10 Unexpected Evolution Site Tips

Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution

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

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

Definitions

It's not easy to properly teach evolution. It is often misunderstood by non-scientists and even scientists are guilty of using an interpretation that is confusing the issue. This is particularly true when discussing the definition of the words.

It is therefore important to define the terms used in evolutionary biology. The website for the PBS show, Understanding Evolution, does this in a clear and useful manner. The site serves as an accompaniment to the 2001 series, but it is also a resource on its own. The material is presented in an organized manner that makes it easier to navigate and understand.

The site defines terms such as common ancestor and gradual process. These terms help to define the nature of evolution and its relationship to other scientific concepts. The site gives a comprehensive overview of the way that evolution has been examined. This information can be used to dispel the myths that have been engendered by the creationists.

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

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

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

Deoxyribonucleic acid: A massive biological molecule that contains the information necessary for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences, which are strung into long chains, referred to as chromosomes. Mutations are the basis for new genetic information in cells.

Coevolution is 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, 에볼루션사이트 or parasite and host.

Origins

Species (groups that can crossbreed) change through a series of natural changes in their offspring's traits. The changes can be caused by a variety of causes that include natural selection, genetic drift and mixing of gene pools. The development of new species can take thousands of years. Environmental conditions, like climate change or competition for food resources and habitat can impede or accelerate the process.

The Evolution site traces the emergence of a variety of species of plants and animals over time and focuses on the most significant changes that took place in the history of each group. It also focuses on the evolutionary history of humans which is crucial for students to understand.

When Darwin wrote the Origin in 1859, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been found. Among them was the famous skullcap and the associated bones discovered in 1856 at the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany that is now thought to be an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is highly 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.

The site is mostly an online biology resource however, it also has a lot of information on geology and paleontology. One of the most appealing features of the website are a set of timelines which show how climatic and geological conditions have changed over time, as well as an interactive map of the distribution of a few fossil groups listed on the site.

Although the site is a companion piece to a PBS television series but it also stands on its own as a valuable resource for teachers and students. The site is extremely well-organized and has clear links between the introductory content in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more specific elements of the museum Web site. These links make it easier to transition from the cartoon-style Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated realms of research science. In particular, there are links to John Endler's experiments using Guppies that demonstrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.

Diversity

The evolution of life has produced a variety of plants, animals and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures within their geological context and has numerous advantages over the current observational and experimental methods in its exploration of evolutionary processes. Paleobiology can examine not only the process and events that occur regularly or over time, but also the relative abundance and distribution of various animal groups across geological time.

The site is divided up into several paths that can be chosen to study the subject of evolution. One of these paths, "Evolution 101," guides the user through the nature and evidence of evolution. The path also reveals common misconceptions about evolution as well as the evolution of thought.

Each of the main sections of the Evolution website is equally well-designed, with materials that support a variety curriculum levels and teaching styles. In addition to the general textual content, 에볼루션 슬롯게임 무료 에볼루션 바카라 체험, blog post from Planforexams, the site also has an extensive selection of interactive and multimedia resources like videos, animations and virtual laboratories. The content is laid out in a nested bread crumb fashion that aids navigation and orientation within the large web site.

The page "Coral Reef Connections", for example, provides an overview of coral relationships and interactions with other organisms and then zooms in on one clam, which can communicate with its neighbors and react to changes in the conditions of the water that occur at the reef level. This page, as well as the other multidisciplinary, multimedia, and interactive pages on the site, provide an excellent introduction to a wide variety of topics in evolutionary biology. The material includes a discussion on the importance of natural selection and the concept phylogenetics analysis, an important tool to understand evolutionary change.

Evolutionary Theory

For biology students, evolution is a key thread that binds all branches of the field. A vast collection of books helps in teaching evolution across the disciplines of life science.

One resource, which is a companion to the PBS television series Understanding Evolution, is an excellent example of an Web site that offers both depth and a variety of educational resources. The site has a variety of interactive learning modules. It also has an encased "bread crumb" structure that allows students to transition from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution to elements on this huge site that are more closely linked to the field of research science. For example an animation that introduces the notion of genetic inheritance leads to a page highlighting John Endler's experiments with artificial selection with guppies in native ponds of Trinidad.

Another useful resource is the Evolution Library on this site, which has an extensive multimedia library of items related to evolution. The content is organized according to curriculum-based pathways that correspond to the learning objectives set out in the biology standards. It contains seven short videos intended for use in the classroom. They are available to stream or purchase as DVDs.

A variety of crucial questions remain at the heart of evolutionary biology, such as the factors that trigger evolution and the speed at which it occurs. This is especially true for human evolution, which has made it difficult to reconcile the notion that the physical traits of humans derived from apes with religions that believe that humans are unique among living things and holds a a special place in creation with a soul.

In addition, there are a number of ways that evolution could be triggered and natural selection is the most widely accepted theory. Scientists also study different types such as genetic drift and sexual selection.

Many fields of inquiry conflict with the literal interpretations of religious texts Evolutionary biology has been the subject of particularly controversial debate and resistance from religious fundamentalists. While certain religions have managed to reconcile their beliefs with the notions of evolution, other religions haven't.