Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology educators, misconceptions about evolution remain. 에볼루션 사이트 has led people to think that biologists don't believe in evolution.
This site, which is a companion to the PBS series It provides teachers with materials that support evolution education and help avoid the kinds of misconceptions that make it difficult to understand. It's laid out in the "bread crumb" format to make navigation and orientation easier.
Definitions
It is difficult to properly teach evolution. People who are not scientists often have a difficult time understanding the subject and some scientists use a definition which confuses it. This is especially relevant when discussing the definition of the words.
It is therefore important to define the terms used in evolutionary biology. The website for the PBS show, Understanding Evolution, does this in a clear and helpful manner. The site is both a companion for the 2001 series, and also a resource on its own. The information is organized in a way that makes it easy to navigate and comprehend.
The site defines terms like common ancestor and the gradual process. These terms help define the nature of evolution and its relationship to evolution to other concepts in science. The site also provides an overview of how the concept of evolution has been tested and verified. This information can be used to dispel myths that have been propagated by creationists.
You can also consult a glossary that contains terms that are used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation is the process of changing heritable traits to become better suited to an environment. This is due to natural selection, which happens when organisms with more adaptable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce than those with less adaptable traits.
Common ancestor (also known as common ancestor) The most recent ancestor that is shared by two or more species. The common ancestor can be identified by analyzing the DNA of these species.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A large biological molecular that contains the information needed for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences which are strung into long chains known as chromosomes. Mutations are the cause of new genetic information within cells.
Coevolution is a relation between two species where evolution of one species influence evolutionary changes of the other. Coevolution can be seen through the interaction between predator and prey, or parasite and hosts.
Origins
Species (groups of individuals that are able to interbreed) change through an array of natural changes in the characteristics of their offspring. These changes are caused by a variety such as natural selection, genetic drift, and gene pool mixing. The evolution of new species can take thousands of years. Environmental circumstances, such as changes in the climate or competition for food and habitat, can slow or accelerate the process.
The Evolution site follows the emergence of various animal and plant groups and focuses on major changes in each group's history. It also examines the evolution of humans and is a subject of particular importance for students.
When Darwin wrote the Origin, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been found. The most famous among them was the skullcap and the associated bones discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany, which is now known to be an early Homo neanderthalensis. While the skullcap wasn't published until 1858, one year after the first edition of the Origin was published, it's extremely unlikely that Darwin had ever heard of it.
While the site is focused on biology, it also offers a lot of information on geology and paleontology. Among the best features of the website are a timeline of events that illustrate how climatic and geological conditions have changed over time and a map of the distribution of a few fossil groups listed on the site.
The site is a companion for the PBS TV series but it can be used as a resource for teachers and students. The site is well-organized, and provides clear links to the introduction information of Understanding Evolution (developed under the National Science Foundation's funding) and the more specific features of the museum's website. These hyperlinks facilitate the move from the cartoon-like style of the Understanding Evolution pages to the more sophisticated world of research science. In particular there are links to John Endler's experiments using Guppies that demonstrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.
Diversity
The evolution of life on Earth has produced a diversity of animals, plants, and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures within their natural environment and has numerous advantages over the current observational and experimental methods of examining evolutionary phenomena. In addition to studying processes and events that take place frequently or over a long period of time, paleobiology is able to examine the relative abundance of various kinds of organisms as well as their distribution in space over the course of geological time.
The Web site is divided into a variety of ways to learn about evolution that include "Evolution 101," which takes the viewer on a line through the scientific process and the evidence that supports the theory of evolution. The path also explores misconceptions about evolution, and also the history of evolutionary thinking.
Each of the main sections of the Evolution website is equally well-designed, with materials that can be used to support a variety of levels of curriculum and teaching methods. In addition to general textual content, the site offers an extensive selection of interactive and multimedia resources, such as videos, animations, and virtual laboratories. The content is laid out in a nested bread crumb-like fashion that helps with navigation and orientation within the vast Web site.
The page "Coral Reef Connections" For instance, it gives a brief overview of coral relationships, their interaction with other organisms and then 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, as well as the other multidisciplinary, multimedia and interactive pages on the site, offer an excellent introduction to a broad variety of topics in evolutionary biology. The information also includes an overview of the importance of natural selection as well as the concept of phylogenetic analysis, which is a crucial tool in understanding evolutionary change.
Evolutionary Theory
Evolution is a common thread that connects all branches of biology. A wide selection of resources helps teachers teach evolution across all disciplines of life sciences.
One resource, the companion to PBS's TV series Understanding Evolution is an excellent example of an Web page that offers both the depth and the broadness in terms of educational resources. The site has a variety of interactive learning modules. It also has a "bread crumb structure" that helps students move away from the cartoon style that is used in Understanding Evolution and onto elements on this large website more closely related to the worlds of research science. Animation that introduces the concept of genetics, which links to a page about John Endler's experiments in artificial selection using Guppies living in ponds native to Trinidad.
Another resource that is worth mentioning is the Evolution Library on this website, which includes an extensive library of multimedia items connected to evolution. The content is organized according to curricula-based paths that correspond to the learning objectives set out in biology standards. It includes seven short videos specifically designed for use in classrooms. These can be viewed online or purchased as DVDs.
A number of important questions remain in the midst of evolutionary biology, such as the factors that trigger evolution and the speed at which it occurs. This is especially true for the evolution of humans where it was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that humans have a distinct place in creation and a soul with the notion that our physical traits were derived from apes.
There are also a number of other ways in which evolution can occur, with natural selection as the most well-known theory. Scientists also study other types like mutation, genetic drift, and sexual selection.
While many fields of scientific inquiry have a conflict with the literal interpretations of religious texts Evolutionary biology has been the subject of particularly fierce debate and opposition from religious fundamentalists. Certain religions have reconciled their beliefs with evolutionary biology, but others haven't.