Evolution Site: The Good And Bad About Evolution Site

Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution

Despite the best efforts of biology educators, misinformation about evolution persist. People who have absorbed the nonsense of pop science often believe that biologists are saying they don't believe in evolution.

This site, a companion to the PBS program, provides teachers with materials which support evolution education, while avoiding the kinds of misconceptions that can undermine it. It's laid out in the "bread crumb" format to facilitate navigation and orientation.

Definitions

Evolution is a complicated and challenging subject to teach well. It is often misunderstood even by non-scientists, and even some scientists use an interpretation that is confusing the issue. This is particularly relevant to discussions about the definition of the word itself.

It is crucial to define the terms that are used in evolutionary biology. The website for the PBS show, Understanding Evolution, does this in a simple and efficient manner. The site is both an accompanying site for the 2001 series, and also a resource of its own. The content is presented in a nested manner that assists in navigation and orientation.

The site defines terms like common ancestor, the gradual process, and adaptation. These terms help to define the nature of evolution and its relation to other scientific concepts. The website provides a summary of the way that evolution has been tested. This information can help dispel the myths created by creationists.

It is also possible to get a glossary of terms that are used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:

Adaptation: The tendency of heritable characteristics to become more suitable to a particular setting. This is due to natural selection, which occurs when organisms with better-adapted traits are more likely survive and reproduce than those with less adaptable characteristics.

Common ancestor (also known as common ancestor) is the most recent ancestor that is shared by two or more species. By studying the DNA of these species, it is possible to determine the common ancestor.

Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A large biological molecular that contains the necessary information for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences that are strung into long chains known as chromosomes. Mutations are the reason behind the creation of new genetic information within cells.

Coevolution: A relationship between two species where evolutionary changes in one species are dependent on evolutionary changes in the other. Examples of coevolution include the interactions between predator and prey or host and parasite.

Origins

Species (groups of individuals that can interbreed) change through an array of natural changes in the characteristics of their offspring. The causes of these changes are numerous factors, like natural selection, gene drift, and mixing of the gene pool. The evolution of new species could take thousands of years. Environmental conditions, such as climate change or competition for food resources and habitat can impede or accelerate the process.

The Evolution site follows the evolution of various species of plants and animals, focusing on major transitions in each group's past. It also explores the evolutionary origin of humans and humans, a subject that is especially important for students to comprehend.

Darwin's Origin was written in 1859, at a time when only a few antediluvian fossils of humans were discovered. The famous skullcap, along with the associated bones, was discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto of Germany. It is now known as an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is highly unlikely that Darwin was aware of the skullcap, which was published in 1858, which was a year after the publication of the first edition of The Origin.

The site is primarily one of biology, but it also contains many details on paleontology and geology. The most impressive features on the site are a timeline of events which show the way in which climatic and geological conditions have changed over time and a map of the distribution of some fossil groups that are featured on the site.

While the site is a companion piece to a PBS television show but it also stands on its own as a valuable resource for teachers and students. The site is well-organized and offers clear links to the introduction content of Understanding Evolution (developed under the National Science Foundation's funding) and the more specific features of the museum website. These links facilitate the transition 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 demonstrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.

Diversity

The evolution of life has led to an array of plants, animals and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures within their natural environment and has a number of advantages over modern observational and experimental methods in its exploration of evolutionary phenomena. Paleobiology can examine not only the process and events that occur regularly or over time, but also the distribution and frequency of various animal groups in space throughout geological time.

The website is divided into various ways to learn about evolution, including "Evolution 101," which takes the viewer on a liner path through the scientific process and the evidence that supports the theory of evolution. The course also focuses on misconceptions about evolution and the background of evolutionary thought.

Each of the other sections of the Evolution site is equally well developed, with materials that support a variety of educational levels and Www.evolutionkr.kr pedagogical styles. The site includes a variety of interactive and multimedia resources, including animations, video clips and virtual labs in addition to general textual content. 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" gives a brief overview of the relationships between corals and their interactions with other organisms, then concentrates on a specific clam that can communicate with its neighbors and react to changes in the water conditions that take place at the level of the reef. This page, as well as the other multidisciplinary multimedia and interactive pages, provides an excellent introduction to the many areas of evolutionary biology. The material includes a discussion on the importance of natural selection and the concept of phylogenetics analysis, an important tool for understanding evolutionary changes.

Evolutionary Theory

Evolution is an underlying thread that is found throughout all branches of biology. A rich collection of resources can help teachers teach about evolution across all life sciences.

One resource, which is a companion to the PBS television series Understanding Evolution, is an excellent example of an Web site that offers both the depth and breadth of its educational resources. The site has a variety of interactive learning modules. It also has a "bread crumb structure" that helps students move away from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution and onto elements on this large website more closely connected to the fields of research science. An animation that introduces students to the concept of genetics, which links to a page highlighting John Endler's experiments with artificial selection using guppies on native ponds in Trinidad.

The Evolution Library on this website contains a large multimedia library of assets related with evolution. The content is organized into curriculum-based pathways that correspond to the learning objectives set out in the biology standards. It contains seven videos that are 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, including what triggers evolution and how fast it happens. This is particularly relevant for humans' evolution which was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that held that humanity has a special place in creation and a soul, with the notion that human beings have innate physical traits were derived from apes.

There are a myriad of other ways evolution could occur and natural selection being the most popular theory. However, scientists also study other types of evolution such as mutation, genetic drift, and sexual selection, among other things.

While many scientific fields of study conflict with literal interpretations in religious texts, evolution biology has been the subject of intense debate and resistance from religious fundamentalists. While certain religions have managed to reconcile their beliefs with the ideas of evolution, others aren't.