Module GEOL3417: Habitable Environments (Astrobiology)

Department: Earth Sciences

GEOL3417: Habitable Environments (Astrobiology)

Pre-requisites

Corequisites

Excluded Combinations

Aims

• This research-led module will train students in scientific research methods, critical thinking, communication and evaluation.
• Students will explore the necessary conditions for the origin and evolution of simple and complex life, and how it might be detected in the universe.
• Students will reflect on the effective use of the scientific method to design and test challenging hypotheses, and evaluate the role of risk and uncertainty in designing research experiments

Content

• This interdisciplinary module will introduce the key concepts of astrobiology: might life exist elsewhere in the universe, and if so, what might it look like and how might we find it?
• The module will use our understanding of how life has evolved and persisted on Earth (through origins, extinctions, and adaptations to extreme environments) to explore what it means for a planetary body to be habitable, and how life can adapt to environmental perturbations.
• Through this lens students will explore the types of data that might be used to detect, or to evaluate the likelihood of, biotic processes beyond Earth; and the philosophical considerations that might impinge on our exploration and discovery of life elsewhere in the universe.

Learning Outcomes

• Through research-led learning students will develop knowledge and research skills encompassing astrobiology, palaeontology and sedimentology.
• What environmental conditions are necessary for life, as we know it, or as we don’t, to originate, survive and flourish?
• How might signs of past or present life be detected from a distance?
• How does the history of life on Earth inform the likely existence, form, complexity and durability of life elsewhere in the universe?

• The module particularly emphasizes skills that are relevant to independent research and written communication, and critical evaluation of controversial research topics.

• Discovery, synthesis and understanding of information.
• Communication of novel findings to peers and end-users.
• Structure and clarity in written communication.
• Independent critical analysis.
• Preparation of competitive funding proposals.
• Adaptable, flexible, innovative and creative approaches to work and problem solving.
• Ability to set goals, work to deadlines and accept personal responsibility.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Teaching incorporates lectures, practical exercises, and group discussion of the primary literature.
• Assessments comprise an individual written proposal and a group oral presentation related to a specified topic in astrobiology.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment

Formative exercises and feedback will be delivered as part of in-person sessions.