8 Tips For Boosting Your Evolution Site Game

Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution

Despite the best efforts by biology educators, there are still a lot of misconceptions about evolution. People who have taken in the nonsense of pop science often believe that biologists are saying they do not believe in evolution.

This rich Web site - companion to the PBS series It provides teachers with materials that promote evolution education and avoids the kinds of misconceptions that make it difficult to understand. It's organized in a "bread crumb" format to aid in navigation and orientation.

Definitions

Evolution is a complex and difficult subject to teach well. It is often misunderstood even by non-scientists, and even some scientists are guilty of using a definition that confuses the issue. This is particularly applicable to discussions on the nature of the word.

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 useful way. The site serves as an accompanying site for the 2001 series, but it is also a resource on its own. The content is organized in a way that makes it easy to navigate and comprehend.

The site defines terms such as common ancestor, gradual process and adaptation. These terms help to define the nature of evolution and its relation to other scientific concepts. The site gives a comprehensive overview of the way that evolution has been tested. This information will help to dispel the myths created by creationists.

sneak a peek at this web-site is also possible to get the glossary of terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:

The process of adaptation is the tendency of hereditary traits to become more suited to the environment. This is the result of natural selection. Organisms that have better-adapted traits are more likely than those with less adapted characteristics to survive and reproduce.

Common ancestor: The most recent common ancestor of two or more distinct species. The common ancestor can be identified by analyzing the DNA of those species.

Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A massive biological molecular that holds the information required for cell replication. The information is stored in sequences of nucleotides that are strung together to form long chains, called chromosomes. Mutations are the reason behind the creation of new genetic information within cells.

Coevolution is a relation between two species, where the evolution of one species influence evolutionary changes of the other. Coevolution can be observed in the interactions between predator and prey, or parasite and hosts.

Origins

Species (groups that can interbreed), evolve by a series of natural variations in the traits of their offspring. These changes are caused by a variety of factors such as natural selection, genetic drift and gene pool mixing. The development of a new species may take thousands of years and the process may be slowed down or accelerated by environmental conditions such as climate change or the competition for food or habitat.

The Evolution site tracks the development of a number of different animal and plant groups through time and focuses on the most significant transitions that occurred in the history of each group. It also focuses on human evolution, which is a topic that is particularly important to students.

Darwin's Origin was written in 1859, at a time when only a few antediluvian fossils of humans were discovered. 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 to be an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is unlikely that Darwin knew about the skullcap when it was published in 1858, which was a year after the first edition of The Origin.

The site is mostly a biology site, but it also contains lots of information about paleontology and geology. The website has a number of features that are especially impressive, such as a timeline of how climate and geological conditions have changed over the course of time. It also includes an interactive map that shows the location of fossil groups.

The site is a companion for a PBS TV series but it can also be used as a source for teachers and students. The site is extremely well-organized and offers 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 engaging cartoon style of the Understanding Evolution pages to the more sophisticated world of research science. There are also links to John Endler's experiments with guppies, which demonstrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.

Diversity

The evolution of life on Earth has led to a wide variety of plants, animals, and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures within their natural environment and has many advantages over the current observational and experimental methods of examining evolutionary phenomena. In addition to exploring the processes and events that happen frequently or over a long period of time, paleobiology is able to study the diversity of species of organisms and their distribution across geological time.

The site is divided into different options to learn about evolution. One of the paths, "Evolution 101," takes the viewer through the evolution of nature and the evidence of evolution. The path also explores common misconceptions about evolution and 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 teaching styles. In addition to the standard textual content, the site features a wide range of multimedia and interactive content, such as videos, animations and virtual labs. The content is laid out 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 interactions with other organisms and zooms in on a single clam, which is able communicate with its neighbors and react to changes in conditions of the water at the reef level. This page, as well as the other multidisciplinary interactive and multimedia pages offers a great introduction to a variety of topics in evolutionary biology. The material includes a discussion on the role of natural selectivity and the concept of phylogenetics, an important tool to understand evolutionary changes.

Evolutionary Theory


Evolution is a common thread that is found throughout all branches of biology. A vast collection of resources helps teachers teach about evolution across all life sciences.

One resource, which is a companion to the PBS television series Understanding Evolution, is an exceptional example of a Web site that provides the depth and breadth of its educational resources. The site offers a variety of interactive learning modules. It also has an encased "bread crumb" structure that allows students to move from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution to elements on this huge site that are closer to the field of research science. For instance an animation that introduces the concept of genetic inheritance links to a page highlighting John Endler's experiments with artificial selection with guppies from the native ponds of Trinidad.

Another useful resource is the Evolution Library on this site, which contains an extensive collection of multimedia resources connected 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 includes seven short videos specifically designed for classroom use, which can be streamed at no cost or purchased on DVD.

Evolutionary biology is still a field of study that poses many important questions to answer, such as the causes of evolution and the speed at which it occurs. This is particularly relevant in the case of human evolution which was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that humanity has a unique place in the creation and a soul, with the notion that our physical traits originated from apes.

Additionally there are a variety of ways that evolution can be triggered and natural selection is the most widely accepted theory. Scientists also study other kinds such as mutation, genetic drift, and sexual selection.

While many scientific fields of study conflict with literal interpretations in religious texts, evolution biology has been a source of intense debate and opposition from religious fundamentalists. While certain religions have managed to reconcile their beliefs with the ideas of evolution, other religions have not.

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Pub: 24 Dec 2024 01:45 UTC
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