Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution

Despite the best efforts by biology educators, misconceptions persist about evolution. 에볼루션 코리아 Links to an external site. has led people to believe that biologists aren't believers in evolution.

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

Definitions


It is difficult to teach evolution well. It is often misunderstood by non-scientists and even some scientists have been guilty of using definitions that confuse the issue. This is particularly applicable to discussions on the meaning of the word itself.

It is therefore important to define the terms used in evolutionary biology. Understanding Evolution's website helps you define these terms in an easy and helpful way. The site is a companion site to the series that first aired in 2001, but it is also an independent resource. The material is presented in a nested fashion that aids navigation and orientation.

The site defines terms such as common ancestor (or common ancestor), gradual process and adaptation. These terms help frame the nature of evolution as well as its relation to other scientific concepts. The website then provides an overview of how the concept of evolution has been vetted and validated. This information can be used to dispel misconceptions that have been created by creationists.

It is also possible to find the glossary of terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:

Adaptation is the process of changing hereditary traits to become better suited to an environment. 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 latest common ancestor of two or more distinct species. By studying the DNA of these species it is possible to identify the common ancestor.

Deoxyribonucleic acid: A huge biological molecule that holds the information required for cell replication. The information is stored in a sequence 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 relationship between two species in which evolutionary changes in one species are dependent on evolutionary changes in the other. Coevolution can be seen through the interaction between predator and prey, or parasites and hosts.

Origins

Species (groups that can crossbreed) change through a series natural changes in their offspring's traits. The causes of these changes are numerous factors, like natural selection, gene drift, and mixing of the gene pool. The development of a new species could take thousands of years, and the process could be slowed down or speeded up by environmental conditions such as climate change or the competition for food or habitat.

The Evolution site traces through time the evolution of different animal and plant groups and focuses on major changes within each group's past. It also examines the evolutionary history of humans, a topic that is especially important for students to understand.

Darwin's Origin was written in 1859, when only a handful of antediluvian fossils of humans had been found. The famous skullcap, along with the bones associated with it were discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto of Germany. It is now recognized 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 ever heard of it.

While the site is focused on biology, it includes a good deal of information about geology and paleontology. One of the most appealing features of the website are a timeline of events that illustrate how climatic and geological conditions changed over time, as well as an outline of the distribution of some fossil groups that are featured on the site.

Although the site is a companion to the PBS television show, it also stands on its own as a great source for teachers and students. The site is well-organized and provides easy links to the introductory content of Understanding Evolution (developed under the National Science Foundation's support) and the more specific features of the museum website. These hyperlinks make it easier to move from the cartoon-style Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated worlds of research science. In particular there are links to John Endler's experiments with Guppies, which demonstrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.

Diversity

The evolution of life on Earth has resulted in a variety of animals, plants and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures within their geological environment is a superior method of study over modern observational or research methods for studying evolutionary processes. Paleobiology can examine not only the process and events that occur regularly or over time but also the distribution and frequency of different species of animals in space throughout geological time.

에볼루션 바카라 무료체험 Links to an external site. is divided into a variety of pathways to understanding evolution that include "Evolution 101," which takes the user on a linear path through the science of nature and the evidence that supports the theory of evolution. The path also explores common misconceptions about evolution as well as the evolution theory's history.

Each of the other major sections of the Evolution site is similarly developed, with materials that can support a variety of educational levels and pedagogical styles. In addition to the standard textual content, the site also has an array of multimedia and interactive resources, such as videos, animations, and virtual laboratories. The content is presented in a nested bread crumb style that facilitates navigation and orientation on the Web site.

The page "Coral Reef Connections" For instance, the page "Coral Reef Connections" gives a brief overview of coral relationships and interactions with other organisms and zooms in on one clam, which can communicate with its neighbors and respond to changes in water conditions that occur on the reef level. This page, as well as the other multidisciplinary interactive and multimedia pages, provides an excellent introduction to a variety of topics in evolutionary biology. The content includes an explanation of the role of natural selectivity and the concept of phylogenetics analysis, an important tool for understanding evolutionary change.

Evolutionary Theory

For biology students, evolution is a key thread that binds all the branches of the field. A wide selection of resources helps teachers teach evolution across the disciplines of life sciences.

One resource, which is 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 has a wide array of interactive learning modules. It also features an "bread crumb structure" that allows students to move away from the cartoon style that is used in Understanding Evolution and onto elements on this site that are more closely connected to the fields of research science. For example, an animation introducing the concept of genetic inheritance links to a page highlighting John Endler's artificial selection experiments with guppies from the native ponds of Trinidad.

Another resource that is worth mentioning is the Evolution Library on this site, which has an extensive library of multimedia items that are related to evolution. The content is organized in curricula-based paths that correspond to the learning objectives outlined in biology standards. It includes seven short videos specifically designed for use in classrooms, and can be streamed for free or purchased on DVD.

A variety of crucial questions remain in the midst of evolutionary biology, including what causes evolution to occur and how fast it happens. This is particularly true in the case of human evolution where it was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that held that humans have a distinct position in the universe and a soul with the notion that human beings have innate physical traits originated from Apes.

In addition there are a myriad of ways that evolution can be triggered, with natural selection being the most popular theory. Scientists also study other kinds such as mutation, genetic drift and sexual selection.

Many fields of inquiry have a conflict with literal interpretations of the Bible evolutionary biology has been the subject of particularly fierce debate and opposition from religious fundamentalists. While some religions have been able to reconcile their beliefs with the notions of evolution, other religions haven't.