Evolution


 * Teaching Evolution**
 * i.** **Resources for teachers:**


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 * [|http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/]**


 * [|http://www.fieldmuseum.org]**


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ii. A question-answer session with Doug Futuyma, a well-known evolutionary biologist from SUNY Stony Brook (from whose book I drew the horse evolution paragraph). He is the author of several textbooks on evolution. The format might help answer questions that teachers have when trying to understand evolutionary theory.

[] In fact, the site, maintained by the American Institute of Biological Sciences has wonderful resources for educators/students on various aspects of evolution. Check out all of the links on their main evolution page:

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iii. **Definition: Descent with modifications + changes in allele frequencies over at least one generation**

__Species__: organisms that potentially or actually breed in nature But there are different Species Concepts (biological, phylogenetic, morphological/phenetic etc.)

Biological Species Concept (BSC): members of a population for which mating results in viable and fertile offspring (this is what we most often teach, but it is limited to extant sexually reproducing organisms, so it cannot be used for bacteria or for extinct organisms

iv. Most common evolution misconceptions:
 * 1) Scientific theory = colloquial/ personal theory (“My theory is that…”)
 * 2) Evolution is unobservable
 * 3) Evolution is not testable or repeatable
 * 4) Teaching both (science and religion) “sides of the story” is fair in a science class (in a public school)
 * 5) Teaching both (science and religion) “sides of the story” is legal in a science class (in a public school)
 * 6) Teaching creationism and intelligent design in science class is appropriate
 * 7) Evolution theory explains the origin of life
 * 8) The Earth is very young (a few thousand years old)
 * 9) Evolutionary fitness is determined by who is the strongest and biggest.
 * 10) “Competition for resources” always involves fighting.
 * 11) Organisms are aware of their changes over time
 * 12) Organisms change because of a need (teleological reasoning)
 * 13) “Higher” organisms can direct their evolution, unlike “lower” organisms [instead, evolutionary biologists say “ancestral and derived organisms”]
 * 14) If traits are used during a life time, they are heritable (Lamarckian ideas)
 * 15) Natural selection is the only mechanism of evolution.
 * 16) Natural selection can be defined by “survival of the fittest.”
 * 17) The environment induces evolutionary changes.
 * 18) Humans “came from” apes.
 * 19) New species are formed by a “blending” of two existing species.
 * 20) Evolution is progressive (following a path).