Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology educators, misinformation about evolution remain. People who have absorbed the nonsense of pop science often believe that biologists do not believe in evolution.
This rich website - companion to the PBS series - provides teachers with materials that support evolution education and avoid the kinds of myths that make it difficult to understand. It's organized in a "bread crumb" format to make navigation and orientation easier.
Definitions
It's difficult to teach evolution well. It is often misunderstood even by non-scientists, and even scientists are guilty of using a definition that confuses the issue. This is especially true when it comes to discussions on the meaning of the word itself.
Therefore, it is important to define terms that are used in evolutionary biology. Understanding Evolution's website does this in a straightforward and useful way. The site is a companion site to the series that first aired in 2001, but it is also an independent resource. The information is organized in a manner that makes it easier to navigate and comprehend.
The site defines terms such as common ancestor and the gradual process. These terms help frame the nature of evolution and its relationship to evolution with other scientific concepts. The site then offers an overview of how the concept of evolution has been tested and verified. This information will help to dispel the myths created by creationists.
You can also access a glossary that contains terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation: The tendency of heritable characteristics to become more adaptable to a specific environment. This is the 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 different species. The common ancestor can be identified by analyzing the DNA of the species.
Deoxyribonucleic acid: A massive biological molecule that holds 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 in cells.
Coevolution is a relationship between two species where evolutionary changes in one species are affected by changes in evolutionary processes in the other. Examples of coevolution are the interactions between predator and prey, or host and parasite.
Origins
Species (groups that can crossbreed), evolve through a series natural changes in their offspring's traits. The causes of these changes are various factors, including natural selection, gene drift and mixing of the gene pool. The evolution of a new species may take thousands of years and the process could be slowed down or speeded up by environmental conditions such as climate change or competition for food or habitat.
The Evolution site follows the emergence of various groups of animals and plants with a focus on major changes within each group's past. It also explores the evolutionary history of humans which is especially important for students to understand.
When Darwin wrote the Origin, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been found. The most famous among them was the skullcap and bones that were discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany which is now believed as an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is highly unlikely that Darwin was aware of the skullcap when it was published in 1858, a year after the publication of the first edition of The Origin.
While the site focuses on biology, it also offers a lot of information about geology and paleontology. The most impressive features on the site are a timeline of events which show the way in which climatic and geological conditions changed over time, and an interactive map of the geographical distribution of some of the fossil groups featured on the site.
While the site is a companion to a PBS television series, it also stands on its own as an excellent source for teachers and students. The site is extremely well-organized and has clear links between the introductory information in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more sophisticated elements of the museum's web site. These hyperlinks help users move from the enthralling cartoon style of the Understanding Evolution pages to the more sophisticated world of research science. In particular there are links to John Endler's research with guppies that illustrate 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 in their natural environment and has a number of advantages over modern observational and experimental methods in its exploration of evolutionary processes. Paleobiology is able to study not just the processes and events that happen regularly or over time but also the distribution and frequency of different species of animals across geological time.
The website is divided into several routes that can be taken to gain knowledge about evolution. One of the paths, "Evolution 101," guides the user through the nature and evidence 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 equally well constructed, with materials that can support a variety of educational levels and pedagogical styles. In 에볼루션 룰렛 to the general textual content, the site also has an extensive selection of interactive and multimedia resources including videos, animations and virtual laboratories. The content is presented in a nested bread crumb-like fashion that helps with navigation and orientation on the web site.
For instance, the page "Coral Reef Connections" provides an overview of the relationships between corals and their interaction with other organisms. It then concentrates on a specific clam that is able to communicate with its neighbours and respond to changes in water conditions at the level of the reef. This page, along with the other multidisciplinary, multimedia and interactive pages on the site, provide an excellent introduction to a wide variety of topics in evolutionary biology. The material also provides a discussion of the role of natural selection as well as the concept of phylogenetic analysis, which is a crucial tool in understanding evolutionary changes.
Evolutionary Theory
Evolution is a common thread that runs through all branches of biology. A rich collection supports teaching evolution across the disciplines of life science.
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 wide range of educational resources. The site features a wealth of interactive learning modules. It also has an encased "bread crumb" structure that helps students transition from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution to elements on this large Web site closer to the world of research science. For instance an animation that introduces the idea of genetic inheritance connects to a page that focuses on 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 resources that are associated to evolution. The content is organized according to curricula-based pathways that correspond to the learning objectives set out in the standards for biology. It contains seven videos intended for use in the classroom. These can be streamed or purchased as DVDs.
A variety of crucial questions remain at the core of evolutionary biology, such as what triggers evolution and the speed at which it occurs. This is especially true for the evolution of humans which was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that held that humanity has a special position in the universe and a soul with the notion that human beings have innate physical traits evolved from apes.
In addition there are a myriad of ways that evolution could be triggered with natural selection being the most popular theory. Scientists also study different types such as genetic drift and sexual selection.
While many scientific fields of inquiry are in conflict with the literal interpretations of religious texts evolutionary biology has been the subject of fierce debate and opposition from religious fundamentalists. While certain religions have been able to reconcile their beliefs with the theories of evolution, others have not.