Basic geologic principles and the fundamentals of evolutionary thought combine to bring to life the 4.5 billion year story of our planet and its creatures. Through hands-on experience with fossils and rocks, students discover how to decipher past environments from the geologic record and investigate changes in life through time. You may have read that an asteroid impact wiped out the dinosaurs, but can “natural” Earth-based processes also cause mass extinctions? Should we be less worried about rocks from space, and more about “down to Earth” phenomena such as climate change? Note: This course fulfills a Science & Technology (GS) requirement for students under GenEd and Science & Technology Second Level (SB) for students under Core. Mode: Lecture and Laboratory format.