PALEONTOLOGY AWARENESS FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS: A GEOENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES MAJOR AS AN EXAMPLE

Application of paleontology concepts and fundamentals to other fields of study is a valuable way to maintain the presence of paleontology or even add paleontology to an academic program. Regardless of whether or not paleontology is formally taught in a curriculum, the value of discussing related applications of paleontology is practical both from a scientific perspective as well as from an administrative, course-enrollment perspective. Many students simply are interested in learning more about fossils and how we interpret earth’s history based upon the fossil record, and therefore are likely to enroll in courses where paleontology will be incorporated.

At Shippensburg University (PA), a formal geology degree is not available, but one of the more popular majors on campus is geoenvironmental studies. Our major is interdisciplinary by design and paleontology is not offered as an independent course. However, the application of paleontology augments the understanding of related geography and earth science courses taken by majors and non-majors. Courses that benefit from paleontology discussions in our program include introductory and physical geology, historical geology, and oceanography. Examples of how paleontology is incorporated in these classes, as well as in other courses like environmental geology and the mineral and rock resources class will be discussed. We currently are modifying a geography field course in British Columbia to use field locations to show the practical application of paleontology for geography students, and feedback from previous students showed field exercises such as these are both interesting and beneficial in the overall learning process.