Semester:
Offered:
Benton Taylor (Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology)
First-Year Seminar 52S 4 credits (fall term) Enrollment: Limited to 12
Nature is made up of a dizzying variety of organisms, environments, and their interactions, but amidst this chaos, patterns exist that provide the viewer knowledge of their surroundings…if they know how to see the patterns staring them in the face. In this seminar, students will learn ways to see patterns in rocks, water, plants, air, stars and animals, and begin to discern what those patterns can tell us about how nature works.
Moss on a tree trunk can tell you which direction to walk. The speed of cricket chirping can be a remarkably accurate thermometer. The color of water can indicate which tree species are growing uphill. You can keep your calendar from the position of the stars or the birds singing in the trees. Students will learn many of these patterns that have been collected by different cultures throughout human history and will come to understand the mechanisms creating those patterns. But just as important, students will learn and practice skills for observing nature’s patterns on their own and discerning what those patterns can tell them about their local surroundings.
Because one must be in nature to observe it, class sessions will be held exclusively outdoors (rain or shine) where we will learn common patterns in the natural world and practice identifying new patterns and their meanings. Supplemental readings will come from texts by ecologists, survivalists, and indigenous peoples, but the primary text for this seminar will be the bark, mosses, dirt, and bird songs (among others) of the natural world.