Fitting my physical/biological anthropology course into different time frames and formats throughout the school year brings up challenges. For example, putting the same number of assignments in the condensed summer schedule would mean that I would never stop grading. Many assignments were fixed in their placement in the schedule. That left… Read more“Summer Interacts Journal Debrief”
Category: anthropology
The Long Way
It was my first semester of graduate school, fall of 2001. I was in a seminar class on paleoethnobotany, the study of ancient human-plant interactions, taught by Deborah Pearsall, who later become one of my doctoral advisors. In the ground floor meeting room of Swallow Hall, a small group and… Read more“The Long Way”
Summer Fun Project 2018
It’s nearly summertime when my teaching schedule thins out and I do something extra to stay busy. Previously, I worked on Anthropomotron, my comic, and 3D printing. My outside fun project this summer is again very related to teaching: I’m one of the writers for an Open Education Resource textbook… Read more“Summer Fun Project 2018”
The Pre-Show Lecture
Anyone who arrives at a movie theater early knows about the slide presentation that plays before the show starts. There is typically a mix of ads and movie trivia, given as still images or short clips. Waiting for Doctor Strange over the summer, I got the idea to do a… Read more“The Pre-Show Lecture”
My Plastic Menagerie
When I was in the fifth grade, our classroom got a Visible Man plastic model, which shows the internal organs of a human body. In hindsight, the missing parts suggested that it was a thrift store purchase by my teacher (our country really should fund education more), but it was… Read more“My Plastic Menagerie”
‘Interacts’: An RPG Quest Board Assignment
I’ve been teaching physical anthropology for just over three years so I have still been making changes every semester. Changes include staying up to date with new discoveries and looking for useful websites or thinking of ways to engage with the topic in daily life. For example, reading a biography… Read more“‘Interacts’: An RPG Quest Board Assignment”
The Cerutti Mastodon Site and the Elephant in the Room
One of the joys of being an anthropology instructor is that I am constantly in the stream of science news that regularly changes what we know about humans past and present. Sometimes news of research findings add a little interesting information to what we knew before. Other times, the news… Read more“The Cerutti Mastodon Site and the Elephant in the Room”
Bean Pong, Spring 2017
A while ago I dreamed up playing a version of beer pong as a final review activity. With each semester that has passed, I have adapted the game to various class sizes. This semester was my second with a class of over 50 students and I have arrived at a set… Read more“Bean Pong, Spring 2017”
Secret Summer Craft Project, part 4
This is the last part of my 3D printing saga. Recall that I first dabbled in 3D printing to get a Homo naledi skull replica for the anthropology department at Grossmont College. While work on that area went on its own path, I used 3D printing for my own goals. My… Read more“Secret Summer Craft Project, part 4”
Spring Teaching Changes
The spring semester of 2017 brought a large sweeping change and many more minor changes than I had planned. To get the big change out of the way: I was hired to teach physical anthropology at another community college in San Diego County! MiraCosta College is a charming and innovative… Read more“Spring Teaching Changes”