Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology educators, there are still a lot of misconceptions about the evolution. Pop science fiction has led a lot of people to believe that biologists don't believe evolution.
This site, which is a companion to the PBS series - provides teachers with materials that promote evolution education and avoids the kinds of misinformation that can make it difficult to understand. It's organized in a "bread crumb" format to facilitate navigation and orientation.
Definitions
It's difficult to teach evolution well. Non-scientists often misunderstand the subject, and some scientists even employ a definition that confuses it. This is especially true when discussing the meaning of the words themselves.
It is therefore important to define the terms that are used in evolutionary biology. Understanding Evolution's website provides this in a simple and efficient way. The site is a companion site to the series that first aired in 2001, but it also functions as an independent resource. The content is presented in a nested fashion that aids navigation and orientation.
The site defines terms such as common ancestor, the gradual process, and adaptation. These terms help to define the nature of evolution as well as its relationship to other concepts in science. The site provides an overview of the way the concept of evolution has been examined. This information can help dispel myths that are created by the creationists.
It is also possible to access the glossary of terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation is the tendency of heritable traits to be more suited to the environment. This is a result of natural selection. 에볼루션코리아 that have better-adapted characteristics are more likely than those with less adaptable characteristics to survive and reproduce.
Common ancestor (also known as common ancestor): The most recent ancestor shared by two or more species. The common ancestor can be identified through analyzing the DNA of those species.
Deoxyribonucleic acid: A large biological molecule that holds the information needed for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences that are strung into long chains known as chromosomes. Mutations are the reason behind the creation of new genetic information within cells.
Coevolution is a relationship between two species where evolutionary changes in one species are influenced by evolutionary changes in the other. Coevolution is evident through the interaction between predator and prey, or parasites and hosts.
Origins
Species (groups that can interbreed) change by a series of natural variations in the traits of their offspring. Changes can be caused by many factors, such as 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 accelerated due to environmental conditions, such as climate change or the competition for food or habitat.
The Evolution site tracks through time the evolution of various species of plants and animals with a focus on major changes in each group's history. It also focuses on human evolution and is a subject that is of particular interest to students.
Darwin's Origin was published in 1859, at a time when only a few antediluvian fossils of human beings had been discovered. The famous skullcap, along with the bones that accompanied it, was discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto of Germany. It is now known as an early Homo neanderthalensis. While the skullcap wasn't published until 1858, just one year after the first edition of the Origin appeared, it is extremely unlikely that Darwin had heard or seen of it.
The site is primarily an online biology resource however it also includes many details on geology and paleontology. One of the most appealing features of the website are a set of timelines which show the way in which climatic and geological conditions have changed over time as well as a map of the geographical distribution of some fossil groups that are featured on the site.
The site is a companion for the PBS television series, but it could be used as a resource for teachers and students. The site is very well organized and provides clear links between the introductory material in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more specialized components of the museum's Web site. These hyperlinks make it easy to move from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated realms of research science. There are also links to John Endler's experiments with guppies that illustrate the importance ecology in evolutionary theory.
Diversity
The evolution of life on Earth has produced a diversity of animals, plants, and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures within their geological context offers many advantages over modern observational or research methods for exploring evolutionary processes. Paleobiology can examine not only processes and events that happen regularly or over time, but also the relative abundance and distribution of different groups of animals in space over the course of geological time.
The website is divided into a variety of ways to learn about evolution, including "Evolution 101," which takes the user on a linear path through the scientific process and the evidence to support the theory of evolution. The course also focuses on misconceptions regarding evolution, as well as the history 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. The site includes a variety of interactive and multimedia resources, including videos, animations, and virtual laboratories, in addition to its general textual content. The content is organized in a nested, bread crumb-like fashion that helps with navigation and orientation within the vast Web site.
The page "Coral Reef Connections" For instance, the page "Coral Reef Connections" gives a brief overview of coral relationships, their interaction with other organisms, and then zooms in to one clam that can communicate with its neighbors and react to changes in conditions of the water that occur at the reef level. This page, as well as the other multidisciplinary, multimedia, and interactive pages on the website, provide an excellent introduction to the broad spectrum of topics in evolutionary biology. The content also includes a discussion on the importance of natural selection and the concept of phylogenetics, an important method for understanding the evolution of changes.
Evolutionary Theory
Evolution is an underlying thread that is found throughout all branches of biology. A wide selection of resources helps teachers teach evolution across the life science disciplines.
One resource, the companion to PBS's television series Understanding Evolution is an excellent example of an Web page that provides the depth and the broadness in terms of educational resources. The site features a wealth of interactive learning modules. It also features an "bread crumb structure" that assists students in moving away from the cartoon-like style that is used in Understanding Evolution and onto elements on this large website more closely connected to the fields of research science. An animation that introduces students to the concept of genetics is linked to a page that highlights John Endler's artificial-selection experiments with Guppies in native ponds in Trinidad.
The Evolution Library on this website contains a large multimedia library of assets related with evolution. The content is organized according to courses that are based on curriculum and follow the learning objectives set out in biology standards. It includes seven short videos specifically designed for classroom use, which can be streamed for no cost or purchased on DVD.
Evolutionary biology is an area of study that has many important questions, including what causes evolution and how fast it happens. This is particularly relevant to human evolution, where it's been difficult to reconcile the idea that the innate physical characteristics of humans evolved from apes, and the religions that believe that humanity is unique among living things and holds a an exclusive place in the creation, with a soul.
In addition there are a myriad of ways that evolution can occur with natural selection being the most widely accepted theory. Scientists also study other types such as genetic drift, and sexual selection.
While many scientific fields of inquiry have a conflict with the literal interpretations of the Bible Evolutionary biology has been the subject of intense controversy and resistance from religious fundamentalists. Certain religions have reconciled their beliefs to evolution but others haven't.