Introduction to Human Evolution: Online course by Wellesley College

Introduction to Human Evolution is an online course conducted by the Wellesley College. This course introduces human evolutionary history through the human fossil, archaeological and genetic records.

About the course
This course will provide an overview of human evolutionary history from the present--contemporary human variation in a comparative context through our last common ancestor with the living great apes, some 5-7 million years in the past.

Emphasis will be placed on major evolutionary changes in the development of humans and the methodological approaches used by paleoanthropologists and related investigators to develop that knowledge.

Course Syllabus

• How the forces of evolution shape patterns of biological variation
• The major events in human evolutionary history
• How humans can model how evolution works
• Details of the human fossil, archaeological, and genetic records
• The methods scientists use to reconstruct evolutionary history

Prerequisites

• Nothing. This course is intended as an introduction to human evolution and the only experience you need in advance is the experience of being human.

Course Starts
May 6, 2015

Course Length
12 weeks

For further information and to register, click here.