Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology educators, there are still a lot of misconceptions about the evolution. People who have been exposed to popular science myths often assume that biologists are saying they don't believe in evolution.
This rich Web site, a companion to the PBS program that provides teachers with resources which support evolution education, while avoiding the kinds of misconceptions that can make it difficult to understand. It's laid out in a nested "bread crumb" format to make it easy for navigation and orientation.
Definitions
It's not easy to effectively teach evolution. It is often misunderstood by non-scientists, and even some scientists have been guilty of using an interpretation that is confusing the issue. This is particularly relevant to discussions about the definition of the word itself.
As such, it is crucial to define the terms used in evolutionary biology. The website for the PBS show, Understanding Evolution, does this in a clear and useful manner. The site is both an accompaniment to the 2001 series, and also a resource on its own. The material is presented in a nested fashion which aids navigation and orientation.
The site defines terms such as common ancestor, gradual process, and adaptation. These terms help define the nature and significance of evolution to other scientific concepts. The website then provides an overview of how the concept of evolution has been researched and verified. This information can be used to dispel misconceptions that have been created by the creationists.
무료에볼루션 is also possible to find the glossary of terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
The process of adaptation is the tendency of heritable traits to be more suited to the environment. This is a result of natural selection, which occurs when organisms that have better adapted characteristics are more likely to survive and reproduce than those with less adapted traits.
Common ancestor (also known as common ancestor): The most recent ancestral ancestor shared by two or more species. The common ancestor can be identified by studying the DNA of these species.
Deoxyribonucleic acid: A large biological molecule that contains the information necessary for cell replication. The information is contained in a sequence of nucleotides that are strung together into long chains, also known as chromosomes. Mutations are the cause of new genetic information in cells.
Coevolution: A relationship between two species in which evolutionary changes in one species are dependent on evolutionary changes in the other. Coevolution can be observed in the interactions between predator and prey, or parasite and hosts.
Origins
Species (groups of individuals that can interbreed) develop through a series of natural changes in the characteristics of their offspring. The changes can be caused by a variety of factors, including natural selection, genetic drift and gene pool mixing. The evolution of new species can 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 evolution of different animal and plant groups with a focus on major changes in each group's past. It also explores the evolutionary origin of humans and humans, a subject that is particularly important for students to comprehend.
When Darwin wrote the Origin of Species, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been found. The most famous among them was the skullcap and associated bones found in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany, which is now known to be an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is unlikely that Darwin was aware of the skullcap, which was first published in 1858, which was a year after the publication of the first edition of The Origin.
While the site is focused on biology, it offers a lot of information about geology as well as paleontology. One of the most appealing features of the website are a set of timelines that illustrate the way in which climatic and geological conditions have changed over time as well as a map of the distribution of a few fossil groups that are featured on the site.
While the site is a companion piece to a PBS television show however, it can stand on its own as a valuable source for teachers and students. The site is well-organized and provides easy links to the introductory material of Understanding Evolution (developed under the National Science Foundation's funding) and the more specialized features of the museum website. These hyperlinks make it easier to move from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated worlds 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 resulted in an array of plants, animals and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures in their geological context and has many advantages over the modern observational and research methods for analyzing evolutionary processes. In addition to examining processes and events that occur regularly or over a lengthy period of time, paleobiology is able to examine the diversity of species of organisms and their distribution throughout geological time.
The website is divided into several routes that can be taken to study the subject of evolution. One of these paths, "Evolution 101," walks the reader through the evolution of nature and the evidence of evolution. 무료 에볼루션 examines myths about evolution and the background of evolutionary thought.
Each of the main sections on the Evolution website is equally well-designed, with materials that can be used to support a variety of curriculum levels and teaching styles. In addition to general textual content, the site offers an extensive selection of multimedia and interactive resources including videos, animations, and virtual laboratories. The content is laid out in a nested bread crumb style that facilitates navigation and orientation within the vast web site.
The page "Coral Reef Connections", for example, provides a comprehensive overview of coral relationships, their interaction with other organisms, and then is enlarged to show a single clam, which is able 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 site, provide an excellent introduction to a broad variety of topics in evolutionary biology. The content also includes an overview of the importance of natural selection and the concept of phylogenetics analysis which is a crucial method for understanding the evolution of changes.
Evolutionary Theory
For biology students, evolution is a key thread that connects all the branches of the field. A rich collection of resources helps teachers teach about evolution across the life sciences.
One resource, which is a companion to the PBS television series Understanding Evolution, is an excellent 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 large website more closely related to the worlds 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 is a vast multimedia library of resources that are associated to evolution. The content is organized in curricula-based paths that correspond to the learning objectives outlined in the biology standards. It contains seven videos designed specifically for use in the classroom, and can be streamed for free or purchased on DVD.
A variety of crucial questions remain at the heart of evolutionary biology, such as what causes evolution to occur and the speed at which it occurs. This is particularly relevant in the case of human evolution where it was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that humanity has a unique position in the universe and a soul with the notion that our physical traits were derived from Apes.
In addition, there are a number of ways that evolution can 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 fields of scientific study are in conflict with the literal interpretations of religious texts, the concept of evolution biology has been a source of intense debate and resistance from religious fundamentalists. While some religions have been able to reconcile their beliefs with the ideas of evolution, other religions aren't.