Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology educators, misinformation about evolution persist. People who have taken in popular science myths often assume that biologists don't believe in evolution.
This rich website - companion to the PBS series - provides teachers with materials which support evolution education and help avoid the kinds of misconceptions that undermine it. It's organized in a nested "bread crumb" format for ease of navigation and orientation.
Definitions
It's not easy to properly teach evolution. Many non-scientists are unable to grasp the concept, and some scientists even employ a definition that confuses it. discover here is particularly relevant when discussing the meaning 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 useful manner. The website is a companion to the series that first aired in 2001, but is also an independent resource. The content is organized in a manner that makes it easier to navigate and comprehend.
The site defines terms like common ancestor, gradual process and so on. These terms help to define the nature and significance of evolution to other concepts in science. The site gives a comprehensive overview of the way the concept of evolution has been tested. This information can be used to dispel misconceptions that have been created by creationists.
It is also possible to find the glossary of terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation is the tendency of heritable traits to be more suitable to their environment. This is a result of natural selection. Organisms that have better-adapted characteristics are more likely than those with less adapted traits to survive and reproduce.
Common ancestor (also known as common ancestor) is 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 massive biological molecular that holds the information required for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences that are strung into long chains, referred to as chromosomes. Mutations are responsible for the creation of new genetic information inside cells.
Coevolution is a relationship between two species in which evolutionary changes in one species are influenced by evolutionary changes in the other. Examples of coevolution are the interactions between predator and prey, or the parasite and the host.
Origins
Species (groups of individuals who can interbreed) change through a series of natural changes in the characteristics of their offspring. The changes can be caused by a variety of causes that include natural selection, genetic drift, and mixing of genes. The development of a new species may take thousands of years and the process can be slowed or increased by environmental factors like climate change or the competition for food or habitat.
The Evolution site tracks through time the evolution of different species of plants and animals with a focus on major changes in each group's past. It also focuses on human evolution, which is a topic of particular importance for students.
When Darwin wrote the Origin in 1859, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been found. The most famous among them was the skullcap and associated bones found in 1856 at the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany, which is now known to be an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is unlikely that Darwin knew about the skullcap, which was published in 1858, a year following the initial edition of The Origin. Origin.
While the site focuses on biology, it contains a wealth of information about geology and paleontology. The Web site has numerous features that are especially impressive, such as the timeline of how geological and climate conditions have changed over time. It also includes maps that show the locations of fossil groups.
Although the site is a companion to a PBS television show, it also stands on its own as a valuable resource for teachers and students. The site is very well-organized and offers clear links between the introduction information in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more specific components 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. In particular, 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 resulted in many species of animals, plants and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures in their geological environment offers many advantages over modern observational or research methods for exploring evolutionary processes. In addition to studying the processes and events that happen frequently or over a long period of time, paleobiology can be used to study the relative abundance of different kinds of organisms as well as their distribution across the course of geological time.
The website is divided into various routes that can be taken to gain knowledge about evolution. One of these paths, "Evolution 101," walks the reader through the evolution of nature and the evidence of evolution. The path also examines myths regarding evolution, as well as the history of evolutionary thinking.
Each of the other main 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 features a wide range of interactive and multimedia resources like videos, animations, and virtual labs. The breadcrumb-like organization of the content aids in navigation and orientation on the massive web site.
The page "Coral Reef Connections" For instance, it gives a brief overview of the coral's relationships and interactions with other organisms, and then zooms in to a single clam, which can communicate with its neighbors and respond to changes in water conditions that occur on the reef level. 에볼루션바카라사이트 , as well as the other multidisciplinary interactive and multimedia pages, provides an excellent introduction to many topics in evolutionary biology. The information also includes an overview of the importance of natural selection as well as the concept of phylogenetic analysis which is a crucial method to understand evolutionary change.
Evolutionary Theory
Evolution is an underlying thread that runs through all branches of biology. A wide selection of resources helps teachers teach evolution across the disciplines of life science.
One resource, a companion to the PBS television series Understanding Evolution, is an exceptional example of a Web site that provides the depth and breadth of its educational resources. The site offers a range of interactive learning modules. It also has an embedded "bread crumb" structure that allows students to move from the cartoon-like style of Understanding Evolution to elements on this large Web site more closely tied to the world of research science. An animation that introduces students to the concept of genetics is linked to a page highlighting John Endler's experiments with artificial selection using guppies on native ponds in Trinidad.
Another resource that is worth mentioning is the Evolution Library on this Web site, which contains an extensive collection of multimedia items related to evolution. The content is organized into courses that are based on curriculum and follow the learning goals established in the biology standards. It includes seven short videos designed specifically for classroom use, which can be streamed for free or purchased on DVD.
A variety of crucial questions remain in the midst of evolutionary biology, such as the factors that trigger evolution and how fast it happens. This is particularly relevant for the evolution of humans, where it was difficult to reconcile religious beliefs that held that humanity has a special place in creation and a soul with the notion that our physical traits evolved from apes.
In addition there are a myriad of ways in which evolution could be triggered and natural selection is the most widely accepted theory. Scientists also study other kinds such as genetic drift and sexual selection.
While many fields of scientific study have a conflict with the literal interpretations of religious texts, the concept of evolution biology has been a subject of intense controversy and opposition from religious fundamentalists. Some religions have reconciled their beliefs with evolutionary biology, while others haven't.