Teaching Biostratigraphy

Abstract

Most stratigraphy, sedimentology-stratigraphy, and paleontology courses do not employ applied biostratigraphic exercises. Regardless of the reason for this omission, instructors should expose students to biostratigraphy through applied exercises. Using various teaching methodologies, I assembled a learning sequence (spanning three to four class periods and two to three laboratories) that not only allows students to learn biostratigraphy in detail but also affords them the opportunity to experience this complex and important endeavor. Students learn basic biostratigraphic concepts, including the traditional zonal approach, in a lecture format and then carry out a biozone-based laboratory exercise. During the next lecture, the students learn graphic correlation, a method developed more than 30 years ago that is probably the most robust and powerful quantitative stratigraphic technique available. In the following laboratory, the students perform graphic correlation on the same data they used the previous week. Next, they read several articles and answer questions concerning the resolution, precision, and accuracy of traditional zonations and graphic correlation, and then they convene as a group to discuss biostratigraphy. After learning graphic correlation, the students are prepared to participate in seminars focusing on particular biostratigraphic topics and to carry out graphic-correlation research projects.