ANTH 111: Introduction to Biological Anthropology

Hand drawn sketch of a human skeleton (left) and a gorilla skeleton (right). The lower legs and feet have been cropped.

Course Description

This natural sciences & life forms general education course explores the question "What makes us biologically human?" through a scientific and anthropological approach. The course examines human genetics and the human skeleton, and makes comparisons with non-human primates and hominin fossils. Scientific inquiry and other methods used in biological anthropology are covered, and scientific theories that help explain human evolution and diversity are explored. This class also looks at how biological anthropology is applied to solve important problems, such as in forensic anthropology.

The course is a General Education Area B2 Natural Sciences - Life Forms course and in the Science, Technology & Values and Diversity Studies pathways.

Three images with black boarders. Top rectangle has a banner with teal background and DNA reading Module 2: Genetic Inheritance. Lower left square shows a Google slide with green background reading Module 10: Primate Behavior & Ecology - Primate Food Auction!, and the lover right square has icons for Zoom (blue camera) and Google Docs (blue document, yellow slide, and purple survey)

Course Modules

This fully online class is divided into fourteen learning modules that require students to complete online work as well as meet synchronously using Zoom. Modules provide clear organization and consistency across the semester.

Module Timeline: Students begin modules with a course lecture (50 min) that is delivered synchronously and recorded. Students then work through readings, supplemental content, and complete assignments on Blackboard. The module culminates with a required instructor led Zoom Lab that meets for 1 hour and 15 min.

Blackboard Organization: Each Blackboard (LMS) module includes a header, learning outcomes, due dates description, reading assignment, lecture, supplemental content (e.g. web resources or videos), a comprehension assignment, an at-home virtual lab exercise, and a study skills or self-care extra credit opportunity. See Sample Blackboard Module

sketched silhouettes of 10 humans aligned hand to hand (each person is a different color)

Active Learning and Student Engagement

In the face-to-face version of the course, much learning occurs in the 3-hour lab. This online version utilizes both At-Home Virtual Lab exercises and instructor-led Zoom Labs.

At Home Lab Exercises: One At-Home Lab assignment is completed for each module. These are done asynchronously and use interactive websites, videos, Zoo live webcams, and 3D scans of bones and fossils. Students utilize scientific methods including making observations and testing hypothesis.

Zoom Labs: These 1 hour and 15 minute activity and discussion sections provide opportunities for small groups (10-12 students) to practice and apply content from the module. These sessions utilize games, activities made with Google slides, breakout room tasks, and all instructors to do informal assessments of student learning.

Additional Engagement: Students have the option to attend a Q/A session with the professor before assignments are due, and/or Supplemental Instruction sessions with an SI leader each week.

Student Learning Outcomes

Explain how evolutionary forces change populations
Identify patterns of human variation and contrast them with “races”
Identify human bones and features of those bones and explain how they are studied by bioarchaeologists and forensic anthropologists
Construct a phylogenetic tree of living primates and identify key features of each primate group
Explain patterns of primate behavior from a sociobiology perspective
Describe key events in human evolutionary history
Differentiate major hominin species based on their traits

small colorful dots are clustered together to look like the upper half of a human with raised arms are coming from a DNA double helix

Assessment of Student Learning

Class assessment breakdown with all class points totaled to 700 between assignments and more.

With the transition online we chose to:

Eliminate large stakes unit exams,
Eliminate weekly quizzes, and
Limit the long three-hour labs.

Instead we chose:

Comprehension questions that required students to utilize content from readings, lecture, and the supplemental content to answer questions and explain in their own words the most important concepts.
At-home labs balanced with Zoom-labs to provide hands on, inquiry based learning and engagement.
Frequent assignments and Zoom-labs provide regular monitoring of learning and feedback to students.

Many low-stakes assignments, in addition to dropping the lowest scores, provides flexibility for students who earn a low score or miss an assignment(s) during the semester.

The face of a sitting mandrill (monkey with blue and red nose). There is water in the background.

textbook cover with teal green background. The main image is eight different colored silhouettes of humans, early humans, and other primates. The text at the bottom reads Explorations An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology. Below that (but blurry) are the editors names.

Open Educational Resource (OER) Textbook

ANTH 111 is a Zero Cost Course Materials (ZCCM) course as it utilizes only free course materials including the textbook Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology. Open Educational Resources (free and openly licensed) allow all students to have the readings the first day of class - and have them available in multiple accessible formats and on multiple devices. OER is easily integrated into Blackboard and can be legally modified (sections added or deleted). Access to free course materials is especially important at Chico State, where a pre-COVID CAL$ study indicated that 52% of CSUC students have gone without a required textbook, and 55% have altered their food or housing budget to purchase course materials.

Go Virtual Course Design

Participation in Go Virtual (Summer 2020) helped support the transition from a face-to-face course to a fully online course. In particular it inspired:

Moving from quizzes and tests to assignment based assessment,
Blending synchronous and asynchronous aspects of content delivery, and
Encouraging a combination of At-Home and Zoom Labs.

Chico State seal in black on white background.

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