這門課是在 英語講授的。

- Learners will be able to describe the key principles of Darwin’s Origin of Species and how this and the discovery of Archaeopteryx allowed scientists to begin to uncover the origins of birds.  
- Learners will be able to name 2-3 characteristics of birds that first evolved in the theropod dinosaur ancestors of birds.  
- Learners will recognize the evidence that indicates that flight evolved in primitive birds as well as their close non-avian relatives.  
- Learners will be able to name 2-3 characteristics of living birds that evolved slowly in the earliest avian ancestors.  
- Learners will be able to explain why the surviving avian lineage after the end-Cretaceous extinction event explosively diversified into the groups of living birds that we see today.  

Heather is a published ecologist who has conducted field ecology research for more than a decade.  She has done research in Costa Rica, Teton Mountain National Park, the Southern Appalachian Mountains, and in the Midwest. Her main research interests are birds and landscape ecology. Heather is also an environmental educator and naturalist with over 20 years of experience teaching students of all ages through nature centers, schools, and Girl Scouts.

提供的家庭作業
This is a flexible schedule course designed to take 1-2 hours each week.  Please see course description for more information about course materials.  
1 - 2 每週課外時間
提供的評估
This course offers both formative and summative assessments.  

Formative assessments include: 
- Weekly Pear Deck Lessons with embedded questions that students respond to (instructor will provide individual feedback on student responses)
- Weekly assignment that is turned in to the instructor for individual feedback

Summative assessments:
- Weekly Quiz for students to check their understanding of lesson materials (students may use notes and may submit this quiz as many times as they would like to achieve a higher score, instructor will send correct answers and feedback as needed)
- Final Project on the last week of course for students to demonstrate their mastery of the course materials (instructor provides individual feedback and a score for the project using the rubric that students receive when this project is assigned) 
提供的成績
All assignments submitted on time will receive individual feedback from the instructor. Students who wish to receive a grade in this course should notify Heather by the start of week 2.  

Grades for this course are based on: 
- 25% = Completion of interactive Pear Deck Lessons (completion/effort)
- 25% = Weekly Quiz Scores (quizzes are open book/notes)
- 30% = Assignments (completion/effort)
- 20% = Final Project Score (guidelines and rubric provided week 6)

Grade Scale: 
A: 93-100%
A-: 90-92%
B+: 87-89%
B: 83-86%
B-: 80-82%
C+: 77-79%
C: 73-76%
C-: 70-72%
D+: 67-69%
D: 63-66%
D-: 60-62%
F: Below 60%

- Brusatte SL, O'Connor JK, and Jarvis ED. 2015. The Origin and Diversification of Birds. Current Biology, 25:R888-898.
- Lovette IJ and Fitzpatrick JW. 2016. Handbook of Bird Biology, Third Edition. Wiley & Sons, Inc.  Hoboken, NJ.