Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution

Despite the best efforts of biology educators, there are still a lot of misconceptions about evolution. People who have absorbed the nonsense of pop science often believe that biologists don't believe in evolution.

This rich Web site - 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 the "bread crumb" format to aid in navigation and orientation.

Definitions

Evolution is a complicated and challenging subject to teach well. It is often misunderstood even by non-scientists, and even scientists use a definition that confuses the issue. This is particularly true when discussing the nature of the words themselves.

It is therefore crucial 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 manner. The site is both a companion for the 2001 series, and also a resource of its own. The content is presented in an organized manner that makes it easier to navigate and understand.

The site defines terms like common ancestor, gradual process and so on. These terms help to define the nature and significance of evolution to other concepts in science. The site provides an overview of the manner that evolution has been examined. This information can be used to dispel the myths that have been engendered by the creationists.

You can also consult a glossary that contains terms that are used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:

The process of adaptation is the tendency of heritable traits to become better suited to an environment. This is a result of natural selection. Organisms with more adaptable characteristics are more likely than those with less adaptable traits to survive and reproduce.

Common ancestor: The most recent common ancestor of two or more species. By analyzing the DNA from these species it is possible to identify the common ancestor.

Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A massive biological molecular containing the information required for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences, which are strung into long chains known as chromosomes. Mutations are the reason behind the creation of new genetic information inside cells.

Coevolution: 에볼루션 바카라 체험 A relationship between two species where evolutionary changes in one species are influenced by evolutionary changes in the other. Examples of coevolution include the interactions between predator and prey, or host and parasite.

Origins

Species (groups that can interbreed) develop by a series of natural variations in their offspring's traits. The changes can be triggered by a variety of causes, 에볼루션 사이트 including natural selection, genetic drift and gene pool mixing. The evolution of a new species can take thousands of years and 에볼루션 무료 바카라 the process can be slowed down or 에볼루션 바카라 체험 speeded up due to environmental conditions, such as climate change or the competition for food or habitat.

The Evolution site tracks the development of various animal and plant groups through time, focusing on the major transitions that occurred in the evolution of each group's history. It also explores the evolutionary origin of humans and humans, a subject that is crucial for students to understand.

When Darwin wrote the Origin of Species, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been found. One of them was the infamous skullcap and the associated bones discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany that is now thought to be an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is highly unlikely that Darwin knew about the skullcap, which was published in 1858, one year after the publication of the first edition of The Origin.

The site is mostly a biology site however it also includes lots of information about paleontology and geology. Among the best features of the website are a timeline of events which show how climatic and geological conditions changed over time, and an outline of the distribution of some fossil groups listed on the site.

Although the site is a companion to the PBS television show, it also stands on its own as an excellent source for teachers and students. The site is well organized and provides clear links between the introduction information in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more specific elements of the museum Web site. These hyperlinks make it easy to move from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated worlds of research science. Particularly 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 led to a wide variety of animals, plants and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures in their geological context and has a number of advantages over modern observational and experimental methods of examining evolutionary processes. In addition to exploring processes and events that occur regularly or over a long period of time, paleobiology allows to study the relative abundance of various groups of organisms and their distribution in space over geological time.

The site is divided into a variety of ways to learn about evolution, including "Evolution 101," which takes the viewer on a line through the science of nature and the evidence that supports the theory of evolution. The path also examines myths about evolution as well as the history of evolutionary thought.

Each of the main sections of the Evolution website is equally well-designed, with materials that are suited to a variety of levels of curriculum and teaching methods. In addition to the standard textual content, the site offers an extensive selection of multimedia and interactive resources including videos, animations, and 에볼루션 바카라 체험 virtual labs. The content is presented in a nested bread crumb style that facilitates navigation and orientation on the Web site.

For example the page "Coral Reef Connections" provides a comprehensive 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 neighbors and react to changes in water conditions that take place at the level of the reef. This page, along with the other multidisciplinary, multimedia and interactive pages on the website, provide an excellent introduction to a broad spectrum of topics in evolutionary biology. The content includes a discussion on the importance of natural selection and the concept of phylogenetics analysis, an important tool for understanding evolutionary changes.

Evolutionary Theory

For biology students the concept of evolution is a major thread that weaves together all the branches of the field. A rich collection of resources helps teachers teach about evolution across all life sciences.

One resource, which is the companion to PBS's television show Understanding Evolution is an excellent example of an Web page that provides the depth and the broadness in terms of educational resources. The site has a wide array of interactive learning modules. It also has a nested "bread crumb" structure that helps students move from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution to elements on this huge site that are more closely linked to the field of research science. Animation that introduces the concept of genetics, which links to a page about John Endler's experiments with artificial selection using Guppies in native ponds in Trinidad.

Another helpful resource is the Evolution Library on this web website, which includes an extensive library of multimedia items that are related to evolution. The content is organized in the form of curriculum-based pathways that are in line with the learning objectives outlined in the biology standards. It contains seven videos specifically designed for use in classrooms, and can be streamed at no cost or purchased on DVD.

Evolutionary biology remains an area of study with a lot of important questions, 에볼루션 슬롯 바카라 체험 (Bravejournal wrote in a blog post) including what causes evolution and the speed at which it takes place. This is particularly 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 evolved from apes.

There are also a number of other ways in which evolution could occur, with natural selection as the most widely accepted theory. However, scientists also study other kinds of evolution, such as mutation, genetic drift and sexual selection, among others.

While many scientific fields of study conflict with literal interpretations in religious texts, the concept of evolution biology has been a subject of intense debate and opposition from religious fundamentalists. Certain religions have embraced their beliefs to evolution but others haven't.