Category Archives: teaching

My Fantastic Four

Posted on June 4, 2012 by

Since I’ve been posting so much about Marvel Comics lately, it seems only right to pull this photo out of my archives. If you’ve never worked in the field, you may not realize just how slap-happy people can get. But … Continue reading →

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Role Models and First Dates

Posted on June 3, 2012 by

A friend of mine went on a date recently and mentioned that while the person was nice, there wasn’t going to be a second date. Not abnormal, that’s how a lot of first dates go. Then he also mentioned that … Continue reading →

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Even greeting cards teach bad science

Posted on May 30, 2012 by

Most anthropologists are used to seeing greeting cards…and commercials…and movies…etc… that mistakenly label chimps as monkeys. It’s annoying but I am used to it now (though for a good discussion of the problem of using chimps in movies, correctly identified … Continue reading →

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On the humanity (or lack thereof) of the X-Men

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

Today I was listening to an online-only podcast of Radiolab called Mutant Rights that I’m thinking of incorporating into my Introduction to Anthropology class next year. It caught me attention because the summary said it was all about defining what … Continue reading →

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Tweeting Indigenism

Posted on May 13, 2011 by

I want to write a bit about the experience I had using Twitter this semester with my upper level class.  David Silver just wrote a nice piece about his experience with Twitter this semester, and while I was nodding my … Continue reading →

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Please help me find great books!

Posted on November 3, 2010 by

This term my Introduction to Anthropology students are reading The Price of Stones: Building a School for my Village, by T. Jackson Kaguri. (He’s coming to speak in Alma next week, if you want to come to his lectures!).  This … Continue reading →

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Encouraging college students to mate randomly: teaching population genetics in the classroom

Posted on September 18, 2010 by

Today in my Introductory Class we did a population genetics activity that I made up.  It worked well, so I thought I’d share it. I wanted students to understand these four causes of population variation: Mutation – the actual transformation … Continue reading →

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