Are Evolution Site As Important As Everyone Says?

Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution

Despite the best efforts of biology teachers, misinformation about evolution remain. People who have taken in the nonsense of pop science often believe that biologists claim they do not believe in evolution.

This site, which is a companion to the PBS program, provides teachers with materials which support evolution education while avoiding the types of misconceptions that can undermine it. It's organized in a nested "bread crumb" format to make it easy for navigation and orientation.

Definitions

It's difficult to effectively teach evolution. It is often misunderstood by non-scientists, and even some scientists are guilty of using a definition that confuses the issue. This is especially relevant when it comes to the meaning of the words themselves.

Therefore, it is important to define terms that are used in evolutionary biology. The website for the PBS show, Understanding Evolution, does this in a clear and useful manner. The site is both a companion for the 2001 series, but also a resource of its own. The content is presented in a nested fashion that aids navigation and orientation.

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

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

Adaptation is the process of changing heritable traits to be more suited to the environment.  에볼루션 바카라 무료체험  is a result of natural selection. Organisms with more adaptable traits are more likely than those with less-adapted characteristics to survive and reproduce.

Common ancestor (also known as common ancestor) The most recent ancestor shared by two or more species. By analyzing the DNA from these species, it is possible to identify the common ancestor.

Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A large biological molecular that contains the necessary information for cell replication. The information is stored in nucleotides arranged in sequences that are strung together into long chains, referred to as chromosomes. Mutations are responsible for the creation of new genetic information inside cells.

Coevolution is a relation between two species where evolutionary changes of one species are influenced by evolutionary changes in the other. Examples of coevolution include the interaction between predator and prey, or the parasite and the host.

Origins

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

The Evolution site traces the emergence of various groups of animals and plants over time and focuses on the most significant transitions that occurred in each group's history. It also explores the human evolutionary roots, a topic that is particularly important for students to understand.

Darwin's Origin was published in 1859, at a time when only a few antediluvian fossils of humans had been found. 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 known to be an early Homo neanderthalensis. Although the skullcap was not published until 1858, just a year before the first edition of the Origin was published, it is extremely unlikely that Darwin had heard or seen of it.

While the site is focused on biology, it includes a good deal of information about geology and paleontology. The site offers several features that are particularly impressive, such as an overview of the way that climate and geological conditions have changed over time. It also has a map showing the distribution of fossil groups.

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 provides clear links to the introductory content of Understanding Evolution (developed under the National Science Foundation's funding) and the more specific features on the museum's website. These hyperlinks help users move from the enthralling 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 that illustrate 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 in their geological context and has a number of advantages over the current observational and experimental methods for analyzing evolutionary phenomena. In addition to studying the processes and events that happen regularly or over a long period of time, paleobiology allows to examine the relative abundance of different species of organisms and their distribution throughout the geological time.

The website is divided into different paths that can be chosen to learn about evolution. One of these paths, "Evolution 101," guides the user through the complexities and evidence of evolution. The path also explores misconceptions regarding evolution, and also the history of evolutionary thinking.

Each of the other main sections of the Evolution site is equally well developed, with materials that can support a variety of educational levels and pedagogical styles. The site includes a variety of multimedia and interactive resources which include videos, animations, and virtual laboratories in addition to general textual content. The content is presented 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 their interactions with other organisms, and then zooms in on one clam that can communicate with its neighbours 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 provides an excellent introduction to the many areas of evolutionary biology. The content includes a discussion on the importance of natural selection and the concept phylogenetics analysis which is a crucial tool to understand evolutionary change.

Evolutionary Theory

For biology students, evolution is a key thread that weaves together all branches of the field. A wide range of resources supports teaching about evolution across the life sciences.

One resource, the companion to PBS's television series Understanding Evolution is an excellent example of an Web site that provides depth and breadth in terms of its educational resources. The site has a variety of interactive learning modules. It also features a "bread crumb structure" that helps students move away from the cartoon-like style of Understanding Evolution and onto elements on this large website more closely related to the realms of research science. For example, an animation introducing the notion of genetic inheritance leads to a page highlighting John Endler's artificial selection experiments using guppies in the ponds of his native country of Trinidad.

The Evolution Library on this website contains a large multimedia library of assets related with evolution. The content is organized according to courses that are based on curriculum and follow the learning objectives set out in biology standards. It includes seven short videos specifically intended for use in the classroom. They can be streamed or purchased as DVDs.

Evolutionary biology is still a field of study with a lot of important questions to answer, such as what causes evolution and how quickly it happens. This is particularly relevant in the case of human evolution which was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that held that humans have a distinct place in the creation and a soul with the idea that innate physical traits were derived from Apes.

Additionally there are a myriad of ways in which evolution could occur and natural selection is the most popular theory. However scientists also study different kinds of evolution, such as mutation, genetic drift and sexual selection, among others.

While many fields of scientific inquiry are in conflict with literal interpretations of the Bible, evolutionary biology has been the subject of particularly intense controversy and resistance from religious fundamentalists. Some religions have reconciled their beliefs with evolutionary biology, while others haven't.