Dinosaurs at Dixie State College of Utah

Thinking about dinosaurs? Take a look at Dr. Jerry D. Harris' course, Geology 1040 - Introduction to Dinosaurs. It's been updated already for Fall 2008.

Looks like some very solid material contained in 23 lectures, downloadable in pdf or PowerPoint format. Note that the ppt files will need to be saved as read-only to download.

Hope this be be a good addition to geology and dinosaur resources.

Writing to Learn

William K. Zinsser's book, Writing to Learn, is one of my favorites. Of course, you probably already know that I have many favorite books. But, really this is an exceptional book.

It offers a lot of food for thought for the lifelong learner. We are always looks for ways to reinforce our learning or measure what we have acquired from a given resource. His suggestions on writing to learn are very applicable to our needs.

And on top of that, he is just plain fun to read. And you immediately sense his admiration for writers across many subject areas, like science and math.

Just a bit about his background--He started out at the New York Herald Tribune, he's taught at Yale, and at the New School, in New York and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

I just wish he would do an updated, expanded version. I was sorry when I finished this book and have re-read it many times.

Americans and the Global Forest at UC Berkeley

Professor Lynn Huntsinger has an impressive amount of material on the website for her course at Berkeley, ESPM C11: Americans and the Global Forest. She says that the "course explores different ways of thinking about forests and our relationship to them." It does indeed do that. I especially like that she uses Simon Schama's Landscape and Memory. Now, if I can only pull out of storage, that one box holding this book captive.

There are notes available for 15 lectures. A few of the pdf's are password protected, but most of them are not. These pdf's are lecture slides and readings. Even with the few files that are unavailable to us, this is an excellent addition to the lifelong learner's resources for environmental history.

Biology at Clermont College

The University of Cincinnati, Clermont College, Biology Home Page is the portal to biology courses. By selecting "Courses" you will have access to numerous biology courses, for both biology majors and non-majors.

Each course offers a wealth of resources. For those lifelong learners who want podcasts of course lectures, this may be a disappointment, but the courses offered here give an enormous amount of information online. Note there are also links to The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library.

These should prove to be good additions to our biology resources.

History of Science at University of Delaware

Lifelong learners who are looking for history of science resources should add this website to their learning toolbox. It is at the University of Delaware Library, under Subject Guides, Internet Resources for History of Science and Technology.

There are so many Internet resources here that I won't even try to give an overview. Go have a look. It should keep us all busy for awhile. Enjoy!

Earth Portal Features Rachel Carson

Here's a most interesting topic of the week over on the Earth Portal. This week the topic is Environment in Focus: Rachel Carson's environmental ethics.

The author is Philip Cafaro, assistant professor in philosophy at Colorado State University. I haven't yet checked to see if any of his courses have websites.

As is always the case on Earth Portal, this article is more like a crash course, profiling Rachael Carson and her work. Throughout the very long piece there are link-outs to other supporting information and a long list of additional reading suggestions, related news links and external links to sites about Rachel Carson.

This is an extremely useful paper for any lifelong learner studying the environmental movement. In addition, this site is a valuable addition to our learning toolbox. In our next post we'll talk about the Earth Portal.

Introduction to Archaeology at UCSB

Here's another archaeology course you'll want to check out, Anthropolgy 3 Introduction to Archaeology at UC Santa Barbara. Lots of great content in the Study Guide. Assignments are laid out for you and two essay exams that you can use. Take a look at the Writing Guide.

One tip that might be helpful--as of this writing, I had a problem getting to the instructor's homepage, which has more interesting information. Dr. Stuart Tyson Smith's homepage is here.

Don't miss the "Hollywood" page. Looks like Dr. Smith was involved in the Mummy movies and Stargate.