Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution

Despite the best efforts of biology educators, misinformation about evolution persist. People who have absorbed popular science myths often assume that biologists claim they don't believe in evolution.

This rich Web site, a companion to the PBS program offers teachers resources which support evolution education, while avoiding the kinds of misconceptions that can make it difficult to understand. It's laid out in the "bread crumb" format to facilitate navigation and orientation.

Definitions

It is difficult to teach evolution well. It is often misunderstood even by non-scientists, and even scientists are guilty of using a definition that confuses the issue. This is especially relevant when it comes to 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 simple and efficient way. The site serves as an accompanying site for the 2001 series, and it is also a resource on its own. The content is presented in a structured manner that makes it easier to navigate and understand.

just click the following document defines terms such as common ancestor, gradual process and so on. These terms help define the nature and significance of evolution to other concepts in science. The site then offers an overview of how the concept of evolution has been vetted and verified. This information can be used to dispel myths that have been engendered by creationists.

It is also possible to get a glossary of terms that are used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:

Adaptation: The tendency of hereditary traits to become more suitable to a particular setting. This is a result of natural selection. Organisms that have better-adapted characteristics are more likely than those with less adaptable traits to survive and reproduce.

Common ancestor: The most recent common ancestor of two or more distinct species. The common ancestor can be identified by analyzing the DNA of these species.

Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A massive biological molecular that contains the necessary information for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotides arranged in sequences that are strung together into long chains, also known as chromosomes. Mutations are responsible for the creation of new genetic information within cells.

Coevolution is a relationship between two species where evolution of one species are influenced by evolutionary changes in the other. Coevolution can be observed in the interaction of predator and prey, or parasite and hosts.

Origins

Species (groups of individuals that can interbreed) change through an array of natural changes 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 development of a new species can take thousands of years, and the process may be slowed down or speeded up by environmental factors like climate change or competition for food or habitat.

The Evolution site tracks the evolution of a number of different groups of animals and plants over time and focuses on the most significant changes that took place in each group's history. It also examines the evolutionary origin of humans and humans, a subject that is particularly important for students to know.


When Darwin wrote the Origin in 1859, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been discovered. 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. Although the skullcap was not published until 1858, just one year after the first edition of the Origin was published, it's extremely unlikely that Darwin had seen or heard of it.

While the site is focused on biology, it also contains a wealth of information about geology and paleontology. The Web site has several features that are especially impressive, such as an overview of how geological and climate conditions have changed over the course of time. It also features a map showing the distribution of fossil groups.

While the site is a companion to a PBS television show but it also stands on its own as an excellent resource for teachers and students. The site is very well-organized and offers clear links between the introductory material in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more sophisticated elements of the museum Web site. These hyperlinks facilitate the move from the enthralling cartoon style of the Understanding Evolution pages to the more sophisticated world of research science. In particular, there are links to John Endler's experiments with guppies that illustrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.

Diversity

The evolution of life on Earth has resulted in a variety 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 exploring evolutionary processes. Paleobiology can examine not just the processes and events that take place regularly or over time but also the distribution and frequency of different groups of animals across geological time.

The site is divided into several optional pathways to understanding evolution, including "Evolution 101," which takes the user on a linear path through the nature of science and the evidence to support the theory of evolution. The course also focuses on misconceptions about evolution, and the background of evolutionary thought.

Each of the other sections of the Evolution site is equally well developed, with materials that can support a variety of curriculum levels and pedagogical styles. The site offers a wide array of multimedia and interactive resources, including video clips, animations and virtual labs in addition to general textual content. 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 instance, it provides an overview of the relationships between corals and interactions with other organisms, and then is enlarged to show one clam that is able communicate with its neighbors and respond to changes in conditions of the water that occur at the reef level. This page, along with the other multidisciplinary, multimedia and interactive pages on the website, provide an excellent introduction to a broad variety of topics in evolutionary biology. The material includes a discussion on the role of natural selectivity and the concept of phylogenetics as a key method for understanding the evolution of changes.

Evolutionary Theory

For biology students the concept of evolution is a major thread that binds all the 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 offers a variety of interactive learning modules. It also features a "bread crumb structure" that assists students in moving away from the cartoon-like style that is used in Understanding Evolution and onto elements of this vast website that are closely connected to the worlds of research science. An animation that introduces students to the concept of genetics, which links to a page about John Endler's experiments in artificial selection using Guppies in native ponds in Trinidad.

The Evolution Library on this website contains a large multimedia library of resources that are associated to evolution. The content is organized into courses that are based on curriculum and follow the learning goals established in biology standards. It includes seven short videos designed specifically for use in the classroom, and can be streamed at no cost or purchased on DVD.

A variety of crucial questions remain at the core of evolutionary biology, such as what triggers evolution and how fast it happens. This is especially applicable to human evolution which has made it difficult to reconcile that the physical characteristics of humans derived from apes with religions that believe that humans are unique among living things and holds a a special place in creation, with soul.

There are a variety of other ways evolution can occur including natural selection, which is the most popular theory. However scientists also study other types of evolution such as mutation, genetic drift, and sexual selection, among other things.

While many scientific fields of inquiry have a conflict with the literal interpretations of religious texts evolutionary biology has been the subject of intense controversy and resistance from religious fundamentalists. While 에볼루션 바카라사이트 have managed to reconcile their beliefs with the notions of evolution, others have not.