ADVANCING SCIENTIFIC LITERACY: TEACHING DEEP TIME IN A NON-MAJORS COLLEGE BIOLOGY COURSE

A biology laboratory exercise designed to acquaint non-science major college students to basic concepts of evolutionary biology, especially deep time, is described. The exercise starts with a brief field trip (possible at almost all campus locations and types) with cooperative groups of students charged with collecting parts of (e.g. fallen leaves) or observations of (e.g. birds) as many organisms they can find. Upon returning to the laboratory, each group is directed to attempt to group their “specimens” into a biologically-meaningful format. Student collections are expanded by the addition of common fossils forcing students to confront the dimension of time. Teacher tips on how to subsequently use this exercise in lab and “lecture” are discussed.