Geobiology review 3.5/5. I would recommend this subject for people who like fossils and/or paleontology. This subject provides an introduction and exploration on fossils, it includes topics on fossilisation, lagerstätten, Taphonomy, marine microfossils, megafuana, Dinosaurs, Paleobotany, Plant evolution, Reef evolution and Earth's oxygenation history. Their is 4 quizzes, 2 take home literature reviews (where you could choose your topic from a choice of 30, so it was good to find a subject you actually like or was easy to research) and an exam. The quizzes where alright (not bad, not too hard) and the literature reviews where all marked reasonably and it wasn't hard to get above a 75, however it was hard to get a high mark above an 85. There was two parts to the subject first 2/3 where taken by Stephen and the other 1/3 by Vera. Stephen took the marine fossils, taphonomy, fossilisation, lagerstätten, megafuana and Dinosaurs subjects whereas Vera took Paleobotany, Plant evolution, Reef evolution and Earth's oxygenation history. Overall Stephen's section was at times boring (such as marine microfossils) and some material was stretched out and Stephen talked about some stuff for a bit too long. Stephens lectures lectures at time where also a bit hard to follow as there was no text, however it was not unmanageable and I could generally follow along just fine. Vera's section was better, there where text on the slide and I found the content generally more interesting. Overall, I did have fun in the subject, the content was generally engaging, the fossils where cool, the tests where fair and the 2 journal reviews where good and was marked fairly. The two field trips where the highlight and where super fun, one of which we visited a quarry and hunted for fossils and other one we visited the museum. The subject, however, was at times boring and hard to follow. Ya Ha Tinda

Anonymous, Semester 2, 2025

This subject was very interesting but poorly organised. The main lecturer, Stephen Gallagher, is a lovely guy, but his lectures were very hard to follow. We were expected to remember obscure knowledge, and he rarely wrote things down on the actual slides, so good luck to you if you couldn't make out his handwriting on the blackboard. Just some clear learning intentions would have made my life so much easier. I'm not a geology student (there were no prereqs for this subject), but it felt like there was a lot of assumed knowledge that was not communicated to students, and so I struggled keeping track of what he was talking about. While looking at fossils were fun, the pracs became a little boring after a while, and it was impossible to answer any of the questions associated with the practical without chasing Stephen down to ask for the context. There was also no forum like Ed or campuswire for this subject. The other lecturers were a lot better - Anne-Marie, Vera and Ashleigh are super friendly, clear and passionate about their content. The major assignments for this subject, the literature reviews, were marked generously enough, although the lack of a rubric or any guidance meant I was marked down on things I didn't realise they were looking for. I really did love the content of this subject as I found it super fascinating, but the content was very hard to follow which was disappointing. My grades in this subject were substantially lower than my normal grades. I don't regret taking it because of how interesting the content is, but I desperately hope that they make some adjustments for future years. If you're not interested in palaeontology then don't bother, it won't be a WAM booster.

Anonymous, Semester 2, 2023

Very poorly organised. Not a geology subject.

Anonymous, Semester 1, 2017