Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology educators, misconceptions about evolution persist. People who have taken in pop science nonsense often assume that biologists do not believe in evolution.
This site, which is a companion to the PBS series offers teachers with resources that support evolution education and help avoid the kinds of myths that make it difficult to understand. It's organized in a "bread crumb" format to aid in navigation and orientation.
Definitions
It's not easy to effectively teach evolution. People who are not scientists often have a difficult time understanding the subject, and some scientists even employ a definition that confuses it. This is especially relevant when it comes to the nature of the words themselves.
Therefore, it is crucial to define the terms used in evolutionary biology. Understanding Evolution's website does this in an easy and helpful way. The site is a companion to the series that first aired in 2001, but it also functions as an independent resource. The content is organized in a way that makes it easy to navigate and understand.
The site defines terms such as common ancestor, gradual process and adaptation. These terms help to define the nature of evolution and its relationship to other scientific concepts. The site then offers an overview of how the concept of evolution has been tested and verified. This information can be used to dispel myths that have been engendered by the creationists.
You can also access a glossary that includes terms that are used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation is the process of changing hereditary traits to become better suited to an environment. This is a result of natural selection. It occurs when organisms that have more adaptable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce than those with less adaptable characteristics.
Common ancestor: The most recent common ancestor of two or more different species. The common ancestor can be identified through analyzing the DNA of those species.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A huge biological molecular that contains the necessary information for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences that are strung into long chains known as chromosomes. Mutations are the source of new genetic information in cells.
Coevolution: A relationship between two species where evolutionary changes in one species are affected by changes in evolutionary processes in the other. Examples of coevolution include the interactions between predator and prey or host and parasite.
Origins
Species (groups which can interbreed) develop through a series of natural changes in the traits of their offspring. The causes of these changes are numerous factors, like natural selection, gene drift, and mixing of the gene pool. The evolution of a new species can take thousands of years and the process can be slowed down or speeded up due to environmental conditions, such as climate change or the competition for food or habitat.
The Evolution site tracks the development of a number of different animal and plant groups through time, focusing on the major changes that took place in the history of each group. It also explores human evolution as a subject of particular importance for students.
When Darwin wrote the Origin of Species, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been found. The most famous among them was the skullcap and bones that were discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany, which is now known as an early Homo neanderthalensis. While the skullcap wasn't published until 1858, which was one year before the first edition of the Origin was published, it's highly unlikely that Darwin had seen or heard of it.
The site is primarily an online biology resource however it also includes lots of information about geology and paleontology. The most impressive features of the Web site are a set of timelines which show how geological and climatic conditions have changed over time, and an interactive map of the geographical distribution of some fossil groups that are featured on the site.
While the site is a companion piece to a PBS television series, it also stands on its own as a valuable source for teachers and students. The site is well-organized, and provides clear links to the introduction information of Understanding Evolution (developed under the National Science Foundation's support) as well as the more specialized features of the museum website. These hyperlinks make it easy to transition from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated worlds of research science. Particularly there are links to John Endler's research with guppies that illustrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.
Diversity
The evolution of life has produced an array of plants, animals and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures in their geographical context and offers many advantages over modern observational and experimental methods for analyzing evolutionary processes. In addition to examining processes and events that occur regularly or over a lengthy period of time, paleobiology is able to analyze the relative abundance of different groups of organisms and their distribution across the course of geological time.
The site is divided into various paths to learning evolution, including "Evolution 101," which takes the user on a linear path through the science of nature and the evidence that supports the theory of evolution. The path also explores misconceptions about evolution and the background of evolutionary thinking.
Each of the main sections on the Evolution website is equally well-designed, with materials that are suited to a variety of levels of curriculum and teaching methods. In addition to the general textual content, the site features an extensive selection of interactive and multimedia resources like videos, animations, and virtual laboratories. The breadcrumb-like organization of the content helps with navigation and orientation on the large Web site.
For example the page "Coral Reef Connections" provides an overview of coral relationships and their interactions with other organisms. It then zooms in on a single clam that is able to communicate with its neighbors and respond to changes in the water conditions that occur at the reef level. This page, along with the other multidisciplinary multimedia and interactive pages, offers a great introduction to many topics in evolutionary biology. The material includes an overview of the importance of natural selection and the concept phylogenetics analysis, an important tool for understanding evolutionary changes.
Evolutionary Theory
Evolution is an underlying thread that is found throughout all branches of biology. A rich collection of resources helps teachers teach about evolution across all life sciences.
One resource, a companion to the PBS television series Understanding Evolution, is an excellent example of an Web site that offers both depth and a variety of educational resources. The site features a wealth of interactive learning modules. It also features a "bread crumb structure" that assists students in moving away from the cartoon style that is used in Understanding Evolution and onto elements on this large website more closely related to the fields of research science. 에볼루션 게이밍 that introduces the concept of genetics links to a page about John Endler's experiments in artificial selection using guppies on native ponds in Trinidad.
The Evolution Library on this website contains a large multimedia library of assets related to evolution. The contents are organized into curricula-based pathways that correspond to the learning objectives outlined in the biology standards. It includes seven short videos specifically designed for use in the classroom, and can be streamed for free or purchased on DVD.
Evolutionary biology is a field of study that poses many important questions to answer, such as what triggers evolution and how fast it occurs. This is especially true for humans' evolution, where it was difficult to reconcile religious beliefs that held that humanity has a special place in the creation and a soul, with the idea that innate physical traits evolved from the apes.
Additionally there are a myriad of ways in which evolution could occur and natural selection is the most popular theory. However scientists also study different kinds of evolution, such as mutation, genetic drift and sexual selection, among other things.
Although many scientific fields of study have a conflict with literal interpretations in religious texts, the concept of evolution biology has been a subject of intense controversy and opposition from religious fundamentalists. While certain religions have managed to reconcile their beliefs with the theories of evolution, other religions haven't.