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.

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 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.

scholarly journals Natural Selection beyond Life? A Workshop Report

Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1051
Author(s):  
Sylvain Charlat ◽  
André Ariew ◽  
Pierrick Bourrat ◽  
María Ferreira Ruiz ◽  
Thomas Heams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Dissipative Structures ◽  
Heritable Variation ◽  
Physical Systems ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Physico Chemical ◽  
Biological Concepts ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
Physical Phenomena

Natural selection is commonly seen not just as an explanation for adaptive evolution, but as the inevitable consequence of “heritable variation in fitness among individuals”. Although it remains embedded in biological concepts, such a formalisation makes it tempting to explore whether this precondition may be met not only in life as we know it, but also in other physical systems. This would imply that these systems are subject to natural selection and may perhaps be investigated in a biological framework, where properties are typically examined in light of their putative functions. Here we relate the major questions that were debated during a three-day workshop devoted to discussing whether natural selection may take place in non-living physical systems. We start this report with a brief overview of research fields dealing with “life-like” or “proto-biotic” systems, where mimicking evolution by natural selection in test tubes stands as a major objective. We contend the challenge may be as much conceptual as technical. Taking the problem from a physical angle, we then discuss the framework of dissipative structures. Although life is viewed in this context as a particular case within a larger ensemble of physical phenomena, this approach does not provide general principles from which natural selection can be derived. Turning back to evolutionary biology, we ask to what extent the most general formulations of the necessary conditions or signatures of natural selection may be applicable beyond biology. In our view, such a cross-disciplinary jump is impeded by reliance on individuality as a central yet implicit and loosely defined concept. Overall, these discussions thus lead us to conjecture that understanding, in physico-chemical terms, how individuality emerges and how it can be recognised, will be essential in the search for instances of evolution by natural selection outside of living systems.

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 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

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.

scholarly journals Natural Selection beyond Life? A Workshop Report

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvain Charlat ◽  
André Ariew ◽  
Pierrick Bourrat ◽  
Maria Ferreira Ruiz ◽  
Thomas Heams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Dissipative Structures ◽  
Heritable Variation ◽  
Physical Systems ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Physico Chemical ◽  
Biological Concepts ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
Physical Phenomena

Natural selection is commonly seen not just as an explanation for adaptive evolution, but as the inevitable consequence of “heritable variation in fitness among individuals”. Although it remains embedded in biological concepts, such a formalisation makes it tempting to explore whether this precondition may be met not only in life as we know it, but also in other physical systems. This would imply that these systems are subject to natural selection and may perhaps be investigated in a biological framework, where properties are typically examined in light of their putative functions. Here we relate the major questions that were debated during a three-day workshop[1] devoted to discussing whether natural selection may take place in non-living physical systems. We start this report with a brief overview of research fields dealing with “life-like” or “proto-biotic” systems, where mimicking evolution by natural selection in test tubes stands as a major objective. We contend the challenge may be as much conceptual as technical. Taking the problem from a physical angle, we then discuss the framework of dissipative structures. Although life is viewed in this context as a particular case within a larger ensemble of physical phenomena, this approach does not provide general principles from which natural selection could be derived. Turning back to evolutionary biology, we ask to what extent the most general formulations of the necessary conditions or signatures of natural selection may be applicable beyond biology. In our view, such a cross-disciplinary jump is in large part impeded by reliance on individuality as a central yet implicit and loosely defined concept. Overall, these discussions thus lead us to conjecture that understanding, in physico-chemical terms, how individuality emerges and how it can be recognised, will be essential in the search for instances of evolution by natural selection outside of living systems. [1] Natural Selection Beyond Life? Observing the physico-chemical world through Darwinian glasses; 12-15 November 2019 - Institut d'Etudes Scientifiques, Cargèse, France

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