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| Introduction | Last Updated • April 11, 2015 | ||||||||||||||
Cradle Of Life is a book that will help you to better understand the significance of what we are studying in the classroom and in the lab. You will be learning, through the words of a UCLA research scientist, Bill Schopf, what it means to go through the process of scientific inquiry, with its several necessary steps, its trial and errors and its wrong directions. This process is at the base of scientific discovery, and will be discussed by Dr. Schopf in the pages of his book. There is a direct link between the materials found in Cradle Of Life and those in Stanley's Earth System History, your main textbook. You will slowly discover during the course of the semester how Cradle of Life can be a fascinating companion to our lectures and labs.
| studying "Cradle of Life"
| Last Updated • April 11, 2015 | You will be quizzed on the reading assignments from Schopf's book on a weekly basis. One reading assignment typically consists of one book chapter. I will be providing a series of web pages (the relative links will be listed below) with an introduction to each single book chapter and to its significant points, helping you figure out the type of information you need to get out of them. I would strongly recommend that you start working on this book by reading the information on its back cover (present in the paperback edition), and then browse its Table of Contents. From the chapter titles, get an idea of what the book is about and notice the progression in topics from Chapter 1 to Chapter 12. After you have done that, start reading the first assignment.
What is the best way for you to read and understand the book materials, and retain the information? My suggestion is that, at the beginning of the semester, you start by taking a look at the chapters' layout. Look at the index, figure out the logic behind that order. What is the author doing, why, and in what manner does he do it? What I am saying is, take your time in reading these materials. Do not rush in at the last minute. Get an overall idea. If the title is, for instance, "Darwin's dilemma", everything in that chapter will build towards the description, definition and analysis of that dilemma. After you are done reading that a chapter, you are expected to know, among other things, what Darwin's dilemma is, how it originated, and if an answer was ever found. An important note: you will be reading these materials on your own. If you think it will be enough to read a single chapter just once, or to briefly review it before the quiz, you will soon realize that it will not work. You need to know the materials well. Taking time to work with "Cradle of Life" will give you an idea of what the book is about and what thread keeps it together. It will ultimately set the right tone for a better understanding of the whole class materials. It will be worth it in terms of both excellent grades and personal knowledge.
| © a guide to reading the book's chapters
| Last Updated • April 29, 2015 | Any other person, in any other state or country, using these materials for any reason is in violation of copyright.
Your TEST #1 is on March 17, 2015
Your TEST #2 is on April 28, 2015
Your TEST #3 (Final exam, non-cumulative) is on Thursday, June 11, 2015
© Alessandro Grippo, 1994-2015 | |||||||||