Students taking Oregon State University's Anthropology 446 course will leave the class with three credits toward their major. The professor expects students to be able to identify many human teeth and bones as well as the features of those materials. Students should also be able to list procedures for "search and recovery of human skeletal remains" upon completing the course, according to the course syllabus. Other learning outcomes include summarizing applications of forensic anthropology and explaining how elapsed time since death is determined.
Participation counts for 50 percent of the total grade in OSU's forensic anthropology class. Students must participate in and complete all ten labs before each respective deadline. Students are also expected to contribute to the first discussion topic of the semester, which covers osteology. Other discussions take place throughout the semester, and while it is highly encouraged for students to participate in these, they do not change the participation grade. Students can show initiative by bringing forensic-related items or topics to discussions.
OSU forensic anthropology students must complete one of two large projects during the course of this class. The first option is an experimental research poster. Students "develop an original research question/hypothesis on a relevant topic of inquiry," according to the OSU website. The assignment is carried out as an independent research project and is then presented in poster format. The second option for the large assignment is a research paper that covers a specific topic relevant to forensic anthropology. This research paper can be no shorter than ten pages. There is also an extra credit book review that can gain up to 10 points for a student.
The forensic anthropology class begins by covering osteology. After students learn about bones and teeth, they focus on the search for and recovery of these items as well as taphonomy, or the study of time since death and fossilization. From there, students learn about analyzing the features of bones and teeth, such as ancestry, age, sex, stature, trauma and stress markers. In the last weeks of the course, students begin to apply this knowledge by studying historic cases, humans rights investigations, court testimony and ethics.