15 Startling Facts About Evolution Site That You Never Knew
Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution
Despite the best efforts of biology teachers, misinformation about evolution remain. People who have absorbed the nonsense of pop science often believe that biologists are saying they do not believe in evolution.
This site, a companion to the PBS program that provides teachers with resources that promote evolution education while avoiding the types of misconceptions that undermine it. It's laid out in a "bread crumb" format to make navigation and orientation easier.
Definitions
Evolution is a complex and difficult subject to teach well. It is often misunderstood even by non-scientists, and even some scientists have been guilty of using an interpretation that is confusing the issue. This is especially relevant when discussing the meaning of the words themselves.
It is therefore essential 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 serves as an accompaniment to the 2001 series, and also a resource of its own. The content is presented in a nested fashion which aids navigation and orientation.
The site defines terms like common ancestor and gradual process. These terms help define the nature of evolution and its relationship to evolution to other concepts in science. The website then provides an overview of how the concept of evolution has been tested and validated. This information will help to dispel the myths that are created by the creationists.
You can also access a glossary that contains terms that are used in evolutionary biology. These terms include:
The process of adaptation is the tendency of heritable traits to be more suited to the environment. This is due to natural selection, which happens when organisms with better-adapted characteristics are more likely to survive and 에볼루션 바카라 체험 reproduce than those with less adaptable traits.
Common ancestor: The latest common ancestor of two or more species. By analyzing DNA from these species, it is possible to determine the common ancestor.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A massive biological molecular that holds the information needed for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotide sequences that are strung into long chains, referred to as chromosomes. Mutations are the source 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 interaction between predator and 에볼루션코리아 prey, 에볼루션 슬롯 무료 바카라 (simply click the up coming article) or the parasite and the host.
Origins
Species (groups that can interbreed), evolve through a series of natural changes in their offspring's traits. These changes can be caused by many factors, such as natural selection, gene drift and mixing of the gene pool. The evolution of new species can take thousands of years. Environmental conditions, like climate changes or competition for food resources and habitat, can slow or accelerate the process.
The Evolution site tracks the evolution of a variety of animal and plant groups through time with a focus on the key transitions that occurred in the evolution of each group's history. It also explores the human evolutionary roots which is crucial for students to understand.
Darwin's Origin was published in 1859, when just a few antediluvian fossils of humans had been found. One of them was the infamous skullcap and bones that were discovered in 1856 at the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany that is now thought as an early Homo neanderthalensis. While the skullcap wasn't published until 1858, which was a year before the first edition of the Origin was published, it's very unlikely that Darwin had ever heard of it.
While the site focuses on biology, it offers a lot of information on geology and paleontology. One of the most appealing features on the site are a set of timelines which show the way in which climatic and geological conditions have changed over time as well as an interactive map of the geographical distribution of some fossil groups that are featured on the site.
The site is a companion to a PBS TV series but it could also be used as an educational resource by 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 funding) and the more specialized features on the museum's website. These hyperlinks facilitate the move from the cartoon-like 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 illustrate the importance ecology in evolutionary theory.
Diversity
The evolution of life has produced an array of animals, plants and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures within their geological context and has a number of advantages over modern observational and experimental methods in its exploration of evolutionary phenomena. In addition to examining the processes and events that happen frequently or over a long period of time, paleobiology can be used to study the relative abundance of various species of organisms and their distribution in space over geological time.
The website is divided into various routes that can be taken to gain knowledge about evolution. One of these paths, "Evolution 101," takes the viewer through the complexities and evidence of evolution. The path also reveals the most common misconceptions about evolution, as well as the history of evolutionary thought.
Each of the main sections of the Evolution website is equally well-developed, and includes materials that support a variety curriculum levels and teaching styles. The site has a range of interactive and multimedia content which include animations, video clips and virtual labs, in addition to its general textual content. The content is presented in a nested bread crumb fashion that aids navigation and orientation within the vast Web site.
The page "Coral Reef Connections", for example, gives a brief overview of the relationships between corals, their interaction with other organisms, and then zooms in to a single clam, which can communicate with its neighbors and react to changes in the water conditions that occur on 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 an explanation of the role of natural selectivity and the concept of phylogenetics analysis as a key tool for understanding evolutionary changes.
Evolutionary Theory
For biology students, evolution is a key thread that connects all branches of the field. A rich collection of resources helps teachers teach about evolution across the life sciences.
One resource, a companion to the PBS television series Understanding Evolution, is an excellent example of a Web site that offers both depth and breadth in its educational resources. The site offers a variety of interactive learning modules. It also has a "bread crumb structure" that allows students to move away from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution and onto elements on this site that are more closely linked to the realms of research science. For example, an animation introducing the concept of genetic inheritance links to a page that focuses on John Endler's experiments in artificial selection with guppies in native ponds of Trinidad.
Another helpful resource is the Evolution Library on this web site, which contains an extensive library of multimedia resources that are related to evolution. The content is organized into the form of curriculum-based pathways that are in line with the learning objectives outlined in biology standards. It contains seven short videos specifically designed for use in classrooms. They can be viewed online or purchased as DVDs.
Evolutionary biology remains an area of study that poses many important questions to answer, such as what triggers evolution and how fast it happens. This is particularly relevant in the case of human evolution, where it was difficult to reconcile religious beliefs that held that humanity has a unique 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, with natural selection as the most popular theory. Scientists also study other kinds like mutation, genetic drift and sexual selection.
While many scientific fields of inquiry have a conflict with literal interpretations of the Bible Evolutionary biology has been the subject of particularly intense controversy and resistance from religious fundamentalists. While some religions have been able to reconcile their beliefs with the ideas of evolution, other religions haven't.