Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology teachers, there are still misconceptions about the evolution. Pop science fiction has led a lot of people to believe that biologists aren't believers in evolution.
This rich Web site - companion to the PBS series - provides teachers with materials which support evolution education and help avoid the kinds of misinformation that can undermine it. It's organized in a "bread crumb" format to make navigation and orientation easier.
Definitions
It's difficult to effectively teach evolution. It is often misunderstood even by non-scientists, and even scientists are guilty of using an interpretation that is confusing the issue. This is especially true when discussing the meaning of the words themselves.
As such, it is important to define terms 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 also a resource of its own. The content is presented in a way that assists in navigation and orientation.
The site defines terms such as common ancestor, gradual process and adaptation. These terms help to define the nature and relationship of evolution to other concepts in science. The website provides a summary of the way in which evolution has been tested. This information will help to dispel the myths that are created by the creationists.
It is also possible to get a glossary of terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
The process of adaptation is the tendency of heritable traits to become more suited to the environment. This is the result of natural selection. Organisms with more adaptable characteristics are more likely than those with less-adapted traits to survive and reproduce.
Common ancestor: The latest common ancestor of two or more species. By analyzing DNA from these species it is possible to identify the common ancestor.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A huge biological molecular containing the information required for cell replication. The information is stored in sequences of nucleotides that are strung together to form long chains, also known as chromosomes. Mutations are the source of new genetic information in cells.
Coevolution is a relationship between two species in which evolutionary changes in one species are dependent on evolutionary changes in the other. Examples of coevolution include the interactions between predator and prey or the parasite and the host.
Origins
Species (groups of individuals that can interbreed) evolve through natural changes in the characteristics 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 may take thousands of years, and the process may be slowed or increased by environmental conditions such as climate change or competition for food or habitat.
The Evolution site tracks the evolution of various groups of animals and plants over time with a focus on the key shifts that occurred throughout the evolution of each group's history. It also explores human evolution as a subject of particular importance for students.
Darwin's Origin was published in 1859, at a time when only a few antediluvian fossils of human beings had been discovered. Among them was the famous skullcap and the associated bones discovered in 1856 at the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany, which is now known as an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is unlikely that Darwin knew about the skullcap, which was first published in 1858, which was a year following the initial edition of The Origin.
The site is mostly a biology site, but it also contains a lot of information on geology and paleontology. One of the most appealing features on the site are a series of timelines which show the way in which climatic and geological conditions changed over time, as well as a map of the distribution of some fossil groups that are featured on the site.
The site is a companion to the PBS TV series but it can be used as a source for teachers and students. The site is well-organized and has clear links between the introduction content in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more sophisticated elements of the museum Web site. These hyperlinks make it easy to transition from the cartoon-style Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated realms of research science. In particular there are hyperlinks to John Endler's research with guppies that illustrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.
Diversity
The evolution of life on Earth has led to a wide variety of plants, animals, and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures within their natural environment, has many advantages over the current observational or experimental methods for studying evolutionary phenomena. Paleobiology focuses on not only the process and events that take place regularly or over time, but also the relative abundance and distribution of various animal groups in space throughout geological time.
The website is divided into various paths that can be chosen to gain knowledge about evolution. One of these paths, "Evolution 101," guides the user through the evolution of nature and the evidence of evolution. The path also explores the most common misconceptions about evolution, as well as the evolution theory's history.
Each of the main sections on the Evolution website is equally well-developed, with materials that are suited to 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 like videos, animations and virtual labs. The content is presented in a nested bread crumb style that facilitates navigation and orientation within the vast web site.
The page "Coral Reef Connections", for example, provides an overview of the coral's relationships, their interaction with other organisms and is enlarged to show one clam, which is able to 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 wide range of topics in evolutionary biology. The content also includes an overview of the importance of natural selection and the concept of phylogenetics analysis as a key method for understanding the evolution of change.
Evolutionary Theory
Evolution is a common thread that connects all branches of biology. A wide selection of resources helps teachers teach evolution across the life science disciplines.
One resource, which is the companion to PBS's television show Understanding Evolution is an excellent example of a Web site that provides depth as well as broadness in terms of educational resources. The site has a wide array of interactive learning modules. It also has an embedded "bread crumb" structure that allows students to transition from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution to elements on this huge site that are more closely tied to the world of research science. An animation that introduces the concept of genetics is linked to a page about John Endler's artificial-selection experiments with Guppies in native ponds in Trinidad.
Another useful resource is the Evolution Library on this web site, which contains an extensive library of multimedia assets connected to evolution. 에볼루션 바카라사이트 is organized according to curriculum-based paths that parallel the learning goals established in biology standards. 에볼루션 블랙잭 contains seven videos that are intended for use in the classroom. These are available to stream or purchase as DVDs.
Evolutionary biology is still an area of study with a lot of important questions, including what triggers evolution and how quickly it happens. This is especially true in the case of human evolution, where it was difficult to reconcile religious beliefs that held that humanity has a special position in the universe and a soul, with the notion that our physical traits were derived from the apes.
There are also a number of other ways evolution could occur, with natural selection as the most well-known theory. However scientists also study other types of evolution such as mutation, genetic drift, and sexual selection, among others.
While many scientific fields of inquiry are in 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 ideas of evolution, others aren't.