Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology educators, misinformation about evolution persist. People who have absorbed popular science myths often assume that biologists are saying they do not believe in evolution.
This rich website - companion to the PBS series offers teachers with resources that support evolution education and help avoid the kinds of misinformation that can make it difficult to understand. It's laid out in a "bread crumb" format to make navigation and orientation easier.
Definitions
It's difficult to teach evolution well. It is often misunderstood by non-scientists, and even some scientists use a definition that confuses the issue. This is particularly relevant when it comes to the nature of the words themselves.
It is therefore crucial to define the terms that are used in evolutionary biology. The website for the PBS show, Understanding Evolution, does this in a clear and helpful manner. The site is both a companion for the 2001 series, but also a resource on its own. The material is presented in a nested fashion that assists in navigation and orientation.
The site defines terms such as common ancestor, gradual process, and adaptation. These terms help frame the nature and significance of evolution to other concepts in science. The site also provides an overview of how the concept of evolution has been researched and verified. This information can help dispel the myths created by creationists.
You can also consult a glossary that contains terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation: The tendency of heritable characteristics to become more suited to a particular environment. This is the result of natural selection. Organisms with more adaptable traits are more likely than those with less adaptable characteristics to survive and reproduce.
Common ancestor: The most recent common ancestor of two or more species. The common ancestor can be identified through analyzing the DNA of these species.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A huge biological molecular that holds the information required for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences, which are strung into long chains known as chromosomes. Mutations are the cause of new genetic information in cells.
Coevolution is a relationship between two species where evolutionary changes in one species are influenced by evolutionary changes in the other. Coevolution can be seen in the interactions between predator and prey, or parasite and hosts.
Origins
Species (groups of individuals that can interbreed) change through an array of natural changes in the traits of their offspring. The changes can be caused by a variety of causes that include natural selection, genetic drift, and gene pool mixing. The development of a new species can take thousands of years, and the process may be slowed or increased by environmental factors like climate change or competition for food or habitat.
The Evolution site follows the emergence of various groups of animals and plants with a focus on major changes in each group's history. It also focuses on human evolution as a subject that is of particular interest to students.
Darwin's Origin was published in 1859, at a time when only a handful of antediluvian fossils of humans had been found. The famous skullcap, 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. It is unlikely that Darwin knew about the skullcap, which was first published in 1858, one year after the first edition of The Origin. Origin.
The site is mostly an online biology resource however, it also has lots of information about paleontology and geology. Among the best features on the site are a set of timelines which show the way in which climatic and geological conditions changed over time, as well as an interactive map of the geographical distribution of some fossil groups listed on the site.
The site is a companion to a PBS TV series but it could also be used as a source for teachers and students. The site is extremely well organized and provides clear links between the introductory content in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more sophisticated elements of the museum's web site. These links facilitate the transition from the cartoon-like style of the Understanding Evolution pages to the more sophisticated world of research science. There are links to John Endler’s experiments with guppies that demonstrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.
Diversity
The evolution of life on Earth has resulted in a variety of animals, plants and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures in their geological context is a superior method of study over the current observational or experimental methods of studying evolutionary phenomena. In addition to studying processes and events that take place regularly or over a long period of time, paleobiology allows to analyze the relative abundance of different kinds of organisms as well as their distribution throughout the geological time.
The website is divided into several options to gain knowledge about evolution. One of these paths, "Evolution 101," guides the user through the evolution of nature and the evidence of evolution. The path also explores misconceptions about evolution and also the history of evolutionary thinking.
Each of the main sections on the Evolution website is equally well-developed, and includes materials that can be used to support a variety of levels of curriculum and teaching methods. In addition to general textual content, the site offers an array of multimedia and interactive resources including videos, animations and virtual laboratories. The breadcrumb-like arrangement of the content assists with navigation and orientation on the massive web site.
The page "Coral Reef Connections", for example, provides a comprehensive overview of the coral's relationships and their interactions with other organisms and zooms in to one clam, which is able to communicate with its neighbours and respond to changes in conditions of the water that occur at the reef level. This page, as well as the other multidisciplinary, multimedia, and interactive pages on the site, offer an excellent introduction to the broad variety of topics in evolutionary biology. The information also includes an explanation of the role of natural selection as well as the concept of phylogenetic analysis, which is an important method to understand evolutionary changes.
Evolutionary Theory
For biology students, evolution is a key thread that connects all branches of the field. A wide range of resources helps teachers teach about evolution across all life sciences.
One resource, which is a companion to the PBS television series Understanding Evolution, is an excellent example of a Web site that provides the depth and breadth of its educational resources. 에볼루션 바카라 사이트 offers a range of interactive learning modules. It also features an "bread crumb structure" that allows students to move away from the cartoon style used in Understanding Evolution and onto elements of this vast website that are closely related to the realms of research science. An animation that introduces the concept of genetics links to a page highlighting John Endler's artificial-selection experiments with Guppies living in ponds native to Trinidad.
The Evolution Library on this website has a huge multimedia library of resources that are associated with evolution. The content is organized according to curricula-based pathways that correspond to the learning objectives outlined in the standards for biology. It contains seven videos designed specifically for use in classrooms, and can be streamed for free or purchased on DVD.
A number of important questions remain in the midst of evolutionary biology, including what triggers evolution and how fast it occurs. This is particularly relevant to human evolution, which has made it difficult to reconcile the idea that the physical characteristics of humans evolved from apes with religious beliefs that hold that humanity is unique among living things and holds a a special place in creation, with soul.
In addition there are a variety of ways that evolution can occur and natural selection is the most popular theory. However scientists also study other types of evolution such as mutation, genetic drift and sexual selection, among others.
While many scientific fields of study have a conflict with literal interpretations in religious texts, evolution biology has been a subject of intense debate and resistance from religious fundamentalists. While certain religions have managed to reconcile their beliefs with the notions of evolution, others haven't.
