The Little-Known Benefits Of Evolution Site

Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution

Despite the best efforts of biology educators, misconceptions about evolution remain. People who have been exposed to popular science myths often assume that biologists are saying they 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 laid out in the "bread crumb" format to facilitate navigation and orientation.

Definitions

Evolution is a complex and difficult subject matter to teach well. Non-scientists often misunderstand the subject, and some scientists even use a definition that confuses it. This is especially true when it comes to discussions on the definition of the word itself.

As such, it is essential to define terms used in evolutionary biology. The website for the PBS show, Understanding Evolution, does this in a simple and efficient way. The site is a companion to the show which first aired in 2001, but can also function as an independent resource. The content is organized in a way that makes it easy to navigate and understand.

The site defines terms like common ancestor and gradual process. These terms help frame the nature of evolution and its relation to other scientific concepts. The site also provides an overview of how the concept of evolution has been researched and verified. This information can help dispel the myths created by creationists.

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

Adaptation is the process of changing hereditary traits to become more suitable to their environment. This is due to natural selection. It occurs when organisms that are more adaptable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce than those with less adaptable traits.

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

Deoxyribonucleic acid: A large biological molecule that contains information necessary for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences, which are strung into long chains called chromosomes. Mutations are responsible for the creation of new genetic information inside cells.

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

Origins

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

The Evolution site follows the evolution of different species of plants and animals with a focus on major changes within each group's past. It also explores the evolutionary origin of humans and humans, a subject that is especially important for students to understand.

Darwin's Origin was written in 1859, at a time when only a handful of antediluvian fossils of humans were discovered. Among them was the famous skullcap and associated bones found in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany, which is now known to be an early Homo neanderthalensis. While the skullcap wasn't published until 1858, just a year before the first edition of the Origin was published, it is extremely unlikely that Darwin had ever heard of it.

While the site focuses on biology, it also contains a wealth of information on geology and paleontology. The Web site has numerous features that are particularly impressive, including the timeline of how geological and climate conditions have changed over time. It also has maps that show the locations of fossil groups.

The site is a companion to the PBS television series, but it can also be used as an educational source for teachers and students. The site is well-organized, and provides clear links to the introduction information of Understanding Evolution (developed under the National Science Foundation's support) and the more specialized features on the museum's website. 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 links to John Endler's experiments with guppies that demonstrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.

Diversity

The evolution of life has resulted in a variety of plants, animals and insects. Paleobiology, the study of these creatures within their geological environment, has many advantages over the current observational or experimental methods of studying 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 the geological time.

The Web site is divided into various pathways to understanding evolution, including "Evolution 101," which takes the viewer on a liner path through the nature of science and the evidence supporting the theory of evolution. The course also focuses on the most common misconceptions about evolution, 에볼루션 바카라 체험 에볼루션 바카라사이트 [Read Far more] as well as the evolution of thought.

Each of the main sections of the Evolution website is equally well-developed, and includes materials that can be used to support a variety of levels of curriculum and teaching methods. In addition to the general textual content, the site offers an extensive selection of multimedia and interactive content like videos, animations and 에볼루션 카지노 사이트 virtual labs. The content is organized in a nested, bread crumb fashion that aids navigation and orientation within the large web site.

The page "Coral Reef Connections", for example, gives a brief overview of the relationships between corals and their interactions with other organisms and zooms in on a single clam, which is able to communicate with its neighbors and respond to changes in the conditions of the water at the reef level. This page, as well as the other multidisciplinary interactive and multimedia pages gives a good introduction to many topics in evolutionary biology. The content includes a discussion on the importance of natural selection and the concept of phylogenetics as a key method for understanding the evolution of change.

Evolutionary Theory

Evolution is an underlying thread that is found throughout all branches of biology. A vast collection of resources supports teaching about evolution across all life sciences.

One resource, which is the companion to PBS's TV series Understanding Evolution is an excellent example of an Web page that offers both depth as well as breadth in terms of its educational resources. The site features a wealth of interactive learning modules. It also features an embedded "bread crumb" structure that helps students move from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution to elements on this huge site that are more closely tied to the world of research science. For example an animation that introduces the concept of genetic inheritance links to a page that highlights John Endler's artificial selection experiments with guppies from the native ponds of Trinidad.

The Evolution Library on this website is a vast multimedia library of assets related to evolution. The contents are organized into curricula-based pathways that correspond to the learning objectives set out in the standards for biology. It contains seven short videos designed for use in classrooms. They can be viewed online or purchased as DVDs.

Evolutionary biology remains a field of study with a lot of important questions to answer, such as the causes of evolution and the speed at which it takes place. This is especially true for humans' evolution where it was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that humanity has a special place in creation and a soul with the notion that human beings have innate physical traits originated from apes.

Additionally there are a myriad of ways in which evolution could be triggered with natural selection being the most popular theory. Scientists also study other kinds like mutation, genetic drift, and sexual selection.

While many scientific fields of study conflict with literal interpretations found in religious texts, evolution biology has been a source of intense controversy and opposition from religious fundamentalists. Certain religions have reconciled their beliefs with evolutionary biology, while others haven't.