Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology educators, misconceptions persist about the evolution. People who have absorbed popular science myths often assume that biologists don't believe in evolution.
This rich Web site, a companion to the PBS program, provides teachers with materials which support evolution education while avoiding the types of misconceptions which make it difficult to understand. It's laid out in a "bread crumb" format to make navigation and
에볼루션 바카라 사이트 orientation easier.
Definitions
Evolution is a complicated and difficult subject to teach well. It is often misunderstood by non-scientists and even scientists have been guilty of using definitions that confuse the issue. This is particularly applicable to debates about the meaning of the word itself.
It is therefore essential to define the terms that are used in evolutionary biology. The website for the PBS show, Understanding Evolution, does this in a clear and helpful way. The site serves as an accompanying site for the 2001 series, but also a resource on its own. The material is presented in an organized way that makes it easy to navigate and understand.
The site defines terms such as common ancestor (or
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sciencewiki.Science) common ancestor), gradual process, and adaptation. These terms help to define the nature of evolution as well as its relation to other concepts in science. The website provides a summary of the manner the concept of evolution has been examined. This information can help dispel the myths created by creationists.
It is also possible to access a glossary of terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
Adaptation: The tendency of heritable characteristics to become more suited to a particular 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 characteristics.
Common ancestor: The latest common ancestor of two or more species. The common ancestor can be identified by analyzing the DNA of the species.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A massive biological molecular that holds the information needed for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences which are strung into long chains, referred to as chromosomes. Mutations are responsible for the creation of new genetic information inside cells.
Coevolution is the relationship between two species in which the evolutionary changes of one species influence evolutionary changes of the other. Examples of coevolution include the interaction between predator and prey, or parasite and host.
Origins
Species (groups of individuals who can interbreed) develop through a series of natural changes in the characteristics of their offspring. These changes can be caused by many factors, such as natural selection, gene drift, and mixing of the gene pool. The evolution of new species can take thousands of years. Environmental circumstances, such as climate change or competition for food or habitat can slow or speed up the process.
The Evolution site tracks through time the emergence of various species of plants and animals and
무료 에볼루션 focuses on major changes in each group's history. It also focuses on human evolution and is a subject that is particularly important for students.
When Darwin wrote the Origin in 1859, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been discovered. One of them was the infamous 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. It is unlikely that Darwin was aware of the skullcap when it was published in 1858, which was a year following the initial edition of The Origin.
While the site focuses on biology, it also contains a wealth of information about geology as well as paleontology. The most impressive features of the Web site are a set of timelines which show how geological and climatic conditions have changed over time, and an outline of the distribution of some fossil groups listed on the site.
The site is a companion to a PBS television series, but it could be used as a resource by teachers and students. The site is well-organized, and provides easy links to the introductory content of Understanding Evolution (developed under the National Science Foundation's support) and the more specialized features of the museum's website. These hyperlinks make it easier to transition from the cartoon-style Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated worlds of research science. There are links to John Endler’s experiments with guppies, which illustrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.
Diversity
The evolution of life has led to a variety of plants, animals and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures within their geological context and has numerous advantages over the modern observational and research methods for analyzing evolutionary phenomena. In addition to studying processes and events that take place regularly or over a long period of time, paleobiology allows to examine the relative abundance of different groups of organisms and their distribution throughout the course of geological time.
The site is divided into several optional pathways to understanding evolution which include "Evolution 101," which takes the viewer on a line through the scientific process and the evidence supporting the theory of evolution. The path also reveals 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, and includes materials that can be used to support a variety of educational levels and
에볼루션 바카라 사이트 teaching styles. In addition to the general textual content, the site features a wide range of multimedia and interactive content like video clips, animations, and
에볼루션사이트 virtual labs. The content is presented in a nested bread crumb fashion that aids navigation and orientation within the large Web site.
For instance, the page "Coral Reef Connections" provides a comprehensive overview of coral relationships and their interaction with other organisms, then concentrates on a specific clam that can communicate with its neighbors and respond to changes in the water conditions that occur at the level of the reef. This page, as well as the other multidisciplinary, multimedia and interactive pages on the website, provide an excellent introduction to the broad variety of topics in evolutionary biology. The content also includes a discussion of the role of natural selection as well as the concept of phylogenetic analysis, which is a crucial method to understand evolutionary change.
Evolutionary Theory
Evolution is a common thread that is found throughout all branches of biology. A rich collection supports teaching evolution across the disciplines of life science.
One resource, which is a companion to the PBS television series Understanding Evolution, is an outstanding example of an Web site that offers both depth and a variety of educational resources. The site has a wide array of interactive learning modules. It also features an embedded "bread crumb" structure that allows students to move from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution to elements on this huge site that are more closely linked to the world of research science. For
에볼루션 바카라 사이트 instance, an animation introducing the notion of genetic inheritance leads to a page highlighting John Endler's experiments with artificial selection with guppies in native ponds of Trinidad.