[feonateresa]

I've had a few people ask me about this course so, here goes. :]

Anthropology 1Z03
The Human Species: Becoming and Being Human

I took this course in 08-09 with Dr. Padiak. The course is more or less physical anthropology, one of the four main branches of anthropology. However, throughout the course it seems much more than just that. In the beginning, you learn about what physical anthropology is, what physical anthropologists do in their field of work, how they identify and work with remains of both humans and mostly primates.

You also learn a little bit of biology which plays a pretty big role in physical anthropology, this biocultural approach that Padiak talked a lot about. She emphasized that physical anthropology takes an interdisciplinary point of view, taking into account biological and cultural forces that have shaped humans.

In the second half of the term, you learn much more about primates. You know, apes, monkeys and us, humans. We focused a LOT on distinguishing characteristics between different species of primates, and it showed up a lot in multiple choice and short answer tests. You will most likely be asked a short answer question about characteristics, or compare and contrast type questions. We learn a lot about teeth, diets and habits as well.

Then we focused more on the long, long history of humans. Basically the links between non-human primates and modern humans, how we evolved. We learned about the long evolution that anatomically modern humans have gone through, from Africa to today. We touched a bit on things like disease and population and how it might affect the future.

In tutorials, we played a lot with casts that are basically molds of primate fossils. Fossils that are millions and millions of years old. We discussed differences and similarities, and it was very easy to earn participation marks if you basically just showed up and took notes.

All in all, it was very interesting. I actually looked forward to readings most of the time and I would recommend it as a good elective. It wasn't spectacularly easy, we had two assignments worth 7.5% a pop. Both were written, but not very long at all. We had two midterms, 10% and 20% respectively and a final worth 35% I believe. Tutorial was worth 10%.

9/10

[lorend]

Yay for Sahelanthropus tchadensis!!

[mcinside]

Hey,
Just wondering, would you consider this easier than Anthro 1A03?
Thanks!

[feonateresa]

Originally Posted by mcinside

Hey,
Just wondering, would you consider this easier than Anthro 1A03?
Thanks!

Hmm. I think it depends on where your interests lie. Personally, I thought 1A03 was harder because the prof was... um, hrrm, not great haha. She went off on tangents all the time, and talked a lot about her own field experiences (which I don't begrudge her, but it wasted a lot of time). The questions she had on tests were sort of ridiculous. Most people failed or barely passed the first midterm - so much so that she asked us to make up questions in tutorial as groups.

The content was interesting for the most part, however, not as interesting as 1Z03's content. Buuut that's a personal opinion. We also had to write much longer essays for 1A03, as well as a book report essay of sorts. The prof would kill me if she heard me call it a book report, but for comprehension sake on your part, it was a book report hehe.

[scttclrk7]

How were the midterms/final for this class?

[feonateresa]

As I probably mentioned, we had two midterms and a final. The first of the two midterms was harder than I thought, a lot of the questions were weird. Even the prof recognized this, and adjusted marks and a lot of people went up. The second midterm was a breeze, a lot of short and long answer questions and multiple choice. Not hard if you study for it. The professor, who's not teaching it this year, would give out a list of specific things to study - and they appeared on tests.

The final - I laughed at it - because it was so easy and I actually had fun writing it.

I know the professor who's teaching it this year, well, I know him personally but not as a teacher. He's a really nice guy, so don't be afraid to ask him for help. I don't know how hard he is, but he appreciates hard workers. :] I can't really tell you how the midterms/final will be since it's a different prof writing them.

[scttclrk7]

alright thats great, thanks so much!

[Charbs]

I just finished this program, professor was Dr. Poinar. He was a really good prof, very funny in his lectures... he does talk very fast, but he's fully aware he does that and isn't upset when you ask him to slow down.
I found the course material very interesting, and generally pretty easy to understand. The course set up was great, because instead of 1 midterm... we had 2 term exams (the course is still set up this way) both work 15% each. The first one was from Sept to the first midterm. The second one was one the first midterm to the 2nd one. And the final was only on the material from the 1st midterm on (with emphasis on the material after the 2nd midterm).
Tutorials = easy 10% for just showing up, and 10% total for the quizzes you have each week in tutorial.
I definately recommend this course as an elective, it was a good course, and wasn`t ridiculously hard either.

[feonateresa]

Originally Posted by Charbs

I just finished this program, professor was Dr. Poinar. He was a really good prof, very funny in his lectures... he does talk very fast, but he's fully aware he does that and isn't upset when you ask him to slow down.
I found the course material very interesting, and generally pretty easy to understand. The course set up was great, because instead of 1 midterm... we had 2 term exams (the course is still set up this way) both work 15% each. The first one was from Sept to the first midterm. The second one was one the first midterm to the 2nd one. And the final was only on the material from the 1st midterm on (with emphasis on the material after the 2nd midterm).
Tutorials = easy 10% for just showing up, and 10% total for the quizzes you have each week in tutorial.
I definately recommend this course as an elective, it was a good course, and wasn`t ridiculously hard either.

Haha awesome, I know Dr. Poinar personally so that's good to hear. He told me he tried to keep in line with how it was last year, in terms of tests and assignments and looks like he did. :]

[kanishka]

When you say the assignments weren't very long, how long exactly were they? 2,5,7 pages?

Also were the assignments straight out of the book or your general opinion on something or something that you had to research upon?

Lastly, what did they exactly do in tutorials? How were the tutorials different from the lectures?

[Kelsey18]

Originally Posted by Kanishka

When you say the assignments weren't very long, how long exactly were they? 2,5,7 pages?

Also were the assignments straight out of the book or your general opinion on something or something that you had to research upon?

Lastly, what did they exactly do in tutorials? How were the tutorials different from the lectures?

I took this as an elective, it's no problem (even for an Engineering workload - I recommended it to my roommates this year for this reason). However, the course probably varies from year-to-year and is dependent on the instructor.

The assignments were worth 7.5% each this year (there were only two), and had to be 2-3 pages double-spaced. They're not in the textbook - you have to do outside research. However, it's just online research, and you have to use an academic source, so no problem whatsoever. I finished them in a couple hours (each), and still got the full 7.5%.

Tutorials started off with a 10-question quiz, which are no problem if you went to class. After that, you just look at fake bones and make some notes if you want to. They're fairly easy tutorials, in my opinion. You get marked for participation and your quizzes.

That was just this year, though. It could obviously change next year. If you're seriously considering taking this as an elective, I've heard it was more difficult in other years. I had Dr. Poinar, so if he's on the timetable next year when you're choosing courses, I'd recommend it, but this is just my personal outlook on the difficulty of the course.

Hope this helps!

[kanishka]

thank you for the overview of the entire course kesley!

[Kelsey18]

Not a problem!

[crys.eg]

As said in one of the earlier posts, you look @ fake bones. Now this is cool and all, but is it kinda like an anatomy class where you learn each part, what it does, etc etc. What kinds of topics are talked about in the class?

[Kinjani]

I was looking at the master timetable and it doesn't list any tutorials for ANTHROP 1Z03 , does that mean we won't have tutorials this year? :S