Evolution Site Tips That Will Change Your Life

Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution

Despite the best efforts by biology educators, misconceptions persist about the evolution. Pop science nonsense has led people to believe that biologists don't believe evolution.

This rich Web site - companion to the PBS series - provides teachers with materials which support evolution education and help avoid the kinds of misinformation that can make it difficult to understand. It's organized in a nested "bread crumb" format to facilitate navigation and orientation.

Definitions

It's difficult to properly teach evolution. Non-scientists often misunderstand the subject, and some scientists even employ a definition that confuses it. This is particularly relevant when discussing the nature of the words themselves.

It is therefore important to define the terms used in evolutionary biology. The website for the PBS show, Understanding Evolution, does this in a simple and efficient manner. The site is a companion site to the show which first aired in 2001, but also functions as an independent resource. The material is presented in a structured manner that makes it simpler to navigate and comprehend.

The site defines terms like common ancestor, the gradual process, and adaptation. These terms help frame the nature and relationship of evolution with other scientific concepts. The site provides an overview of the way in which evolution has been tested. This information can be used to dispel myths that have been engendered by creationists.

It is also possible to find the glossary of terms used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:

Adaptation: The tendency of heritable traits to become better adaptable to a specific environment. This is a result of natural selection. Organisms with better-adapted characteristics are more likely than those with less adapted traits to reproduce and survive.

Common ancestor (also called common ancestor): The most recent ancestor that is shared by two or more species. The common ancestor can be identified by analyzing the DNA of these species.

Deoxyribonucleic acid: A large biological molecule that holds the information required for cell replication. The information is stored in a sequence of nucleotides that are strung together into long chains, also known as chromosomes. Mutations are the source of new genetic information in cells.

Coevolution is a relationship between two species where evolutionary changes of one species are influenced evolutionary changes of the other. Coevolution can be observed in the interaction of predator and prey, or parasites and hosts.

Origins

Species (groups of individuals that can interbreed) develop through a series of natural changes in the traits of their offspring. The changes can be triggered by a variety of causes, including natural selection, genetic drift, and gene pool mixing. The development of new species can take thousands of years. Environmental conditions, like climate change or competition for food or habitat can impede or accelerate the process.

The Evolution site tracks through time the emergence of various animal and plant groups, focusing on major transitions in each group's past. It also focuses on human evolution as a subject that is of particular interest to students.

Darwin's Origin was published in 1859, when only a handful of antediluvian fossils of humans were discovered. The most famous among them was the skullcap and the associated bones discovered in 1856 at the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany which is now believed to be an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is highly unlikely that Darwin knew about the skullcap when it was published in 1858, 에볼루션 무료체험 a year after the first edition of The Origin.

While the site is focused on biology, it contains a wealth of information about geology as well as paleontology. One of the most appealing features of the Web site are a timeline of events that illustrate how geological and climatic conditions have changed over time, as well as an outline of the distribution of some of the fossil groups featured on the site.

Although the site is a companion piece to the PBS television series however, it can stand on its own as a valuable resource for teachers and students. The site is well-organized and offers easy links to the introductory material of Understanding Evolution (developed under the National Science Foundation's support) and the more specialized features of the museum's website. These links facilitate the transition from the engaging 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, which 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 within their geographical context and offers many advantages over modern observational and experimental methods of examining evolutionary phenomena. Paleobiology focuses on not only processes and events that occur frequently or over time, but also the relative abundance and distribution of different groups of animals in space throughout the geological time.

The site is divided into several optional paths to learning evolution that include "Evolution 101," which takes the viewer on a line through the science of nature and the evidence to support the theory of evolution. The course also focuses on common misconceptions about evolution and the history of evolutionary thought.

Each of the other sections of the Evolution site is equally constructed, with materials that can support a variety of educational levels and pedagogical styles. In addition to the general textual content, 에볼루션 the site offers a wide range of multimedia and interactive content including videos, animations and virtual labs. The breadcrumb-like arrangement of the content aids in navigation and orientation on the massive Web site.

For instance the page "Coral Reef Connections" provides a comprehensive overview of the relationships between corals and their interaction with other organisms. It then zooms in on a single clam that can communicate with its neighbours and respond to changes in water conditions that occur at the level of the reef. This page, as well as the other multidisciplinary interactive and multimedia pages provides an excellent introduction to the many areas of evolutionary biology. The content also includes a discussion of the role of natural selection as well as the concept of phylogenetic analysis, which is an important method to understand 에볼루션 게이밍 에볼루션 슬롯게임 (Continuing) evolutionary changes.

Evolutionary Theory

Evolution is an underlying thread that is found throughout all branches of biology. A vast collection of books helps in teaching evolution across all disciplines of life sciences.

One resource, which is the companion to PBS's television series Understanding Evolution is an excellent example of a Web page that provides depth as well as breadth in terms of its educational resources. The site has a variety 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 massive website that are more closely linked to the field of research science. For example, an animation introducing the idea of genetic inheritance connects to a page that highlights John Endler's experiments with artificial selection using guppies in the ponds of his native country of Trinidad.

Another resource that is worth mentioning is the Evolution Library on this Web site, which contains an extensive library of multimedia resources related to evolution. The content is organized into courses that are based on curriculum and follow the learning goals established in biology standards. It contains seven short videos that are intended for use in the classroom. These can be streamed or purchased as DVDs.

A variety of crucial questions remain at the heart of evolutionary biology, including what triggers evolution and the speed at which it occurs. This is particularly true for the evolution of humans, where it was difficult to reconcile religious beliefs that humanity has a unique place in creation and a soul, with the notion that our physical traits were derived from Apes.

There are a myriad of other ways evolution can occur, with natural selection as the most well-known theory. Scientists also study different types like mutation, genetic drift and sexual selection.

While many fields of scientific inquiry conflict with the literal interpretations of the Bible, evolutionary biology has been the subject of fierce debate and opposition from religious fundamentalists. While some religions have been able to reconcile their beliefs with the theories of evolution, other religions aren't.