Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology teachers, there are still misconceptions about evolution. People who have taken in the nonsense of pop science often believe that biologists are saying they do not believe in evolution.
This rich Web site - companion to the PBS series It provides teachers with materials that promote evolution education and avoid the kinds of myths that make it difficult to understand. It's laid out in a "bread crumb" format to facilitate navigation and orientation.
Definitions
Evolution is a complex and difficult subject to teach well. People who are not scientists often have a difficult time understanding the subject and some scientists use a definition which confuses it. This is particularly true when discussing the meaning of the words themselves.
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 way. The site serves as an accompanying site for the 2001 series, but it is also a resource on its own. The material is presented in a structured manner that makes it simpler to navigate and comprehend.
The site defines terms such as common ancestor, the gradual process and adaptation. These terms help frame the nature of evolution and its relation to other concepts in science. The site then offers an overview of how the concept of evolution has been vetted and verified. This information will help to dispel the myths that are created by the creationists.
It is also possible to find a glossary of terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation is the process of changing heritable traits to become better suited to an environment. This is a result of natural selection. Organisms with better-adapted traits are more likely than those with less adaptable characteristics to survive and reproduce.
Common ancestor: The latest common ancestor of two or more distinct species. The common ancestor can be identified by studying the DNA of those species.
Deoxyribonucleic acid: A huge biological molecule that holds the information needed for cell replication. The information is stored in sequences of nucleotides that are strung together to form long chains, referred to as chromosomes. Mutations are the cause of new genetic information in cells.
Coevolution is the relationship between two species, where the evolutionary changes of one species influence evolutionary changes of the other. Examples of coevolution include the interaction between predator and prey or the parasite and the host.
Origins
Species (groups of individuals who can interbreed) change through natural changes in the traits of their offspring. Changes can be caused by various factors, including natural selection, gene drift, and mixing of the gene pool. The development of a new species may take thousands of years, and the process may be slowed or increased due to environmental conditions, such as climate change or competition for food or habitat.
에볼루션 바카라 of a variety of animal and plant groups through time, focusing on the major changes that took place in each group's history. It also examines the human evolutionary roots, a topic that is especially important for students to understand.
Darwin's Origin was published in 1859, at a time when only a handful of antediluvian fossils of humans had been found. The famous skullcap, along with the bones that accompanied it were discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto of Germany. It is now recognized as an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is unlikely that Darwin knew about the skullcap when it was published in 1858, one year after the first edition of The Origin.
The site is primarily an online biology resource however, it also has many details on paleontology and geology. One of the most appealing features on the site are a series of timelines which show how geological and climatic conditions have changed over time as well as a map of the geographical distribution of some fossil groups listed on the site.
The site is a companion to a PBS television series, but it could also be used as an educational resource by teachers and students. The site is extremely well organized and provides clear links between the introductory content in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more sophisticated elements of the museum's web site. These hyperlinks make it easy to transition from the cartoon-style Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated realms of research science. There are links to John Endler's experiments with guppies. They illustrate the importance 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 geological context and has many advantages over the current observational and experimental methods of examining evolutionary processes. In addition to examining processes and events that occur regularly or over a lengthy period of time, paleobiology allows to analyze the relative abundance of different species of organisms and their distribution across geological time.
The website is divided into different paths that can be chosen to learn about evolution. One of these paths, "Evolution 101," walks the reader through the evolution of nature and the evidence of evolution. The course also focuses on misconceptions about evolution and also the history of evolutionary thinking.
Each of the main sections of the Evolution website is equally well-developed, and includes materials that support a variety educational levels and teaching styles. In addition to the standard textual content, the site features an extensive selection of interactive and multimedia resources, such as video clips, animations, and virtual laboratories. The content is organized in a nested, bread crumb style that facilitates navigation and orientation within the large Web site.
The page "Coral Reef Connections" For instance, it gives a brief overview of coral relationships and interactions with other organisms and then is enlarged to show one clam, which is able communicate with its neighbors and react to changes in the water conditions that occur on the reef level. This page, as well as the other multidisciplinary interactive and multimedia pages, gives a good introduction to many topics in evolutionary biology. The information also includes an overview of the importance of natural selection and the concept of phylogenetic analysis, which is an important method to understand evolutionary changes.
Evolutionary Theory
Evolution is an underlying thread that runs through all branches of biology. A vast collection of resources helps teachers teach about evolution across all life sciences.
One resource, the companion to PBS's TV series Understanding Evolution is an excellent example of an Web page that provides the depth and the breadth in terms of its educational resources. The site offers a range of interactive learning modules. It also has an "bread crumb structure" that helps students move away from the cartoon-like style that is used in Understanding Evolution and onto elements on this large website more closely linked to the fields of research science. For instance an animation that explains the notion of genetic inheritance leads to a page highlighting John Endler's experiments with artificial selection using guppies in the ponds of his native country of Trinidad.
The Evolution Library on this website is a vast multimedia library of assets related to evolution. 에볼루션카지노 is organized into the form of curriculum-based pathways that are in line with the learning objectives outlined in the biology standards. It includes seven short videos specifically designed for classroom use. They are available to stream or purchase as DVDs.
Evolutionary biology remains a field of study that poses many important questions, such as what causes evolution and how quickly it occurs. This is especially true for human evolution, which has made it difficult to reconcile the idea that the physical traits of humans were derived from apes with religious beliefs that hold that humans are unique in the universe and has an exclusive place in the creation, with a soul.
There are also a number of other ways evolution could occur including natural selection, which is the most widely accepted theory. Scientists also study other types such as genetic drift, and sexual selection.
Although many scientific fields of study conflict with literal interpretations in religious texts, evolution biology has been a subject of intense debate and opposition from religious fundamentalists. Certain religions have reconciled their beliefs to evolution while others haven't.