7 Helpful Tips To Make The Most Of Your Evolution Site
Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology educators, misconceptions about evolution persist. Pop science nonsense has led people to think that biologists don't believe in evolution.
This site, a companion to the PBS program, provides teachers with materials which support evolution education while avoiding the types of misconceptions that can hinder it. It's laid out 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 use a definition that confuses it. This is especially true when discussing the nature of the words themselves.
As such, it is crucial to define the terms that are used in evolutionary biology. Understanding Evolution's website does this in a simple and efficient way. The site serves as a companion for the 2001 series, and it is also a resource on its own. The material is presented in a nested manner that assists in navigation and orientation.
The site defines terms like common ancestor, the gradual process, and adaptation. These terms help to frame the nature of evolution and its relationship to other concepts in science. The site also provides an overview of how the concept of evolution has been vetted and verified. This information can be used to dispel myths that have been created by creationists.
It is also possible to access a glossary of terms that are used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation: The tendency of heritable characteristics to become more suited to a particular environment. This is a result of natural selection, which occurs when organisms with better-adapted characteristics are more likely to survive and reproduce than those with less adaptable traits.
Common ancestor: The most recent common ancestor of two or more species. By analyzing the DNA from these species it is possible to determine the common ancestor.
Deoxyribonucleic acid: A massive biological molecule that holds the information required for cell replication. 에볼루션카지노사이트 is contained in a sequence of nucleotides that are strung together to form long chains, referred to as chromosomes. Mutations are the source of new genetic information in cells.
Coevolution is the relationship between two species in which the evolutionary changes of one species influence evolutionary changes in the other. Coevolution can be seen through the interaction between predator and prey, or parasite and hosts.
Origins
Species (groups of individuals that can interbreed) evolve through an array of natural changes in the characteristics of their offspring. These changes can be caused by many factors, such as natural selection, gene drift, and mixing of the gene pool. The evolution of new species could take thousands of years. Environmental conditions, such as climate change or competition for food resources and habitat can slow or speed up the process.
The Evolution site traces through time the emergence of various groups of animals and plants with a focus on major changes in each group's history. It also explores the evolutionary history of humans, a topic that is especially important for students to comprehend.
When Darwin wrote the Origin of Species, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been discovered. Among them was the famous skullcap and bones that were discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany that is now thought as an early Homo neanderthalensis. While the skullcap wasn't published until 1858, which was a year before the first edition of the Origin was published, it is extremely unlikely that Darwin had heard or seen of it.
While the site focuses on biology, it also includes a good deal of information about geology as well as paleontology. The site offers a number of features that are especially impressive, such as the timeline of how climate and geological conditions have changed over the course of time. It also features maps that show the locations of fossil groups.
Although the site is a companion to the PBS television show however, it can stand on its own as an excellent resource for teachers and students. The site is very well-organized and has clear links between the introductory material in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more sophisticated components of the museum's Web site. These hyperlinks make it easy to move from the cartoon-style Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated realms 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 within their natural environment offers many advantages over modern observational or research methods for studying evolutionary phenomena. Paleobiology focuses on not only processes and events that occur regularly or over time but also the distribution and frequency of different groups of animals in space throughout the geological time.
The site is divided up into several paths that can be chosen to study the subject of evolution. One of the paths, "Evolution 101," guides the user through the nature and evidence of evolution. The path also examines myths about evolution, and the background of evolutionary thinking.
Each of the main sections on the Evolution website is equally well-developed, with materials that support a variety levels of curriculum and teaching methods. In addition to the standard textual content, the site also has a wide range of interactive and multimedia resources like videos, animations, and virtual labs. The content is presented in a nested bread crumb-like fashion that helps with navigation and orientation within the vast Web site.
The page "Coral Reef Connections", for example, gives a brief overview of coral relationships, their interaction with other organisms and zooms in to one clam, which can communicate with its neighbors and react to changes in the conditions of the water that occur at the reef level. This page, along with the other multidisciplinary interactive and multimedia pages provides an excellent introduction to many topics in evolutionary biology. The material includes a discussion on the importance of natural selection and the concept of phylogenetics analysis as a key tool for understanding evolutionary changes.
Evolutionary Theory
For biology students the concept of evolution is a major thread that binds all branches of the field. A vast collection 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 an Web site that provides the depth and breadth of its educational resources. The site offers a variety of interactive learning modules. It also has a "bread crumb structure" that allows students to move away from the cartoon style used in Understanding Evolution and onto elements on this site that are more closely connected to the realms of research science. For example, an animation introducing the idea of genetic inheritance connects to a page that focuses on John Endler's experiments in artificial selection with guppies in native ponds of Trinidad.
Another resource that is worth mentioning is the Evolution Library on this web site, which contains an extensive library of multimedia assets connected to evolution. The content is organized in curricula-based paths that correspond to the learning objectives outlined in the biology standards. It includes seven short videos designed specifically for use in classrooms, and can be streamed for no cost or purchased on DVD.
A number of important questions remain at the core of evolutionary biology, including the factors that trigger evolution and how fast it happens. This is especially true for the evolution of humans where it was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that humanity has a special place in the creation and a soul with the notion that human beings have innate physical traits were derived from apes.
In addition there are a variety of ways that evolution can be triggered with natural selection being the most popular theory. However, scientists also study other kinds of evolution, such as mutation, genetic drift, and sexual selection, among others.
Although many scientific fields of study are in conflict with literal interpretations found in religious texts, the concept of evolution biology has been the subject of intense debate and opposition from religious fundamentalists. Certain religions have embraced their beliefs to evolution but others haven't.