It may seem obsolete to place documents about teaching quantitative genetics, using Falconer & Mackay (1996) in this site. Because the book itself has become “historical”, and probably not used as the main textbook anymore. However, my purpose is to illustrate the way I used for a PhD course on quantitative genetics.
I was responsible for a self-study PhD course on quantitative genetics in our department between 1997 and 2013. Because of the “shortage” of PhD candidates, the course was held every other year. The material I am placing here were created mostly between 1997 and 2003. After that, I just modified/updated them only slightly. The course was more like a study circle. We had 10 weekly meetings (3 lecture hours) with the following elements:
- All PhD candidates were supposed to read the assigned chapters of the book during the week, usually 2 chapters per week;
- To assist the reading process, I provided a “Reading Guideline” for each chapter;
- For each chapter, one of the PhD candidates prepared a PowerPoint file, and presented it to the meetings:
- I made a review of the “Reading Guidelines”. I also tried to push each of the PhD candidates to become somehow “opinionated” on the subjects (and I failed miserably in most cases);
- At the end, I presented a short review of the chapters, giving a general impression of the chapter, and highlighting the most important points;
- Occasionally, I provided additional “Discussion material” to invoke more discussions on some key concepts.
The material I used during the course are reproduced here. Most of them were prepared around 2002-2003. Afterwards, there were only minor adjustments because the purpose of the course was to provide a wide introduction to the subject (and not the latest developments).
Hossein Jorjani 