Mechanisms of change at the population level, including mutation pressure, genetic drift, gene flow, and natural selection. Mechanisms of speciation, including various allopatric and sympatric models. Origin of complex adaptations. Theories of precambrian evolution. Evolution of social behavior.
Classes are a mixture of lecture and discussion.
Lectures are periodically interrupted for student writing or problem solving. For discussion periods, students bring their analyses of readings to class, get reactions and help from their peers, then after class revise their analyses. The instructor provides supplementary information and questions to guide student reading and facilitates small group and whole class discussions by questioning, clarifying, and helping students summarize their ideas. A series of papers result from these discussions. Often the thrust of the work is to understand the author's point or hypothesis, his evidence to support it, and assumptions contained in the argument.