A How-To Guide For Evolution Site From Start To Finish
Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts by biology teachers, there are still misconceptions about evolution. People who have been exposed to pop science nonsense often assume that biologists claim they do not believe in evolution.
This rich Web site, a companion to the PBS program that provides teachers with resources that support the evolution of education while avoiding the types of misconceptions that hinder it. It's arranged in a nested "bread crumb" format to facilitate navigation and orientation.
Definitions
It's difficult to effectively teach evolution. It is often misunderstood even by non-scientists, and even some scientists use an interpretation that is confusing the issue. This is especially true when it comes to discussions on the meaning of the word itself.
It is therefore essential to define the terms used in evolutionary biology. Understanding Evolution's website helps you define these terms in a simple and efficient way. The site is both an accompanying site for the 2001 series, but also a resource on its own. The material is organized in a manner that makes it simpler to navigate and comprehend.
The site defines terms such as common ancestor, gradual process, and adaptation. These terms help define the nature of evolution and its relationship to evolution to other concepts in science. The site then offers an overview of how the concept of evolution has been tested and confirmed. This information can help dispel the myths created by creationists.
에볼루션 슬롯 is also possible to get the glossary of terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation: The tendency of heritable traits to become better 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-adapted 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 massive biological molecule that holds the information necessary for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences which are strung into long chains called chromosomes. Mutations are responsible for the creation of new genetic information inside cells.
Coevolution: A relationship between two species in which evolutionary changes in one species are influenced by evolutionary changes in the other. Coevolution can be observed in the interactions between predator and prey, or parasites and hosts.
Origins
Species (groups of individuals who can interbreed) evolve through an array of natural changes in the traits of their offspring. These changes are caused by a variety, including natural selection, genetic drift and mixing of genes. The evolution of a new species could take thousands of years, and the process may be slowed or increased by environmental factors like climate change or competition for food or habitat.
The Evolution site traces through time the evolution of various species of plants and animals and focuses on major changes in each group's past. It also examines the evolution of humans and is a subject of particular importance to students.
Darwin's Origin was written in 1859, at a time when only a few antediluvian fossils of humans were discovered. The famous skullcap, with the bones associated with it were discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto of Germany. It is now known as an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is unlikely that Darwin was aware of the skullcap, which was published in 1858, which was a year following the initial edition of The Origin.
While the site focuses on biology, it includes a good deal of information on geology and paleontology. One of the most appealing features of the Web site are a series of timelines that show how climatic and geological conditions have changed over time as well as an outline of the distribution of a few of the fossil groups 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 provides clear links to the introductory material of Understanding Evolution (developed under the National Science Foundation's support) and the more specialized features of the museum website. These links make it easier to move from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated realms of research science. Particularly, there are links to John Endler's research with Guppies, which 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, the study of these creatures within their geological environment is a superior method of study over modern observational or research methods for exploring evolutionary phenomena. Paleobiology is able to study not only processes and events that take place regularly or over time, but also the relative abundance and distribution of different species of animals across geological time.
The site is divided into several options to learn about evolution. One of the paths, "Evolution 101," walks the reader through the evolution of nature and the evidence of evolution. The path also explores common misconceptions about evolution as well as the evolution of thought.
Each of the main sections of the Evolution website is equally well-developed, and includes materials that can be used to support a variety of levels of curriculum and teaching methods. The site includes a variety of interactive and multimedia content which include animations, video clips and virtual labs, in addition to its general textual content. The content is organized in a nested, bread crumb style that facilitates navigation and orientation within the vast Web site.
The page "Coral Reef Connections" For instance, it gives a brief overview of the coral's relationships and their interactions with other organisms, and then is enlarged to show one clam that is able to communicate with its neighbors and react to changes in the conditions of the water at the reef level. This page, along with the other multidisciplinary multimedia and interactive pages, provides an excellent introduction to the many areas of evolutionary biology. The material includes an explanation of the significance of natural selectivity and the concept of phylogenetics analysis as a key tool to understand evolutionary change.
Evolutionary Theory
Evolution is an underlying 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 a companion to the PBS television series Understanding Evolution, is an exceptional example of a Web site that offers both depth and breadth in its educational resources. The site features a wide range 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 massive website that are more closely linked to the world of research science. Animation that introduces the concept of genetics links to a page highlighting John Endler's artificial-selection experiments with Guppies living in ponds native to Trinidad.
Another resource that is worth mentioning is the Evolution Library on this web site, which has an extensive library of multimedia items connected to evolution. The content is organized according to curriculum-based pathways that correspond to the learning objectives set out in the standards for biology. It contains seven videos specifically designed for classroom use. These can be streamed or purchased as DVDs.
Evolutionary biology is still a field of study that poses many important questions to answer, such as what causes evolution and how quickly it occurs. This is especially true for humans' evolution where it was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that held that humanity has a special place in the creation and a soul with the notion that human beings have innate physical traits originated from the apes.
There are a variety of other ways evolution can take place, with natural selection as the most popular theory. However scientists also study other kinds of evolution like genetic drift, mutation, and sexual selection, among others.
While many scientific fields of inquiry are in conflict with the literal interpretations of religious texts evolutionary biology has been the subject of particularly controversial debate and resistance from religious fundamentalists. Some religions have reconciled their beliefs with evolutionary biology, while others haven't.