Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology teachers, misinformation about evolution remain. People who have absorbed the nonsense of pop science often believe that biologists are saying they do not believe in evolution.
This site, which is a companion to the PBS series It provides teachers with materials that support evolution education and avoids the kinds of myths that undermine it. It's arranged in a nested "bread crumb" format to make it easy for navigation and orientation.
Definitions
Evolution is a complex and difficult subject to teach effectively. People who are not scientists often have a difficult time understanding the subject and some scientists employ a definition that confuses it. This is especially true when it comes to debates about the nature of the word.
As such, it is essential to define terms used in evolutionary biology. Understanding Evolution's website does this in a simple and efficient manner. The site serves as an accompanying site for the 2001 series, but it is also a resource on its own. The material is presented in a way that aids navigation and orientation.
The site defines terms like common ancestor, the gradual process and adaptation. These terms help frame the nature of evolution as well as its relation to other concepts in science. The site gives a comprehensive overview of the ways the concept of evolution has been tested. This information will help to dispel the myths that are created by the creationists.
It is also possible to access a glossary of terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation: The tendency for heritable characteristics to become more suitable to a particular setting. This is due to natural selection, which occurs when organisms that have better adapted characteristics are more likely to survive and reproduce than those with less adapted characteristics.
Common ancestor (also known as 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 molecular that contains the information needed for cell replication. The information is stored in sequences of nucleotides that are strung together to form long chains, called chromosomes. Mutations are the reason behind the creation of new genetic information within cells.
Coevolution is a relation between two species, where the evolutionary changes of one species influence evolutionary changes in the other. Coevolution can be seen in the interaction of predator and prey, or parasite and hosts.
Origins
Species (groups of individuals who can interbreed) develop through natural changes in the characteristics of their offspring. These changes are caused by a variety of causes, including natural selection, genetic drift, and mixing of gene pools. The evolution of a new species may take thousands of years and the process may be slowed down or speeded up due to environmental conditions, such as climate change or competition for food or habitat.
The Evolution site tracks the evolution of various animal and plant groups through time, focusing on the major changes that took place in the evolution of each group's history. It also explores human evolution, which is a topic that is of particular interest for students.
When talks about it wrote the Origin in 1859, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been discovered. Among them was the famous skullcap and associated bones found in 1856 at the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany which is now believed as an early Homo neanderthalensis. While the skullcap wasn't published until 1858, just one year before the first edition of the Origin was published, it's extremely unlikely that Darwin had ever heard of it.
While the site is focused on biology, it offers a lot of information about geology and paleontology. The website has numerous aspects that are quite impressive, including a timeline of how climate and geological conditions have changed over the course of time. It also has maps that show the locations of fossil groups.
Although the site is a companion piece to the PBS television series but 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 material of Understanding Evolution (developed under the National Science Foundation's assistance) and the more specific features of the museum website. These hyperlinks make it easier to transition from the cartoon-style Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated realms 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 has resulted in many species of plants, animals and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures within their geological environment offers many advantages over modern observational or research methods of studying evolutionary processes. In addition to examining processes and events that take place regularly or over a long period of time, paleobiology is able to examine the diversity of species of organisms and their distribution across the course of geological time.
The site is divided into a variety of paths to learning evolution which include "Evolution 101," which takes the user on a linear path through the science of nature and the evidence to support the theory of evolution. The course also focuses on the most common misconceptions about evolution, as well as the evolution theory's history.
Each of the main sections on the Evolution website is equally well-designed, with materials that support a variety curriculum levels and teaching styles. In addition to the standard textual content, the site features an array of multimedia and interactive content including videos, animations and virtual labs. The content is laid out in a nested bread crumb fashion that aids navigation and orientation on the Web site.
For example the page "Coral Reef Connections" provides a comprehensive overview of the relationships between corals and their interactions with other organisms. It then zooms in on a single clam that is able to communicate with its neighbours and respond to changes in water conditions that take place 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 content also includes an overview of the importance of natural selection and the concept phylogenetics analysis as a key method for understanding the evolution of change.
Evolutionary Theory
For biology students evolution is a crucial thread that binds all branches of the field. A vast collection of books helps in teaching evolution across all life science disciplines.
One resource, which is a companion to the PBS television series Understanding Evolution, is an outstanding 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 has a nested "bread crumb" structure that helps students transition from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution to elements on this massive website that are more closely tied to the field of research science. For instance an animation that introduces the concept of genetic inheritance links to a page that highlights John Endler's artificial selection experiments with guppies in native ponds of Trinidad.
The Evolution Library on this website has a huge multimedia library of assets related with evolution. The content is organized according to curricula-based pathways that correspond to the learning goals established in the biology standards. It contains seven short videos that are designed for classroom use. They can be streamed or purchased as DVDs.
Many important questions remain in the midst of evolutionary biology, such as the factors that trigger evolution and how fast it happens. This is particularly true for humans' evolution which was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that humans have a distinct position in the universe and a soul with the notion that human beings have innate physical traits evolved from the apes.
There are a myriad of other ways in which evolution could occur including natural selection, which is the most popular theory. However scientists also study other types of evolution such as genetic drift, mutation, and sexual selection, among other things.
While many fields of scientific inquiry have a conflict with literal interpretations of the Bible evolutionary biology has been the subject of intense controversy and resistance from religious fundamentalists. While certain religions have managed to reconcile their beliefs with the ideas of evolution, other religions haven't.