Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology educators, misconceptions about evolution persist. People who have been exposed to popular science myths often assume that biologists are saying they don't believe in evolution.
This rich Web site, a companion to the PBS program offers teachers resources which support evolution education, while avoiding the kinds of misconceptions that can undermine it. It's laid out in the "bread crumb" format to make navigation and orientation easier.
Definitions
Evolution is a complex and difficult subject matter to teach effectively. It is often misunderstood even by non-scientists, and even some scientists are guilty of using definitions that confuse the issue. This is particularly relevant when it comes to the meaning of the words themselves.
It is therefore essential to define the terms used in evolutionary biology. The website for the PBS show, Understanding Evolution, does this in a clear and useful way. The website is a companion to the series that first aired in 2001, but it also functions as an independent resource. The material is presented in a nested manner that assists in navigation and orientation.
The site defines terms such as common ancestor and the gradual process. These terms help to define the nature and significance of evolution with other scientific concepts. The site gives a comprehensive overview of the ways in which evolution has been examined. This information can be used to dispel myths that have been created by creationists.
You can also access a glossary that includes terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation is the tendency of heritable traits to be better suited to an environment. This is a result of natural selection. Organisms with more adaptable characteristics are more likely than those with less adaptable traits to reproduce and survive.
Common ancestor (also called common ancestor) is the most recent ancestral ancestor shared by two or more species. By studying the DNA of these species, it is possible to identify the common ancestor.
Deoxyribonucleic acid: A huge biological molecule that holds the information necessary for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences which are strung into long chains called chromosomes. Mutations are the basis for new genetic information in cells.
Coevolution is a relationship between two species where evolutionary changes in one species are dependent on evolutionary changes in the other. Examples of coevolution are the interactions between predator and prey, or host and parasite.
Origins
Species (groups of individuals who can interbreed) develop through a series of natural changes in the characteristics of their offspring. The changes can be caused by a variety that include natural selection, genetic drift and mixing of gene pools. The evolution of new species can take thousands of years. Environmental conditions, like climate changes or competition for food and habitat can slow or speed up the process.
The Evolution site tracks the development of a number of different groups of animals and plants over time, focusing on the major shifts that occurred throughout each group's history. It also examines the evolutionary history of humans, a topic that is particularly important for students to know.
Darwin's Origin was published in 1859, when only a few antediluvian fossils of humans were discovered. The skullcap that is famous, along with the bones that accompanied it, was discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto of Germany. It is now recognized as an early Homo neanderthalensis. While the skullcap wasn't published until 1858, one year after the first edition of the Origin was published, it is highly unlikely that Darwin had ever heard of it.
While This Internet page focuses on biology, it also includes a good deal of information about geology and paleontology. One of the most appealing features of the Web site are a timeline of events which show the way in which climatic and geological conditions changed over time, and a map of the distribution of some fossil groups that are featured on the site.
The site is a companion to the PBS television series, but it could also be used as an educational resource by teachers and students. The site is very well organized and provides clear links between the introduction material in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more specialized elements of the museum's web site. These hyperlinks facilitate the move from the cartoon-like style of the Understanding Evolution pages to the more sophisticated world of research science. Particularly there are hyperlinks to John Endler's research with Guppies that demonstrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.
Diversity
The evolution of life has resulted in a variety of animals, plants and insects. Paleobiology, the study of these creatures in their geological environment offers many advantages over the current observational or experimental methods for studying evolutionary processes. In addition to exploring the processes and events that happen regularly or over a long period of time, paleobiology is able to study the relative abundance of various groups of organisms and their distribution across the geological time.
The site is divided into a variety of ways to learn about evolution that include "Evolution 101," which takes the user on a linear path through the scientific process and the evidence that supports the theory of evolution. The path also reveals common misconceptions about evolution as well as the history of evolutionary thought.
Each of the other major sections of the Evolution site is similarly constructed, with materials that can support a variety of different pedagogical levels and curriculum levels. 에볼루션 카지노 has a range of interactive and multimedia resources which include video clips, animations and virtual labs, in addition to its general textual content. The content is organized in a nested, bread crumb fashion that aids navigation and orientation within the vast web site.
The page "Coral Reef Connections", for example, gives a brief overview of the relationships between corals and their interactions with other organisms and zooms in on a single clam, which can communicate with its neighbors and respond to changes in the conditions of the water at the reef level. This page, along with the other multidisciplinary, multimedia, and interactive pages on the site, offer an excellent introduction to a broad spectrum of topics in evolutionary biology. The material includes an overview of the importance of natural selection and the concept phylogenetics analysis which is a crucial tool to understand evolutionary changes.
Evolutionary Theory
For biology students evolution is a crucial thread that weaves together all branches of the field. A wide selection of resources helps teachers teach evolution across the disciplines of life sciences.
One resource, which is the companion to PBS's television show Understanding Evolution is an excellent example of a Web site that provides the depth and the broadness in terms of educational resources. The site offers a variety of interactive learning modules. It also features a nested "bread crumb" structure that allows students to move from the cartoon-like style of Understanding Evolution to elements on this large Web site closer to the field of research science. Animation that introduces the concept of genetics links to a page highlighting John Endler's experiments in artificial selection using guppies on native ponds in Trinidad.
Another useful resource is the Evolution Library on this Web site, which contains an extensive collection of multimedia assets that are related to evolution. The content is organized into curriculum-based paths that parallel the learning goals established in the standards for biology. It contains seven short videos that are designed for classroom use. These are available to stream or purchase as DVDs.
Evolutionary biology is an area of study that poses many important questions, such as what causes evolution and how quickly it occurs. This is particularly true in the case of human evolution which was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that held that humans have a distinct place in the creation and a soul with the idea that innate physical traits evolved from Apes.
In addition there are a myriad of ways that evolution can be triggered and natural selection is the most widely accepted theory. Scientists also study other types such as genetic drift and sexual selection.
Many fields of inquiry conflict with literal interpretations of the Bible evolutionary biology has been the subject of particularly fierce debate and opposition from religious fundamentalists. While certain religions have been able to reconcile their beliefs with the ideas of evolution, others have not.