Kenneth Lacovara

School: Drexel University
Department: Geology
Location:Philadelphia, PA
Overall Rating
rated by 20 students
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 Pros: Hands down the coolest Bio/Envs professor at Drexel.
Incredibly mind expanding course, will change the way you look at the world.
Cons: The tests are a bit confusing, so don't go in expecting an easy A.
Seriously.
This is one of those courses that I could have failed, but would still have enjoyed. I came away with a good grade, but more importantly I had a fantastic experience. Dr. Lacovara is THE man. He's really experienced and well educated and he is reasonably humble about it. He shares a wealth of interesting stories and tangents, and shows that he wants to help students understand and enjoy what he's teaching.
His lectures/easy going style and conversational manner of teaching make this hands down my favorite course of my undergrad career.
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 Pros: Enthusiastic
Cool
Very knowledgeable
Willing to help you if you ask
Cons: Assumes all students have a moderate understanding of biology/geology
Exams are multiple choice and tricky
Laptops aren't allowed in class
Dr. Lacovara is an amazing professor. He really knows what he's talking about and you can tell he wants to be there. He encourages students to ask questions and he relates material to his own work. He's also active on twitter and has been on TV/youtube a few times. Super cool and friendly guy.
His presentations are packed full of information, but can be confusing because there isn't a lot of text in the slides. The course material is difficult. There's a lot to memorize and dinosaur terminology can be confusing. Your course grade is made up of 3 exams and one big project, so expect to put a lot of time and effort in.
Overall: Take this class if you are actually interested in science and willing to put in work. You will learn a lot. Don't take this class if you need an easy GPA boost.
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 Pros: thorough, interesting, compelling, detailed
Cons: None
I hope that my comments are permitted to be posted because I did not have Prof. Lacovara as a professor at Drexel. He was my professor years ago (1993?) at a community college in South Jersey. The course title was Historical Geology, and at the beginning of the course, he promised that we would never look at our world the same way after we finished the course. He wasn't joking. Ever since then, I see myself as part of an ever-changing Earth and universe, capable of improving it just by the choices I make (I enjoyed reading the article about his chickens and organic farm). I have never taken such an interesting and inspiring course before. It compelled me to do an abundance of work outside of the class, even helping to form a study group that met at a different student's house every week. We took a trip to rock outcrops in Pennsylvania, one of which offered us the opportunity to pick up Trilobite and mollusk fossils right from the ground. That day was so much fun that when my path crosses with anyone who was in that class, we immediately share our memories of that day, and of that class. Prof. Lacovara is one of those unique individuals whose passionate devotion to his career inspires others to just do better. I am now a professor at that very same community college, and I sometimes teach in the same room that Prof. Lacovara taught our Geology course. I guess what I'm implying is - take a course with him whenever you can.
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 This guy seriously knows his stuff. Out of all the professors I've had thus far, he's the most intelligent and really teaches students the most. I'm taking his dinosaur class, obviously, and it's going to get real hard, but whatever, the concept of it is fascinating! He's a pretty cool guy himself, and he opened up the class showing these really neat slideshows of him digging up dinosaur bones. Cracks jokes during class, keeps things light but teaches you so much in the process.
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 Very interesting person and cool guy - he made lecture really enjoyable. The material and tests weren't hard. Take him for this class - you'll benefit from having him teaching it.
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 Pros: Lacovara is an excellent lecturer and is very engaging.
Cons: His exams can vary from moderate to hard because of the large amount of content that the exam consists of. He does drop the lowest grade of the first two exams.
One of Drexel's best lecturers! Make sure you prepare yourself well in advance for the exams.
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 Pros: Very informative
Funny
Cons: Attendance is a must if you want to understand his power points.
Great teacher who knows what he is talking about and keep lectures very interesting while covering alot of material. The only thing is that because his slides are mostly pictures, you have to be in lecture to understand them. Don't expect to miss a class and catch up with the power points only. Overall he is one of my favorite professors so far.
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 This course seems really hard...because Dr.Lacovara's test's are very detailed and he will not cured the grades...!The academy of natural science is very time consuming..!If you are looking for an elective don't take him..you will regret...!need to work hard to atleast get a B.
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 Pros: He is a great instructor, and the TAs are really nice. He gives you a lot of easy work to do as well as some pretty simple quizzes.
Cons: His tests are drawn from the big textbook not the lecture.
You won't do well on the quizzes unless you read the assigned novel and pay attention in lecture.
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 This revamped evolution was very focused on history of life on earth. On tests he would ask about specific details like what year did birds evolve. Not much time was focused on theory like genetic drift or selection.
I wish there was more theory but this class was entertaining. Lacovera is a great, engaging speaker and I only fell asleep one or two times.
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 Pros: Class was very interesting! Dr. Lacovara was a good lecturer.
Cons: Although the class was interesting, and the professor was cool, the exams were still hard. I studied a lot and didn't do all that well. There was a lot of reading for recitation, which sometimes just seemed over the top.
Good class. Bad exams.
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 Pros: Lectures are really interesting...
Cons: His tests are hard, has an ego the size of a hot air balloon...
He discovered a boatload of Dinosaurs... Watching him lecture is like watching the discovery channel
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 When I first started taking his class, I hated him. It's true: he's very arrogant and appears to have absolutely no personality in the beginning. However, I was EXTREMELY fortunate to have had Francis in my class. (If you don't know exactly who I'm talking about right away, forget it) The dynamic between Lacovara and Francis was hilarious.
I cannot say anything about the blog. He was unable to get it functioning during our term, so he just gave the entire class full credit for it.
On the plus end, he knows what he lectures on very well, and his lectures are on topic. On the minus end, his lectures can be EXTREMELY boring (which is where Francis helped A LOT). However, I learned to like Lacovara a bit in the end and have to give him a positive review overall.
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 Dr. Lacovara is an interesting guy. I enjoyed going to lecture because he tried to keep students entertained, but sometimes it did get boring. Overall, evolution wasn't too bad. His exams were based off lecture, reading the textbook and reading a novel. Most of it concentrated on the lecture, and as long as you memorized most of the stuff you did decent on the exam. He expects students to post on the class blog, and we were required to post a number of things. The blog ended up being 25% of our grade, and don't be fooled if you think the blog is just a way to bring up your grade. He will not give you points if he doesn't think you did a good job. So work hard on the blog, make a lot of posts, and participate in class. He also takes attendance, and if you missed the times he passed around the sign in sheet...expect to get points deducted from your final grade.
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 I'm shocked that ANYONE has complained about this guy. He is AMAZINGLY entertaining and made the class extremely interesting and fun. I agree with a previous comment about his work with powerpoint -- his presentations kept me entertained EVERY time they went up on the screen. He did cancel class a few times, and at times the tests could be difficult, but if you showed up and studied the lecture notes, there is no way you didn't get at least a B. I have no idea how anyone could this guy is a jerk -- he's hilarious and works hard to make class interesting for everyone.
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 If you guys have seen the Thoracosaurus display in Stratton and have always wondered where it came from and the class that found it, this is it. I say the workload is heavy because we joked the class is "SLAVE LABOR 101," LOL. It's just a lot of digging sometimes but honestly if you're looking to go into geology or paleontology, this class is DEFINITELY for you. Since the class was first offered I've jumped at every opportunity to take the class. There are no homework assignments other than the reading at the beginning and no midterms, no final exam, just a presentation at the end about a topic you can pick about the localities you'll study, Big Brook, Ellisdale, Inversand. The course is completely experiential (sp?) learning, so attendance is required of course, but why would you miss playing in dirt to find potential dinosaur bones? In addition you are made a Paleo Intern at the Academy of Natural Sciences which is quite an honor in my opinion and get to go behind the scenes and actually work on fossils you find from the 3 sites and on actual fossils at the musuem, so just imagine, you're really making an impact into the science of paleontology. =)
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 I took this class the first year it was offered. Didn't even need to buy the textbook and didn't study, passed with an A. My absolute favorite professor here at Drexel, seriously if it wasn't for him, I would have gone crazy with my BIOSC concentration. I suppose he does give a lot of information but he does warn in the first lecture that the class is not going to be simply "what is a dinosaur?" though you'll learn that. The exams are very clear and tests right from his lecture with some details from the book but honestly in my opinion, you'd have to try to fail his class. There is a project at the end where he asks you to go to the Academy of Natural Sciences to apply what you've learned, in and out in about an hour and overall about 2 hours spent putting it together. You guys honestly can't complain, one of his colleages at UMaryland has two assignments at the Smithsonian, both with over 100 questions. You guys have it easy, just enjoy, I mean, the class is on freaking dinosaurs. What is there not to like? =D
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 He was a very good and entertaining teacher. He made the lectures easy and cares about his students. I definately recommend taking the class. It is simple as long as you do the reading in the textbook.
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 If you are serious about paleontology and love dinosaurs, this is a fantastic class. However, do not be deceived. This is not dinos for dummies, and you will work hard. The exams are long and difficult, and you will be at a serious disadvantage if you're not committed to doing the reading and taking notes for each class, because the lectures don't get posted online regularly. The instructor is very serious about the subject matter and student involvement, though he himself might just be too busy to really dedicate himself to teaching between digs. He had to cancel class many times. He is brilliant and entertaining, though, and he's the only instructor I've ever had that actually knew how to use Powerpoint effectively. The project is very involved, but lots of fun if you're a museum buff like me anyway, and several things taught here helped me in other bio classes I was taking, too. I really learned a lot in this class, and if you're committed, you will too!
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 Very unreasonable professor. Do not be deceived by courses he teaches being labeled as 100 level classes, they are not easy. He is a hard grader and fairly arrogant. He overloads students with a massive amount of information and asks obscure information for exams. You will have to work very hard to get a B in one of his courses.

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