The Complete Guide To Evolution Site

Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution

Despite the best efforts by biology educators, there are still a lot of misconceptions about evolution. People who have absorbed popular science myths often assume that biologists do not believe in evolution.

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

Definitions

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

It is essential to define terms that are 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 material is presented in a way that assists in navigation and orientation.

The site defines terms like common ancestor, gradual process and so on. These terms help frame the nature of evolution as well as its relationship to other scientific concepts. The site also provides an overview of how the concept of evolution has been vetted and validated. This information can be used to dispel misconceptions that have been created by creationists.

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

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

Common ancestor: The latest common ancestor of two or more different species. By analyzing the DNA from these species it is possible to identify the common ancestor.

Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A huge biological molecular that holds the information required for cell replication. The information is stored in a sequence of nucleotides that are strung together to form long chains, also known as chromosomes. Mutations are the source of new genetic information within cells.

Coevolution is a relationship between two species where evolutionary changes of one species are influenced evolutionary changes in the other. Coevolution can be seen through the interaction between predator and prey, or parasite and hosts.

Origins

Species (groups of individuals who can interbreed) evolve through natural changes in the traits of their offspring. The causes of these changes are 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 circumstances, such as climate change or competition for food or habitat, can slow or accelerate the process.

The Evolution site traces through time the evolution of different groups of animals and plants, focusing on major transitions in each group's past. It also examines the evolution of humans, which is a topic that is particularly important to students.

Darwin's Origin was written in 1859, when only a handful of antediluvian fossils of humans were discovered. The most famous among them was the skullcap and bones that were discovered in 1856 at 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 one year before the first edition of the Origin was published, it's highly unlikely that Darwin had heard or seen of it.

While the site focuses on biology, it also contains a wealth of information about geology as well as paleontology. The most impressive features of the Web site are a set of timelines that illustrate how geological and climatic conditions changed over time, and an outline of the geographical distribution of some fossil groups that are featured on the site.

The site is a companion for the PBS television series, but it could also be used as a resource by teachers and students. The site is very well-organized and 에볼루션카지노 offers clear links between the introduction material in Understanding Evolution (developed with support from the National Science Foundation) and the more sophisticated elements of the museum's web site. 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 of ecology in evolutionary theory.

Diversity

The evolution of life has produced many species of animals, plants and insects. Paleobiology, the study of these creatures within their geological context, has many advantages over modern observational or experimental methods for studying evolutionary phenomena. In addition to examining processes and events that take place regularly or over a long period of time, paleobiology is able to study the relative abundance of different kinds of organisms as well as their distribution throughout geological time.

The website is divided into several paths that can be chosen to learn about evolution. One of the paths, "Evolution 101," walks the reader through the nature and evidence of evolution. The path also explores common misconceptions about evolution and the history of evolutionary thought.

Each of the main sections of the Evolution website is equally well-developed, 에볼루션 바카라 사이트 (Botdb.Win) and includes materials that are suited to a variety of curriculum levels and teaching styles. The site offers a wide array of multimedia and 에볼루션 카지노 interactive resources that include animations, video clips and virtual laboratories in addition to general textual content. The breadcrumb-like organization of the content aids in navigation and orientation on the vast web site.

For example, the page "Coral Reef Connections" provides an overview of coral relationships and their interactions with other organisms. Then, it narrows down to a single clam that is able to communicate with its neighbors and react to changes in the water conditions that occur at the level of the reef. This page, along with the other multidisciplinary multimedia and interactive pages, offers a great introduction to many topics in evolutionary biology. The content also includes an explanation of the role of natural selectivity and the concept of phylogenetics which is a crucial tool to understand evolutionary change.

Evolutionary Theory

For biology students evolution is a crucial thread that weaves together all branches of the field. A wide selection of resources helps teachers teach evolution across all life science disciplines.

One resource, which is the companion to PBS's television series Understanding Evolution is an excellent example of a Web site that provides depth and wide range of educational resources. The site has a variety of interactive learning modules. It also features an "bread crumb structure" that allows students to move away from the cartoon-like style of Understanding Evolution and onto elements on this site that are more closely linked to the worlds of research science. For instance an animation that explains the notion of genetic inheritance leads to a page highlighting John Endler's experiments with artificial selection with guppies in native ponds of Trinidad.

The Evolution Library on this website contains a large multimedia library of resources that are associated to evolution. The content is organized according to the form of curriculum-based pathways that are in line with the learning goals set forth in the biology standards. It contains seven videos specifically designed for use in classrooms, and can be streamed for no cost or purchased on DVD.

Evolutionary biology remains a field of study with a lot of important questions, including what triggers evolution and how quickly it happens. This is particularly relevant to human evolution, where it's been difficult to reconcile that the innate physical characteristics of humans were derived from apes, and the religions that believe that humans are unique in the universe and has a special place in creation, with a soul.

There are a myriad of other ways evolution can occur and natural selection being the most popular theory. Scientists also study other kinds such as mutation, genetic drift and sexual selection.

While many scientific fields of inquiry have a conflict with the literal interpretations of religious texts evolutionary biology has been the subject of particularly intense controversy and 에볼루션 바카라사이트 resistance from religious fundamentalists. While some religions have been able to reconcile their beliefs with the ideas of evolution, other religions aren't.