Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology educators, there are still a lot of misconceptions about evolution. People who have been exposed to pop science nonsense often assume that biologists are saying they don't believe in evolution.
This rich Web site - companion to the PBS series - provides teachers with materials which support evolution education and avoids the kinds of misconceptions that hinder it. It's organized in a "bread crumb" format to aid in navigation and orientation.
Definitions
It's not easy to teach evolution well. It is often misunderstood by non-scientists and even scientists use an interpretation that is confusing the issue. This is especially true when discussing the definition of the words.
It is therefore important to define the terms used in evolutionary biology. Understanding Evolution's website helps you define these terms in an easy and helpful way. The site is both an accompaniment to the 2001 series, but also a resource of its own. The material is presented in a way that assists in navigation and orientation.
The site defines terms like common ancestor (or common ancestor), gradual process and adaptation. These terms help define the nature of evolution and its relationship to evolution to other concepts in science. The site provides an overview of the way the concept of evolution has been examined. This information can be used to dispel the myths that have been created by the creationists.
It is also possible to get a glossary of terms that are used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation is the process of changing heritable traits to be more suitable to their environment. This is the result of natural selection. It occurs when organisms that have better-adapted characteristics are more likely to survive and reproduce than those with less adaptable characteristics.
Common ancestor (also called common ancestor) is the most recent ancestor that is shared by two or more species. By analyzing the DNA from these species, it is possible to determine the common ancestor.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A large biological molecular that contains the information needed for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences which are strung into long chains called chromosomes. Mutations are responsible for the creation of new genetic information within cells.
Coevolution is a relationship between two species where evolutionary changes of one species are influenced by evolutionary changes of the other. Examples of coevolution are the interactions between predator and prey or parasite and host.
Origins
Species (groups that can crossbreed), evolve through a series of natural changes in the traits of their offspring. Changes can be caused by various factors, including natural selection, gene drift and mixing of the gene pool. The evolution of new species could take thousands of years. Environmental circumstances, such as climate changes or competition for food or habitat can slow or speed up the process.
에볼루션 카지노 through time the evolution of various animal and plant groups with a focus on major changes in each group's past. It also explores the evolutionary origin of humans which is crucial for students to comprehend.
Darwin's Origin was written in 1859, at a time when only a handful of antediluvian fossils of humans were discovered. One of them was the infamous skullcap and associated bones found in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany that is now thought as an early Homo neanderthalensis. Although the skullcap was not published until 1858, one year before the first edition of the Origin appeared, it is extremely unlikely that Darwin had seen or heard of it.
While the site focuses on biology, it also includes a good deal of information about geology as well as paleontology. Our Site of the most appealing features on the site are a timeline of events that illustrate how geological and climatic conditions have changed over time and a map of the distribution of a few fossil groups that are featured on the site.
The site is a companion to the PBS television series, but it can be used as a source for teachers and students. The site is well-organized and offers clear links between the introduction information in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more sophisticated components of the museum's Web site. These hyperlinks make it easy to move from the cartoon-style Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated worlds of research science. There are links to John Endler’s experiments with guppies, which demonstrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.
Diversity
The evolution of life on Earth has resulted in a variety of plants, animals, and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures in their natural environment, has many advantages over modern observational or research methods of studying evolutionary processes. In addition to studying processes and events that occur regularly or over a lengthy period of time, paleobiology allows to study the relative abundance of different kinds of organisms as well as their distribution throughout the geological time.
The website is divided into several optional ways to learn about evolution which include "Evolution 101," which takes the viewer on a liner path through the nature of science and the evidence supporting the theory of evolution. The course also focuses on misconceptions regarding evolution, and the background of evolutionary thought.
Each of the main sections on the Evolution website is equally well-developed, and includes materials that are suited to a variety of levels of curriculum and teaching methods. The site offers a wide array of multimedia and interactive resources which include videos, animations, and virtual labs in addition to general textual content. The breadcrumb-like arrangement of the content helps with navigation and orientation on the massive Web site.
For example, the page "Coral Reef Connections" provides an overview of coral relationships and their interaction with other organisms. Then, it zooms in on a single clam that can communicate with its neighbors and react to changes in the water conditions that take place at the level of the reef. This page, as well as the other multidisciplinary interactive and multimedia pages provides an excellent introduction to the many areas of evolutionary biology. The material includes an explanation of the importance of natural selection and the concept phylogenetics analysis, an important method for understanding the evolution of changes.
Evolutionary Theory
For biology students the concept of evolution is a major thread that binds all the branches of the field. A vast collection of resources supports teaching about evolution across all life sciences.
One resource, the companion to PBS's television series Understanding Evolution is an excellent example of a Web page that offers both depth and wide range of educational resources. The site offers a variety of interactive learning modules. It also features a "bread crumb structure" that allows students to move away from the cartoon style that is used in Understanding Evolution and onto elements of this vast website that are closely connected to the worlds of research science. For example an animation that explains the idea of genetic inheritance connects to a page that focuses on John Endler's experiments with artificial selection with guppies from the native ponds of Trinidad.
The Evolution Library on this website contains a large multimedia library of materials that deal to evolution. The content is organized according to curricula-based pathways that correspond to the learning goals established in biology standards. It includes seven short videos designed specifically for use in the classroom, and can be streamed at no cost or purchased on DVD.
A number of important questions remain at the core of evolutionary biology, including what causes evolution to occur and how fast it occurs. This is particularly true for humans' evolution which was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that humanity has a special place in the creation and a soul with the idea that innate physical traits originated from apes.
In addition, there are a number of ways that evolution could occur with natural selection being the most widely accepted theory. Scientists also study other kinds such as genetic drift and sexual selection.
While many fields of scientific inquiry are in conflict with the literal interpretations of religious texts Evolutionary biology has been the subject of intense controversy and resistance from religious fundamentalists. Certain religions have reconciled their beliefs to evolution while others haven't.