Why Evolution Site Is Everywhere This Year

Evolution Site - Teaching About Evolution

Despite the best efforts by biology teachers, there are still misconceptions about evolution. Pop science nonsense has led people to believe that biologists aren't believers in evolution.

This rich Web site, a companion to the PBS program that provides teachers with resources that support the evolution of education, while avoiding the kinds of misconceptions that make it difficult to understand. It's laid out in a nested "bread crumb" format for ease of navigation and orientation.

Definitions

It's difficult to teach evolution 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 debates about the meaning of the word itself.

Therefore, 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 manner.  에볼루션사이트  is a companion to the show that premiered in 2001, but it also functions as an independent resource. The content is presented in a way that assists in navigation and orientation.

The site defines terms like common ancestor (or common ancestor), gradual process, and adaptation. These terms help to define the nature and relationship of evolution with other scientific concepts. The site also provides an overview of how the concept of evolution has been researched and confirmed. This information will help to dispel the myths that are created by the creationists.

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

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

Common ancestor: The latest common ancestor of two or more distinct species. The common ancestor can be identified by analyzing the DNA of the species.

Deoxyribonucleic Acid: A huge biological molecular that contains the necessary information 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 is a relation between two species where evolutionary changes of one species are influenced evolutionary changes in the other. Coevolution can be seen in the interactions between predator and prey, or parasites and hosts.

Origins

Species (groups which can interbreed) change by a series of natural variations 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 development of new species can take thousands of years. Environmental conditions, such as climate changes or competition for food resources and habitat can impede or accelerate the process.

The Evolution site traces through time the evolution of various groups of animals and plants with a focus on major changes within each group's past. It also explores the human evolutionary roots which is particularly important for students to comprehend.

Darwin's Origin was published in 1859, at a time when only a handful of antediluvian fossils of humans had been found. One of them was the infamous skullcap and bones that were discovered in 1856 in the Little Feldhofer Grotto in Germany that is now thought to be an early Homo neanderthalensis. It is unlikely that Darwin knew about the skullcap, which was published in 1858, a year after the publication of the first edition of The Origin.

While the site focuses on biology, it also offers a lot of information about geology as well as paleontology. The Web site has numerous aspects that are quite impressive, including an overview of how geological and climate conditions have changed over the course of time.  무료 에볼루션  has an interactive map that shows the location of fossil groups.

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 provides clear links between the introductory content 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 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 an array of plants, animals and insects. Paleobiology is the study of these creatures in their natural environment, has many advantages over the current observational or experimental methods of studying evolutionary processes. Paleobiology is able to study not only processes and events that take place regularly or over time but also the distribution and frequency of various animal groups across the geological time.

The site is divided into several routes that can be taken to gain knowledge about evolution. One of the paths, "Evolution 101," guides the user through the complexities and evidence of evolution. The path also reveals common misconceptions about evolution and the evolution of thought.

Each of the other major sections of the Evolution site is equally developed, with materials that support a variety of educational levels and pedagogical styles. The site offers a wide array of interactive and multimedia resources that include videos, animations, and virtual laboratories as well as general textual content. The content is organized in a nested, bread crumb style that facilitates navigation and orientation within the vast Web site.

The page "Coral Reef Connections" For instance, the page "Coral Reef Connections" gives a brief overview of coral relationships and their interactions with other organisms, and then zooms in to one clam that is able communicate with its neighbors and respond to changes in the water conditions that occur on 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 material also provides a discussion of the role of natural selection and the concept of phylogenetic analysis, which is a key tool in understanding evolutionary changes.

Evolutionary Theory

Evolution is a common 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 a Web page that offers both depth and breadth in terms of its educational resources. The site has a wide array of interactive learning modules. It also features an "bread crumb structure" that helps students move away from the cartoon-like style that is used in Understanding Evolution and onto elements of this vast website that are closely related to the fields of research science. Animation that introduces the concept of genetics is linked to a page about John Endler's experiments with artificial selection using Guppies living in ponds native to Trinidad.

Another helpful resource is the Evolution Library on this Web site, which has an extensive library of multimedia items related to evolution. The contents are organized into curricula-based pathways that correspond to the learning objectives set out in the biology standards. It includes seven short videos designed specifically for use in the classroom, and can be streamed at no cost or purchased on DVD.

Evolutionary biology remains a field of study with a lot of important questions to answer, such as the causes of evolution and how fast it takes place. This is particularly true in the case of human evolution where it was a challenge to reconcile religious beliefs that held that humanity has a unique place in creation and a soul, with the notion that our physical traits originated from the apes.

There are a myriad of other ways in which evolution can take place, with natural selection as the most popular theory. However scientists also study different kinds of evolution like mutation, genetic drift and sexual selection, among others.

While many scientific fields of inquiry conflict with the literal interpretations of religious texts evolutionary biology has been the subject of intense controversy and resistance from religious fundamentalists. Certain religions have reconciled their beliefs to evolution while others haven't.