Category Archives: Evolution in the Classroom
I Turned into a Werewolf: Flickering Firelight & the Strange-Face-in-the-Mirror Illusion
When I did the strange-face-in-the-mirror illusion, I turned into a frickin’ werewolf! How cool is that? I should back up, right? I teach a course called “Primate Religion & Human Consciousness” & require students to come up with activities to … Continue reading
Notes on Improving a Graduate-Level Course in the Principles of Physical Anthropology
This semester I redesigned the graduate-level physical anthropology course I teach. Last time around (which was the first time teaching a full-on grad course for me), I taught it as a seminar, based largely around my predecessor Professor Emeritus Jim Bindon‘s … Continue reading
Flattery Will Get You Everywhere: E.O. Wilson’s Social Conquest of Earth
Edward O. Wilson was the first speaker for this year’s ALLELE series at the University of Alabama. I began a post on his talk soon after but found it so boring I didn’t come back to it. Then Max Stein … Continue reading
GUEST POST: Evolutionary Studies at the University of Alabama
From almost my first post I promised to let the students speak for themselves when it came to singing the praises of our EvoS program at the University of Alabama. One of our first UA EvoS alumni is Emily Freeman, … Continue reading
2012 EvoS Summit at New Paltz – 10/26 – Evolution in Higher Education, Collaboration with Robb Wolf, Grant Activities, and More!
EvoS Summit Conference – 10/26/2012 Since David Sloan Wilson implemented the first undergraduate evolutionary studies (EvoS) program at Binghamton University about a decade ago, the notion of Darwin’s Big Idea guiding educational experiences across academic areas has led to significant … Continue reading
Mating Intelligence (or How I Completely Missed the Boat)
I don’t want to steal any of Glenn’s thunder here, but I do want to point that one of the costs of doing a side project that is not theoretically related to the main thread of one’s research is that … Continue reading
Penis Diversity is our Business
Actually, penis diversity is not our business. In fact, one of the student evaluations for the Anthropology of Sex course I taught this past semester said I talked too much about animal diversity & not enough about humans. I’m not sure … Continue reading
Evolutionary Tchotchkes as Objectified Cultural Capital
I was recently skimming thru human behavioral ecologist Lee Cronk’s book That Complex Whole looking for a good definition of signaling theory (which I couldn’t find there but found in a recent Bulbulia & Sosis article). In rereading Lee’s intro, I saw that one … Continue reading
May is National Masturbation Month
My students asked for more masturbation & here is the resource. In student evaluation of the Anthropology of Sex course I taught last semester, several students indicated that future iterations of the course should include more discussion of masturbation. Somehow, … Continue reading
Biological Anthropology Blogs
John Hawks is a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who I first saw give a talk at the American Anthropological Association conference last year. The first thing that caught my attention was that he looks like a pre-emo hipster … Continue reading
