The Fall 2023 Paleoecology class is continuing to work on its Upper Ordovician fossil collections from our field trip at the beginning of the semester. Part of the class is shown above sorting their specimens and identifying them as precisely as possible. The other class members are in the basement with the rock saw and grinders. It’s a real-world experience including preservation and taphonomy issues with the vagaries of some taxonomies. The students took ownership of the joys and dilemmas of paleontology from that first field day.
Here are two trays in progress. Students are now using scraps of paper to record their observations and identifications. Later we will use more formal labels.
