scholarly journals Conceptual Characterization of Threshold Concepts in Student Explanations of Evolution by Natural Selection and Effects of Item Context

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. ar1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Göransson ◽  
Daniel Orraryd ◽  
Daniela Fiedler ◽  
Lena A. E. Tibell
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Spatial Scale ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Threshold Concepts ◽  
Differential Survival ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
The Impact

Evolutionary theory explains a wide range of biological phenomena. Proper understanding of evolutionary mechanisms such as natural selection is therefore an essential goal for biology education. Unfortunately, natural selection has time and again proven difficult to teach and learn, and students’ resulting understanding is often characterized by misconceptions. Previous research has often focused on the importance of certain key concepts such as variation, differential survival, and change in population. However, so-called threshold concepts (randomness, probability, spatial scale, and temporal scales) have also been suggested to be important for understanding of natural selection, but there is currently limited knowledge about how students use these concepts. We sought to address this lack of knowledge by collecting responses to three different natural selection items from 247 university students from Sweden and Germany. Content analysis (deductive and inductive coding) and subsequent statistical analysis of their responses showed that they overall use some spatial scale indicators, such as individuals and populations, but less often randomness or probability in their explanations. However, frequencies of use of threshold concepts were affected by the item context (e.g., the biological taxa and trait gain or loss). The results suggest that the impact of threshold concepts, especially randomness and probability, on natural selection understanding should be further explored.

scholarly journals The Fourth Perspective: Evolution and Organismal Agency

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Jaeger
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
The Self ◽  
Basic Unit ◽  
Biological Organization ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
Organizational Account

This chapter examines the deep connections between biological organization, agency, and evolution by natural selection. Using Griesemer’s account of the re- producer, I argue that the basic unit of evolution is not a genetic replicator, but a complex hierarchical life cycle. Understanding the self-maintaining and self-proliferating properties of evolvable reproducers requires an organizational account of ontogenesis and reproduction. This leads us to an extended and disambiguated set of minimal conditions for evolution by natural selection—including revised or new principles of heredity, variation, and ontogenesis. More importantly, the continuous maintenance of biological organization within and across generations im- plies that all evolvable systems are agents, or contain agents among their parts. This means that we ought to take agency seriously—to better understand the concept and its role in explaining biological phenomena—if we aim to obtain an organismic theory of evolution in the original spirit of Darwin’s struggle for existence. This kind of understanding must rely on an agential perspective on evolution, complementing and succeeding existing structural, functional, and processual approaches. I sketch a tentative outline of such an agential perspective, and present a survey of methodological and conceptual challenges that will have to be overcome if we are to properly implement it.

scholarly journals Malthus for kids: The impact of exploring Malthus’ principle on elementary school students’ understanding of evolution by natural selection

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xana Sá-Pinto ◽  
Alexandre Pinto ◽  
Joana Ribeiro ◽  
Inês Sarmento ◽  
Patrícia Pessoa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Elementary School Students ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Educational Activity ◽  
School Students ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
The Impact

While several researchers have suggested that evolution should be explored from the initial years of schooling, little information is available on effective resources to enhance elementary school students’ level of understanding of evolution by natural selection (LUENS). For the present study, we designed, implemented and evaluated an educational activity planned for fourth graders to explore concepts and conceptual fields that were historically important for the discovery of natural selection. Observation field notes and students’ productions were used to analyse how the students explored the proposed activity. Additionally, an evaluation framework consisting of a test, the evaluation criteria and the scoring process was applied in two fourth-grade classes to estimate elementary school students’ LUENS before and after engaging in the activity. Our results suggest that our activity allowed students to effectively link all of the key concepts in the classroom and produced a significant increase in their LUENS. These results indicate that our activity had a positive impact on students’ understanding of natural selection. They also reveal that additional activities and minor fine-tuning of the present activity are required to further support students’ learning about the concept of differential reproduction. We also observed a low level of teleological predictions for both pre- and post-tests.

Evolution: A Very Short Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Charlesworth ◽  
Deborah Charlesworth
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Alfred Russel Wallace ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Living Species ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
Special Creation

Less than 150 years ago, the view that living species were the result of special creation by God was still dominant. The recognition by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace of the mechanism of evolution by natural selection has completely transformed our understanding of the living world, including our own origins. Evolution: A Very Short Introduction provides a summary of the process of evolution by natural selection, highlighting the wide range of evidence, and explains how natural selection gives rise to adaptations and eventually, over many generations, to new species. It introduces the central concepts of the field of evolutionary biology and discusses some of the remaining questions regarding evolutionary processes.

Evolution in Action in the Classroom: Engaging Students in Science Practices to Investigate and Explain Evolution by Natural Selection

2018 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy R. Johnson ◽  
Amy Lark
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Science Content ◽  
Science Standards ◽  
Science Practices ◽  
Curriculum Framework ◽  
Current Reform ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
Biology Curriculum

Current reform efforts at all levels of biology education advocate for the integration of science content and practices and emphasize the importance of phenomena-driven inquiry. We describe an instructional sequence for teaching evolution by natural selection that addresses these goals by engaging students in parallel selection experiments with biological and digital model organisms. These activities address multiple learning objectives in the AP Biology Curriculum Framework and the Next Generation Science Standards while engaging students in authentic science practices to learn about natural selection. We also report results from pre and post assessments in an AP Biology class which demonstrate students' learning gains and increased acceptance of evolution.

scholarly journals A Quantitative Simulation of Coevolution with Mutation Using Playing Cards

2019 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-132
Author(s):  
Christopher W. Hoagstrom ◽  
Lin Xiang ◽  
Nicole Lewis-Rogers ◽  
Patrice K. Connors ◽  
Ami Sessions-Robinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Beneficial Mutation ◽  
Differential Survival ◽  
Teaching Evolution ◽  
Undergraduate Biology ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Biological Concepts ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

Active-learning approaches can improve understanding of core biological concepts. We describe a revised hands-on simulation for teaching evolution by natural selection, which focuses on prey–predator coevolution in escape/pursuit speed. It illustrates how selection pressure on individual speed increases average population speed through differential survival, while also reducing variation in speed among individuals. A simulated beneficial mutation helps differentiate the generation of individual traits from the process of natural selection and illustrates the effects of a beneficial mutation on immediate and subsequent generations. Overall, this exercise addresses several common misconceptions and allows students to collect and assess their own data, quantitatively. We report results from pre- and post-assessments in an introductory, undergraduate biology class, which indicate significantly improved understanding associated with the simulation.

Teleonomy and the proximate–ultimate distinction revisited

2019 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 912-916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter A Corning
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Causal Role ◽  
Ernst Mayr ◽  
Differential Survival ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Ex Post Facto

Abstract It is now widely accepted that living systems exhibit an internal teleology (or teleonomy), but there are conflicting views about how this should be interpreted. Colin Pittendrigh and others have defined teleonomy broadly. It encompasses all ‘proximate’ (functional) biological phenomena. In contrast, Ernst Mayr and others would limit teleonomy to an a priori ‘program’ (the genome) and exclude proximate phenomena. I argue that living systems exhibit an ex post facto, means–ends teleonomy. Purposiveness is also a property of proximate functional phenomena. Mayr’s definition would also discount the causal role of teleonomy in shaping differential survival, i.e. natural selection and evolution. Proximate and ‘ultimate’ (evolutionary) causes are deeply interpenetrated. Going forward, we must integrate the various domains of causation better.

scholarly journals Natural selection constrains neutral diversity across a wide range of species.

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell B. Corbett-Detig ◽  
Daniel L. Hartl ◽  
Timothy B. Sackton
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Genetic Maps ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Neutral Genetic Diversity ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Census Population Size ◽  
The Impact

The neutral theory of molecular evolution predicts that the amount of neutral polymorphisms within a species will increase proportionally with the census population size (Nc). However, this prediction has not been borne out in practice: while the range of Nc spans many orders of magnitude, levels of genetic diversity within species fall in a comparatively narrow range. Although theoretical arguments have invoked the increased efficacy of natural selection in larger populations to explain this discrepancy, few direct empirical tests of this hypothesis have been conducted. In this work, we provide a direct test of this hypothesis using population genomic data from a wide range of taxonomically diverse species. To do this, we relied on the fact that the impact of natural selection on linked neutral diversity depends on the local recombinational environment. In regions of relatively low recombination, selected variants affect more neutral sites through linkage, and the resulting correlation between recombination and polymorphism allows a quantitative assessment of the magnitude of the impact of selection on linked neutral diversity. By comparing whole-genome polymorphism data and genetic maps using a coalescent modeling framework, we estimate the degree to which natural selection reduces linked neutral diversity for 40 species of obligately sexual eukaryotes. We then show that the magnitude of the impact of natural selection is positively correlated with Nc, based on body size and species range as proxies for census population size. These results demonstrate that natural selection removes more variation at linked neutral sites in species with large Nc than those with small Nc, and provides direct empirical evidence that natural selection constrains levels of neutral genetic diversity across many species. This implies that natural selection may provide an explanation for this longstanding paradox of population genetics.

THE IMPACT OF LEADERSHIP PRACTICES TO TEAM MEMBERS’ SATISFACTION

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chalimah .
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
Hotel Industry ◽  
Leader Behavior ◽  
Team Leader ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Top Executives ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

eamwork is becoming increasingly important to wide range of operations. It applies to all levels of the company. It is just as important for top executives as it is to middle management, supervisors and shop floor workers. Poor teamwork at any level or between levels can seriously damage organizational effectiveness. The focus of this paper was therefore to examine whether leadership practices consist of team leader behavior, conflict resolution style and openness in communication significantly influenced the team member’s satisfaction in hotel industry. Result indicates that team leader behavior and the conflict resolution style significantly influenced team member satisfaction. It was surprising that openness in communication did not affect significantly to the team members’ satisfaction.

Stress, anxiety, depression and burnout in frontline health care workers during COVID-19 pandemic: a brief systematic review and new data from Russia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Mosolova ◽  
Dmitry Sosin ◽  
Sergey Mosolov
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Female Gender ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Associated Risk Factors ◽  
Anxiety Depression ◽  
The Impact

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers (HCWs) have been subject to increased workload while also exposed to many psychosocial stressors. In a systematic review we analyze the impact that the pandemic has had on HCWs mental state and associated risk factors. Most studies reported high levels of depression and anxiety among HCWs worldwide, however, due to a wide range of assessment tools, cut-off scores, and number of frontline participants in the studies, results were difficult to compare. Our study is based on two online surveys of 2195 HCWs from different regions of Russia during spring and autumn epidemic outbreaks revealed the rates of anxiety, stress, depression, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and perceived stress as 32.3%, 31.1%, 45.5%, 74.2%, 37.7% ,67.8%, respectively. Moreover, 2.4% of HCWs reported suicidal thoughts. The most common risk factors include: female gender, nurse as an occupation, younger age, working for over 6 months, chronic diseases, smoking, high working demands, lack of personal protective equipment, low salary, lack of social support, isolation from families, the fear of relatives getting infected. These results demonstrate the need for urgent supportive programs for HCWs fighting COVID-19 that fall into higher risk factors groups.

A MODELING SYSTEM FOR CLIMATE CHANGE RISK ASSESSMENT, MANAGEMENT AND HEDGING IN COASTAL AREAS

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergei Soldatenko ◽  
Sergei Soldatenko ◽  
Genrikh Alekseev ◽  
Genrikh Alekseev ◽  
Alexander Danilov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
System Structure ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Risk Modeling ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Adverse Weather ◽  
The Impact

Every aspect of human operations faces a wide range of risks, some of which can cause serious consequences. By the start of 21st century, mankind has recognized a new class of risks posed by climate change. It is obvious, that the global climate is changing, and will continue to change, in ways that affect the planning and day to day operations of businesses, government agencies and other organizations and institutions. The manifestations of climate change include but not limited to rising sea levels, increasing temperature, flooding, melting polar sea ice, adverse weather events (e.g. heatwaves, drought, and storms) and a rise in related problems (e.g. health and environmental). Assessing and managing climate risks represent one of the most challenging issues of today and for the future. The purpose of the risk modeling system discussed in this paper is to provide a framework and methodology to quantify risks caused by climate change, to facilitate estimates of the impact of climate change on various spheres of human activities and to compare eventual adaptation and risk mitigation strategies. The system integrates both physical climate system and economic models together with knowledge-based subsystem, which can help support proactive risk management. System structure and its main components are considered. Special attention is paid to climate risk assessment, management and hedging in the Arctic coastal areas.

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