10 Evolution Site-Related Projects To Stretch Your Creativity

Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution

Despite the best efforts of biology teachers, there are still misconceptions about evolution. People who have been exposed to popular science myths often assume that biologists are saying they do not believe in evolution.

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

Definitions

It's difficult to effectively teach evolution. People who are not scientists often have a difficult time understanding the subject, and some scientists even use a definition that confuses it. This is especially applicable to debates about the definition of the word itself.

Therefore, it is essential to define terms that are used in evolutionary biology. Understanding Evolution's website does this in a straightforward and useful way. The site is both a companion for the 2001 series, and also a resource of its own. The material is presented in an organized manner that makes it easier to navigate and comprehend.

The site defines terms such as common ancestor (or common ancestor), gradual process, and adaptation. These terms help frame the nature of evolution and its relationship to other concepts in science. The website then provides an overview of how the concept of evolution has been tested and confirmed. 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 of hereditary traits to become more suited to a particular environment. This is a result of natural selection, which happens when organisms that have better-adapted traits are more likely to survive and reproduce than those with less adaptable traits.

Common ancestor (also known as common ancestor): The most recent ancestral ancestor shared by two or more species. The common ancestor can be identified through analyzing the DNA of these species.

Deoxyribonucleic acid: A huge biological molecule that holds the information needed for cell replication. The information is stored in sequences of nucleotides that are strung together to form long chains, referred to as chromosomes. Mutations are responsible for the creation of new genetic information within cells.

Coevolution is a relation between two species, where the evolutionary changes of one species influence evolutionary changes in the other. Coevolution can be observed in the interactions between predator and prey, or parasite and hosts.

Origins

Species (groups that can crossbreed), evolve through a series of natural changes in the traits of their offspring. These changes are caused by a variety of factors such as natural selection, genetic drift, and mixing of genes. The development 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 competition for food or habitat.

The Evolution site follows the evolution of different animal and plant groups and focuses on major changes within each group's past. It also explores the evolutionary origin of humans and humans, a subject that is crucial for students to understand.

When Darwin wrote the Origin of Species, only a handful of antediluvian human fossils had been found. The famous skullcap, with the bones that accompanied it, was discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto of Germany. It is now known as an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is unlikely that Darwin was aware of the skullcap, which was first published in 1858, which was a year after the publication of the first edition of The Origin.

While the site is focused on biology, it includes a good deal of information on geology and paleontology. One of the most appealing features of the Web site are a timeline of events that show how geological and climatic conditions changed over time, and an outline of the geographical distribution of some of the fossil groups featured on the site.

While the site is a companion piece to the PBS television show however, it can stand on its own as a great source for teachers and students. The site is well-organized and provides easy links to the introductory information of Understanding Evolution (developed under the National Science Foundation's support) and the more specialized features of the museum website. These hyperlinks make it easy to transition from the cartoon-style Understanding Evolution pages into the more sophisticated worlds of research science. There are links to John Endler's experiments with guppies, which illustrate the importance of ecology in evolutionary theory.

Diversity

The evolution of life on Earth has produced a diversity of plants, animals, and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures in their geographical context and offers a number of advantages over the modern observational and research methods in its exploration of evolutionary processes. In addition to studying processes and events that occur regularly or over a lengthy period of time, paleobiology is able to analyze the relative abundance of different groups of organisms and their distribution in space over the course of geological time.

The Web site is divided into a variety of pathways to understanding evolution which include "Evolution 101," which takes the viewer on a liner path through the nature of science and the evidence supporting the theory of evolution. The path also explores the most common misconceptions about evolution, as well as the history of evolutionary thought.

Each of the other sections of the Evolution site is similarly constructed, with materials that can be used to support a range of different pedagogical levels and curriculum levels. The site includes a variety of multimedia and interactive resources, including video clips, animations and virtual labs as well as general textual content. The content is organized in a nested, bread crumb-like fashion that helps with navigation and orientation within the large web site.

For instance the page "Coral Reef Connections" provides an overview of the relationships between corals and their interaction with other organisms, then narrows down to a single clam that can communicate with its neighbors and respond to changes in the water conditions that take place at the reef level. This page, as well as the other multidisciplinary interactive and multimedia pages gives a good introduction to the many areas of evolutionary biology. The information also includes an overview of the importance of natural selection and the concept of phylogenetic analysis, which is a key tool in understanding evolutionary changes.

Evolutionary Theory

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

One resource, the companion to PBS's TV series Understanding Evolution is an excellent example of an Web page that provides depth as well as broadness in terms of educational resources. The site has a variety of interactive learning modules.  에볼루션코리아  has an embedded "bread crumb" structure that allows students to transition from the cartoon style of Understanding Evolution to elements on this massive website that are more closely tied to the world of research science. For instance an animation that explains the idea of genetic inheritance connects to a page that focuses on John Endler's experiments with artificial selection with guppies in native ponds of Trinidad.

The Evolution Library on this website has a huge multimedia library of materials that deal to evolution. The content is organized into curriculum-based pathways that correspond to the learning objectives outlined in the biology standards. It includes seven short videos specifically designed for classroom use. They can be viewed online or purchased as DVDs.

A variety of crucial questions remain at the core of evolutionary biology, such as the factors that trigger evolution and how fast it occurs. This is especially true in the case of human evolution which was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that humanity has a special position in the universe and a soul with the idea that innate physical traits were derived from the apes.

Additionally there are a myriad of ways that evolution could be triggered, with natural selection being the most widely accepted theory. Scientists also study other types like mutation, genetic drift and sexual selection.

Although many scientific fields of study have a conflict with the literal interpretations of religious texts, evolution biology has been the subject of intense controversy and opposition from religious fundamentalists. While certain religions have been able to reconcile their beliefs with the notions of evolution, others have not.