Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology educators, misconceptions about evolution persist. Pop science nonsense has led many people to believe that biologists don't believe evolution.
This rich Web site - companion to the PBS series It provides teachers with materials that support evolution education and avoid the kinds of myths that undermine it. It's organized in a nested "bread crumb" format to make it easy for navigation and orientation.
Definitions
Evolution is a complex and difficult subject matter to teach effectively. People who are not scientists often have a difficult time understanding the subject, and some scientists even use a definition that confuses it. This is especially applicable to discussions about the nature of the word.
It is crucial to define the terms that are used in evolutionary biology. Understanding Evolution's website provides this in a straightforward and useful way. The site is both an accompanying site for the 2001 series, but also a resource on its own. The information is presented in a structured way that makes it easy to navigate and comprehend.
The site defines terms such as common ancestor, gradual process and so on. These terms help frame the nature and relationship of evolution to other concepts in science. The site provides an overview of the manner in which evolution has been tested. This information can help dispel the myths created by creationists.
You can also consult a glossary that includes terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation: The tendency for heritable characteristics to become more adaptable to a specific environment. This is the result of natural selection. Organisms with better-adapted traits are more likely than those with less adapted characteristics to survive and reproduce.
Common ancestor (also called common ancestor): The most recent ancestral ancestor shared by two or more species. The common ancestor can be identified through analyzing the DNA of the species.
Deoxyribonucleic acid: A huge biological molecule that contains the information necessary for cell replication. The information is contained in sequences of nucleotides that are strung together into long chains, referred to as chromosomes. Mutations are the source of new genetic information within cells.
Coevolution: A relationship between two species in which evolutionary changes in one species are dependent on evolutionary changes in the other. Examples of coevolution include the interactions between predator and prey, or the parasite and the host.
Origins
Species (groups that can interbreed) change through a series natural changes in their offspring's traits. These changes can be caused by numerous factors, like natural selection, gene drift, and mixing of the gene pool. The development of a new species could take thousands of years and the process can be slowed down or speeded up by environmental factors like climate change or the competition for food or habitat.
The Evolution site traces through time the evolution of different groups of animals and plants and focuses on major changes in each group's past. It also examines the evolution of humans and is a subject that is particularly important for students.
When Darwin wrote the Origin of Species, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been discovered. The most famous among them was the skullcap and associated bones found in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany, which is now known to be an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is highly unlikely that Darwin was aware of the skullcap, which was first published in 1858, one year after the first edition of The Origin.
The site is primarily a biology site however, it also has lots of information about paleontology and geology. 에볼루션 코리아 has numerous aspects that are quite impressive, such as an overview of how geological and climate conditions have changed over the course of time. It also includes an interactive map that shows the location of fossil groups.
The site is a companion to the PBS television series, but it could also be used as a source for teachers and students. The site is well-organized and provides easy links to the introductory material of Understanding Evolution (developed under the National Science Foundation's support) and the more specific features on the museum's website. These hyperlinks help users move from the engaging cartoon style of the Understanding Evolution pages to the more sophisticated world of research science. Particularly, 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 led to a wide variety of plants, animals, and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures within their natural environment and has a number of advantages over modern observational and experimental methods for analyzing evolutionary phenomena. In addition to examining processes and events that occur regularly or over a lengthy period of time, paleobiology allows to examine the diversity of kinds of organisms as well as their distribution across geological time.
The Web site is divided into a variety of pathways to understanding evolution, including "Evolution 101," which takes the viewer on a line through the nature of science and the evidence that supports the theory of evolution. The path also explores misconceptions about evolution, as well as the history of evolutionary thinking.
Each of the other sections of the Evolution site is equally well constructed, with materials that support a variety of educational levels and pedagogical styles. In addition to the general textual content, the site also has an extensive selection of interactive and multimedia resources like videos, animations and virtual laboratories. The content is laid out in a nested bread crumb fashion that aids navigation and orientation within the large web site.
The page "Coral Reef Connections" For instance, the page "Coral Reef Connections" gives a brief overview of coral relationships and interactions with other organisms and then zooms in on one clam, which can communicate with its neighbors and respond to changes in 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 wide spectrum of topics in evolutionary biology. The content includes a discussion on the role of natural selectivity and the concept phylogenetics analysis as a key tool for understanding evolutionary change.
Evolutionary Theory
For biology students evolution is a crucial thread that binds all the branches of the field. A vast collection of resources can help teachers teach about evolution across all life sciences.
One resource, which is the companion to PBS's TV series Understanding Evolution is an excellent example of an Web page that offers both the depth and the broadness in terms of educational resources. The site features a wide range of interactive learning modules. It also features a "bread crumb structure" that allows students to move away from the cartoon-like style of Understanding Evolution and onto elements on this large website more closely linked to the worlds of research science. For instance an animation that introduces the idea of genetic inheritance connects to a page that focuses on John Endler's artificial selection experiments with guppies in native ponds of Trinidad.
Another helpful resource is the Evolution Library on this web site, which has an extensive multimedia library of items connected to evolution. The content is organized in curricula-based paths that correspond to the learning objectives set out in the biology standards. It contains seven videos designed specifically for use in classrooms, and can be streamed for no cost or purchased on DVD.
A number of important questions remain in the midst of evolutionary biology, including the factors that trigger evolution and how fast it occurs. This is especially applicable to human evolution where it's been difficult to reconcile the notion that the innate physical characteristics of humans evolved from apes and religious beliefs that hold that humans are unique among living things and has an enviable place in creation with a soul.
There are a myriad of other ways evolution could occur including natural selection, which is the most widely accepted theory. However scientists also study other types of evolution such as genetic drift, mutation, and sexual selection, among other things.
While many scientific fields of study conflict with the literal interpretations of religious texts, the concept of evolution biology has been a source of intense debate and resistance from religious fundamentalists. Certain religions have embraced their beliefs to evolution while others haven't.