Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology educators, misinformation about evolution remain. People who have been exposed to pop science nonsense often assume that biologists claim they don't believe in evolution.
This site, which is a companion to the PBS series offers teachers with resources that promote evolution education and avoid the kinds of misconceptions that hinder it. It's laid out in a "bread crumb" format to facilitate navigation and orientation.
Definitions
Evolution is a complicated and difficult subject matter to teach well. People who are not scientists often have a difficult time understanding the subject, and some scientists even use a definition which confuses it. This is especially true when it comes to discussions about the definition of the word itself.
Therefore, it is essential to define terms used in evolutionary biology. The website for the PBS show, Understanding Evolution, does this in a simple and efficient way. The site is a companion to the series that first aired in 2001, but can also function as an independent resource. The material is presented in a nested manner that aids navigation and orientation.
The site defines terms such as common ancestor (or common ancestor), gradual process and adaptation. These terms help frame the nature of evolution as well as its relationship to other scientific concepts. The website provides a summary of the way in which evolution has been examined. This information can be used to dispel the myths that have been created by the creationists.
You can also access a glossary that includes terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation: The tendency of heritable characteristics to become more adaptable to a specific environment. This is the result of natural selection. Organisms with more adaptable traits are more likely than those with less adaptable traits to survive and reproduce.
Common ancestor: The latest common ancestor of two or more distinct species. By analyzing DNA from these species, it is possible to determine the common ancestor.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A massive biological molecular that holds the information required 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: A relationship between two species where evolutionary changes in one species are affected by changes in evolutionary processes in the other. Examples of coevolution are the interactions between predator and prey, or host and parasite.
Origins
Species (groups that can interbreed), evolve through a series of natural changes in their offspring's traits. These changes can be caused by many factors, such as natural selection, gene drift, and mixing of the gene pool. The development of a new species can take thousands of years and the process may be slowed down or speeded up by environmental factors like climate change or competition for food or habitat.
The Evolution site traces through time the emergence of various groups of animals and plants, focusing on major transitions in each group's past. It also explores human evolution as a subject that is of particular interest for students.
When Darwin wrote the Origin in 1859, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been found. One of them was the infamous skullcap and the associated bones discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany, which is now known as an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is highly unlikely that Darwin knew about the skullcap, which was first published in 1858, a year after the publication of the first edition of The Origin. Origin.
While the site is focused on biology, it also includes a good deal of information about geology as well as paleontology. The most impressive features of the website are a set of timelines which show how geological and climatic conditions have changed over time and a map of the geographical distribution of some fossil groups that are featured on the site.
While the site is a companion piece to the PBS television show however, it can stand on its own as an excellent source for teachers and students. The site is very well organized and provides clear links between the introductory content in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more specialized elements of the museum Web site. Info help users move from the enthralling cartoon style of the Understanding Evolution pages to the more sophisticated world of research science. There are links to John Endler’s experiments with guppies, which illustrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.
Diversity
The evolution of life has resulted in a variety of plants, animals and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures in their geological context and has many advantages over modern observational and experimental methods in its exploration of evolutionary processes. In addition to exploring the processes and events that happen regularly or over a lengthy period of time, paleobiology allows to examine the relative abundance of different species of organisms and their distribution in space over geological time.
The site is divided up into various options to learn about evolution. One of the paths, "Evolution 101," takes the viewer through the nature and evidence of evolution. The path also reveals common misconceptions about evolution and the history of evolutionary thought.
Each of the main sections on the Evolution website is equally well-developed, with materials that can be used to support a variety of educational levels and teaching styles. The site includes a variety of interactive and multimedia resources, including videos, animations, and virtual labs in addition to general textual content. The content is organized in a nested, bread crumb fashion that aids navigation and orientation within the large web site.
For example the page "Coral Reef Connections" provides a comprehensive overview of the relationships between corals and their interaction with other organisms, then zooms in on a single clam that is able to communicate with its neighbors and respond to changes in the water conditions that take place at the level of the reef. This page, as well as the other multidisciplinary multimedia and interactive pages, offers a great introduction to a variety of topics in evolutionary biology. The material includes an explanation of the role of natural selectivity and the concept of phylogenetics, an important tool for understanding evolutionary change.
Evolutionary Theory
Evolution is a common thread that connects all branches of biology. A wide range of resources can help teachers teach about evolution across all life sciences.
One resource, which is a companion to the PBS television series Understanding Evolution, is an exceptional example of a Web site that provides depth and breadth in its educational resources. The site has a wide array of interactive learning modules. It also has an "bread crumb structure" that allows students to move away from the cartoon style that is used in Understanding Evolution and onto elements on this large website more closely linked to the fields of research science. For example, an animation introducing the notion of genetic inheritance leads to a page highlighting John Endler's artificial selection experiments with guppies from the native ponds of Trinidad.
Another useful resource is the Evolution Library on this site, which has an extensive collection of multimedia items connected to evolution. The content is organized in curricula-based paths that correspond to the learning goals set forth in the standards for biology. It includes seven short videos designed specifically for use in the classroom, and can be streamed for no cost or purchased on DVD.
A variety of crucial questions remain at the core of evolutionary biology, including the factors that trigger evolution and the speed at which it occurs. This is particularly true for the evolution of humans where it was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that held that humanity has a unique position in the universe and a soul, with the notion that human beings have innate physical traits originated from Apes.
In 에볼루션 무료체험 there are a myriad of ways that evolution could be triggered and natural selection is the most widely accepted theory. However scientists also study other kinds of evolution like mutation, genetic drift, and sexual selection, among others.
While many scientific fields of inquiry have a conflict with the literal interpretations of religious texts evolutionary biology has been the subject of particularly fierce debate and opposition from religious fundamentalists. Certain religions have embraced their beliefs to evolution while others haven't.