The Science of Studying Dinosaurs

Catalog description

This course introduces students to the scientific method as applied to the study of dinosaurs and the world in which they lived. Because we cannot directly observe dinosaurs, estimating biological features such as running speed, growth rates, and reproductive and other physiological strategies presents challenges. We will examine a range of biological concepts (including cellular biology and physiology, functional morphology and biomechanics, evolutionary relationships, and paleoecology), as well as geological concepts (such as sedimentology, radiometric dating, plate tectonics, and the geologic time scale) as they apply to dinosaurs as living organisms. An understanding of biology at the introductory college level will be assumed.