She also writes essays about life that she dubs “reflections.” Many are focused on her rather unusual background regarding her childhood and the family she’s never known. Her blog, Cozy Little House, is focused on frugal decorating and gardening in small spaces. Her plan is to plant more trees in containers on her patio, a newfound interest recently acquired. She planted a jade ginkgo butterfly tree in a container last fall. She plants herbs, veggies, vines and all kinds of flowers and grasses in containers on her big fenced patio behind her one-level apartment. She has a degree in Professional Writing and won awards in college for in-depth investigative feature writing. Laboratory classes will be based on 'flipped learning' techniques, where you will be required to run through an introductory session introducing the material to be studied in the next practical session prior to attending that session, as only a very short introductory talk will highlighting techniques to be employed and the goals to be attained will be given at the start of each practical session.Īcademic support: you are encouraged to discuss any aspect of the course with staff.Ī wide range of support can be provided for those students who have further or specific learning and teaching needs.Background: Bachelor’s degree in Professional Writing/Journalismīrenda has been a writer, decorator and gardener for as long as she can remember. Access to practical material is available for independent work, and there are extensive online resources available. Practical classes: interactive practical classes are supported by staff (and when relevant, post-graduate demonstrators). Background reading material and links to other appropriate media resources will also be available via the Blackboard website. Where relevant, lecturer's own research experience in the appropriate fields is brought into the lecturing sessions. Key aims objective and learning outcomes for each lecture are provided in advance on the Blackboard website, as will the Powerpoint presentations for those wanting to preview the material. Aims and Objectives Learning and Teaching Learning and Teaching Teaching and learning methodsįormal lectures (45 minute lectures): each lecture systematically covers the main concepts and topics by the use of PowerPoint presentations. This will be achieved by exploring key events in Earth history, which will include amongst other things: the origin of life, Snowball Earth, the appearance of the first multi-celled animals, the assembly of the Britain Isles, the invasion of the land by plants and animals, the five great extinction events (including The Great Dying and the end-Cretaceous demise of the dinosaurs), post-extinction biotic development, the evolution of hominids, through to the conditions that will be experienced on the near- and far-future Earth.Ī series of weekly practical classes will be based around individual groups of organisms and their fossil representatives, examining fossil remains from the perspective of having once been living organisms. We will explore the relationship between physical, chemical, geological and biological factors through time, covering topics that will examine how internal/intrinsic factors (e.g., changes in plate tectonics, the atmosphere, oceans and climate) and external/extrinsic factors (e.g., meteorite impacts, etc.) have driven evolution and extinction, and how various global systems and cycles have developed through geological time. The Big Picture: the module content will span the entirety of Earth history, progressing form the formation of the Solar System to a projection of Earth’s future several billion years from now. Be able to recognise those fossil organisms most regularly encountered in the rock record, and be conversant with their ranges through geological time.