Spring 2027

Evolution and Extinction

Evolution and Extinction examines contemporary views on the origin and diversification of life, focusing on controversies regarding evolution, mass extinctions, and the co-evolution of Earth and life.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Clay Kelly4.2/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Clay Kelly

The workload included weekly readings with quizzes and roughly 2-3 hours of lecture per week. Some students found the content disorganized and difficult to follow while taking notes.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe and appraise the arguments and evidence for evolution via natural selection.

  • Describe the Central Dogma of molecular biology and define key molecular components therein.

  • List key mechanisms involved in the regulation of gene expression during the development of organisms.

  • Identify mechanisms that can result in speciation and extinction.

  • Describe the nature of the fossil record as an archive for the history of life.

  • Describe the methods used to partition and measure geological time and determine the age of the Earth and key evolutionary events.

  • Describe macroevolution and characterize general macroevolutionary patterns in the fossil record.

  • Define the basis for recognizing mass extinctions, their effects, and outline causal hypotheses.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
GEOSCI 110 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

Clay Kelly

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.47/5 from 45 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.4/5 raw quality · 2.4/5 difficulty · 12 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Clay Kelly

Clay Kelly taught a course featuring lectures, weekly discussions, and online reading quizzes. Students reported that exams were multiple-choice and covered material from both readings and lectures, with one student finding the lecture content disorganized and difficult to follow.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.30 GPA, 58.6% A/AB (n=157 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.29 GPA, 58.7% A/AB (n=138 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.23 GPA, 61.0% A/AB (n=100 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Shanan Peters

Shanan Peters was an engaging lecturer who used humor and animations to make the material interesting. Students found quizzes helpful when done with a study partner, and the midterm and final exams were multiple choice.

CLAY KELLY is recorded teaching in Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

DANA GEARY is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

DANIEL SEGESSENMAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SHANAN PETERS is recorded teaching in Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1800
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 00

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Clay Kelly

Clay Kelly taught a clear and concise course with fair tests. He provided robust study guides and was very personable, making the material interesting and engaging for students.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.29 GPA, 58.7% A/AB (n=138 letter grades); Fall 2025: 2.92 GPA, 41.6% A/AB (n=154 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.23 GPA, 61.0% A/AB (n=100 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Clay Kelly

The workload included weekly readings with quizzes and roughly 2-3 hours of lecture per week. Some students found the content disorganized and difficult to follow while taking notes.

Past student reviews · Clay Kelly

Students noted the casual classroom atmosphere, though one mentioned that electronics were not allowed, requiring a switch to notebooks. Graded components included four exams, weekly reading quizzes, and discussion attendance.

Topics

  • Origin and diversification of life and evolutionary processes
  • Controversies regarding evolution, mass extinctions, and the co-evolution of Earth and life
  • The fossil record as an archive for the history of life
  • Macroevolution and general macroevolutionary patterns

Skills

  • Appraising arguments and evidence for evolution via natural selection
  • Partitioning and measuring geological time to determine the age of Earth and evolutionary events
  • Recognizing mass extinctions and outlining causal hypotheses

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.12 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
GEOSCI 110 · Spring 2027

Evolution and Extinction

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:420:008465",
    "course_id": "GEOSCI 110",
    "course_uid": "course_c4afdc34fab0a207868d407e",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "008465",
    "source_subject_id": "420",
    "title": "Evolution and Extinction",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "12556af586edcbcfc69e81faa34879f6f18b578612fc0de28bcb048698ef6fab",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}