Courseblogging Spring 2010

Fist class of the semester tonight, and it's a full house. 30 students; at least the classroom is big enough to hold us all! They're already thinking, which is good. I had several light bulbs go on when I explained that, although we study non-human primates to help distinguish things we do that are biologically hard wired vs. culturally learned, there is not a one-to-one correlation between our fossil ancestors and living primates. Living chimpanzees have, just like us, had millions of years of evolution and successful adaptation to changing environments. They are not some living fossil, though many seem to make this assumption. So, while it's not a one-to-one correlation, it's the best we have.

The class I have this time has a white board, with the projection screen off in the corner. I kind of like whiteboards because I can use lots of colors, and wow the class with my spectacular mind maps and visual aids (read: multicoloured squiggles). I -really- like it when the projector is positioned so that it projects onto the whiteboard; then I can annotate my powerpoints with multicoloured squiggles. On a practical level, though... it's the first class of the semester, and none of the dry erase markers were working. By next week, there won't BE any dry erase markers (I pack my own!)

Whiteboards are kind of fun, but really, for me, nothing beats chalk and a blackboard. The tappity-tap of writing, the size of the chalk, the chalk dust everywhere; I love it. Last semester, I was in a classroom with a blackboard back to back with the blackboard in the next class; we tappity tapped our lectures back and forth. And I always feel like I've accomplished something when I finish up a little dirty -- covered in chalk after a lecture, covered in ink after writing, covered in dirt after a day in the field. It's just... satisfying.

And, no one steals chalk.