class or tried to answer his questions, he was pretty condescending.The class is mislabeled as Behavior Ecology on Gold but was actually a Hunter gatherer ecology class. I did like the limited amount of assignments, but just beware that they're graded harshly
His TA (Yoann Buoro) sucks. His TA will take away points for the dumbest things. I had so many points taken away for things that were not even on the rubric. If you want to be constantly emailing the TA about why you got the grade you did just for him to just say a lot of nothing take this class.This TA is so bad beware.