Small Fish, Big Questions: Inquiry Kits for Teaching Evolution

2018 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily A. Kane ◽  
E. Dale Broder ◽  
Andrew C. Warnock ◽  
Courtney M. Butler ◽  
A. Lynne Judish ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolution Education ◽  
Small Fish ◽  
Teaching Evolution ◽  
Local Schools ◽  
Broader Impacts ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Education And Outreach ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

Evolution education poses unique challenges because students can have preconceptions that bias their learning. Hands-on, inquiry approaches can help overcome preset beliefs held by students, but few such programs exist and teachers typically lack access to these resources. Experiential learning in the form of self-guided kits can allow evolution education programs to maximize their reach while still maintaining a high-quality resource. We created an inquiry-based kit that uses live Trinidadian guppies to teach evolution by natural selection using the VIST (Variation, Inheritance, Selection, Time) framework. Our collaborative team included evolutionary biologists and education specialists, and we were able to combine expertise in evolution research and inquiry-based kit design in the development of this program. By constructing the kits with grant funds slated for broader impacts and maintaining them at our university's Education and Outreach Center, we made these kits freely available to local schools over the long term. Students and teachers have praised how clearly the kits teach evolution by natural selection, and we are excited to share this resource with readers of The American Biology Teacher.

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.

scholarly journals From the Modern Synthesis to the Molecular Synthesis: updating how we teach and assess evolution by natural selection

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Sievers ◽  
Connor Reemts ◽  
Katie Dickinson ◽  
Joya Mukerji ◽  
Ismael Barreras Beltran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Modern Synthesis ◽  
Teaching Evolution ◽  
Undergraduate Biology ◽  
Introductory Course ◽  
Mendelian Genetics ◽  
Course Sequences ◽  
Scoring Rubrics ◽  
Molecular Synthesis ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

Evolution by natural selection is recognized as both the most important concept in undergraduate biology and the most difficult to teach. Unfortunately, teaching and assessment of evolution have been impaired by legacy approaches that focus on Darwin's original insights and the Modern Synthesis' integration of Mendelian genetics, but ignore or downplay advances from what we term the Molecular Synthesis. To create better alignment between instructional approaches and contemporary research in the biosciences, we propose that the primary learning goal in teaching evolution should be for students to connect genotypes, phenotypes, and fitness. To support this approach, we developed and tested assessment questions and scoring rubrics called the Extended Assessing Conceptual Reasoning of Natural Selection (E-ACORNS) instrument. Initial E-ACORNS data suggest that after traditional instruction, few students recognize the molecular synthesis, prompting us to propose that introductory course sequences be re-organized with the molecular synthesis as their central theme.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 315-336
Author(s):  
Ben Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

This book gives readers a point of access to Darwin’s writings about psychological matters. This concluding chapter reviews Darwin’s concept of agency: stressing the interrelations that result from agency; the laws that describe its long term effects (evolution by natural selection and sexual selection); and the ways it structures Darwin’s approach to the study of non-verbal expressions and other features of human sociality. I then examine the caution with which Darwin regarded what the Victorians called psychology, as represented by the works of Bain, Spencer, and Lewes—the point of difference upon which Darwin insisted being the priority he gave to observation, as opposed to definitional niceties and deduction. I show that Darwin’s prioritization of observation contrasts with the ‘hermeneutic of suspicion’ which has given rise to a flight from reality in psychology, both practically—from the observable world we all know, into the laboratory—and theoretically, toward a rendition of the visible world in terms of invisible inner processes. I suggest that several current moves to reframe psychological research, and evolutionary theory, are converging on the place where Darwin’s treatment of agency has been standing for a hundred and fifty years. If pursued further today, Darwin’s approach to the study of agency would restore significance to the natural world, and the lives of its inhabitants.

scholarly journals Iterative design of a simulation-based module for teaching evolution by natural selection

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jody Clarke-Midura ◽  
Denise S. Pope ◽  
Susan Maruca ◽  
Joel K. Abraham ◽  
Eli Meir
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Teaching Evolution ◽  
Iterative Design ◽  
Simulation Based ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

Authentic Science with Live Organisms Can Improve Evolution Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Dale Broder ◽  
Lisa M. Angeloni ◽  
Stephanie Simmons ◽  
Sarah Warren ◽  
Kaitlin D. Knudson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Evolution Education ◽  
Student Understanding ◽  
Authentic Science ◽  
Scientific Process ◽  
Acceptance Of Evolution ◽  
Inquiry Approach ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Science Approach ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

Evolution education in the United States remains controversial and challenging. This is in part due to the difficulty educators face when trying to overcome students' preexisting beliefs about evolution, which can bias assimilation of information and inhibit learning. We propose that the most effective way to overcome such belief persistence is through an engaging, hands-on inquiry approach that mimics the scientific process used to study evolution. Although this teaching approach, known as authentic science, has gained recognition for its effectiveness in the classroom, it has not been widely applied to teach evolution. We describe how an authentic science approach can be used to teach evolution by natural selection, and provide a formula for the development of such programs. Following this blueprint, we developed a program using Trinidadian guppies and implemented it in 7th grade classrooms in Colorado. Pre- and post-program assessments revealed significant increases in both the understanding and acceptance of evolution among participants. Authentic science experiments using locally adapted populations of live organisms may be able to overcome belief persistence and improve student understanding of evolution.

Recognition of the Possible: An Advantage of Empiricism in Ecology

1982 ◽  
Vol 39 (9) ◽  
pp. 1323-1331 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. H. Rigler
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Systems Analysis ◽  
Rare Species ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Ecological Theories ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
Current Paradigm ◽  
A Current

In many sciences there exist unpredictable phenomena, phenomena that for one of several reasons are deduced to be unpredictable from a current paradigm theory. In ecology, the long-term abundance of a given species in an ecosystem is an example of an unpredictable variable. From the theory of the ecosystem as a highly interactive complex of species in which rare species can potentially become abundant, we can deduce that species-based, systems analysis modeling cannot make long-term forecasts of species abundance. From the theory of evolution by natural selection it can be further deduced that no theory, regardless of its structure, can make these predictions. Because our general theories are informal and often only implicit, deductions such as those I have drawn may be incorrect. Nevertheless these deductions give compelling reasons for applied ecologists to pay serious attention to our general ecological theories and their consequences. They also suggest that empirical ecologists who concentrate their efforts on predictable properties of ecosystems remain on firm theoretical grounds and are not merely avoiding the more difficult problems.Key words: ecological theory, empiricism, prediction

Using Card Games to Simulate the Process of Natural Selection

2014 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-126
Author(s):  
Matthew E. Grilliot ◽  
Siegfried Harden
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Simple Games ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Card Games ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

In 1858, Darwin published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. His explanation of evolution by natural selection has become the unifying theme of biology. We have found that many students do not fully comprehend the process of evolution by natural selection. We discuss a few simple games that incorporate hands-on activities to demonstrate to students this important aspect of biology.

Improvement Of The Method Of Winter Concreting With The Use Of Heating Wires

2019 ◽  
pp. 51-58
Keyword(s):  
Harmful Effect ◽  
Electric Heating ◽  
Strength Development ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Heating Wire ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Basic Parameters ◽  
Monolithic Structures

Long-term experience of application of a method of electric heating by heating wires of the monolithic concrete and reinforced concrete structures erected in winter conditions is analyzed. This method, developed by the author of the article, took a dominant position on the construction sites due to the simplicity and efficiency in comparison with the mass applied in those years, the method of electric heating of concrete with steel round and strip electrodes. The data on labor intensity, material and energy costs in comparison with the method of rod electric heating are presented. Step-by-step technological operations on preparatory works and electric heating of monolithic structures with the use of extensive hands-on material, which formed the basis for the development of technological regulations, supplemented by a number of new proposals to improve the technology of works, are concretized. In order to work out the optimal mode of heat treatment, the studies of the concrete thermal conductivity factor in the process of its heating and strength development were carried out. The method for calculation of the basic parameters of concrete electric heating is presented. For simplification of calculations, for a wide contingent of masters, superintendents and technical personnel, the nomogram , making it possible with sufficient accuracy under the construction conditions to calculate the necessary heating parameters, was developed. The necessity of grounding the heating wire remaining in the concrete to reduce the harmful effect of magnetic radiation from various appliances and household appliances on the human body is noted.

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