Key facts
UNE unit code: GEOL202
*You are viewing the 2025 version of this unit which may be subject to change in future.
- Trimester 1 - On Campus
- Trimester 1 - Online
- Trimester 3 - Online
- Armidale Campus
- Yes
- No
- No
- 6
Unit information
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Explore the history of life on Earth as told through the fossil record, with this unit.
Dovetailing the world-class research expertise of UNE’s Palaeoscience Research Centre with innovative teaching methodologies, this unit delivers fundamental concepts in palaeontology from the origin of life to palaeoecology, extinction and evolution in deep time.
Lectures and practicals are designed to deliver engaging interactive experiences. This unit will help you to hone transferrable skills in critical thinking, data analysis and scientific communication.
Practical exercises provide an opportunity to fine-tune your understanding of palaeontology’s core concepts, drawing on both pure and applied aspects of the discipline. An optional field excursion to one of our region’s rich fossil sites offers you key hands-on experience to study fossils in their geological context.
Offerings
For further information about UNE's teaching periods, please go to Principal Dates.
Teaching period | Mode/location |
---|---|
Trimester 1 | On Campus, Armidale Campus |
Trimester 1 | Online |
Trimester 3 | Online |
*Offering is subject to availability
Intensive schools
There are no intensive schools required for this unit.
Enrolment rules
Notes
There is no intensive school for GEOL202. However, there is a non-mandatory two-day face to face experience including a workshop and field excursion to a nearby fossil locality to give students an opportunity to see, measure and collect fossils in the field. On campus and online students are encouraged to attend.
Please refer to the student handbook for current details on this unit.
Unit coordinator(s)
![profile photo of John Paterson](https://www.une.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0007/451456/varieties/69x77.jpg)
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:
- demonstrate a broad theoretical/technical understanding of the progression of life on Earth;
- describe and evaluate theories for the origin of life and by doing so demonstrate the ability to analyse and transmit information to others using written or verbal forms;
- identify and describe a selection of invertebrate fossil groups and by doing so demonstrate a broad theoretical/technical knowledge of the subject and the ability to analyse and transmit information to others; and
- demonstrate a broad theoretical/technical understanding of a variety of palaeontological topics such as evolution, extinction, palaeoecology and taxonomy.
Assessment information
Assessments are subject to change up to 8 weeks prior to the start of the teaching period in which you are undertaking the unit.
Title | Must Complete | Weight | Offerings | Assessment Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Essay | Yes | 30% | All offerings | Essay No. Words: 2000 |
Practicals | Yes | 40% | All offerings | No. Words: 1000 |
Quizzes | Yes | 30% | All offerings | No. Words: Equivalent to 200 |
Learning resources
Textbooks are subject to change up to 8 weeks prior to the start of the teaching period in which you are undertaking the unit.
Note: Students are expected to purchase prescribed material. Please note that textbook requirements may vary from one teaching period to the next.
Invertebrate Palaeontology and Evolution
ISBN: 9780632052387
Clarkson, E.N.K., Blackwell Science 4th ed. 1998
Text refers to: All offerings
Note: Recommended material is held in the University Library — purchase is optional.
Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record
ISBN: 9781119272854
Benton, M.J. and Harper, D.A.T., Wiley-Blackwell 2nd ed. 2020
Text refers to: All offerings
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