Addressing Misconceptions about Evolution

Leave with effective ways to identify and address misconceptions about evolution, with a particular focus on supporting explanations with evidence

Addressing Misconceptions about Evolution

Leave with effective ways to identify and address misconceptions about evolution, with a particular focus on supporting explanations with evidence

Session 3e: Teaching Using UN Sustainable Development Goals

This session will focus on how we are using the UN Sustainable Development Goals as guideposts for curriculum development in several of our different science classes. Students will join us to present some of their varied academic work, and share the importance of these activities in their education. Part of our discussion will focus on scaffolding the learning so that students are able to perform successfully in these contextual and issues-based activities. We will also build in time for participant discussion on current issues and ideas for incorporating them effectively into their own teaching

Session B-1: Current Events in Biology

Teaching fundamentals, while important, can sometimes take a toll on our motivation and enthusiasm for our subject because there are rarely significant changes in the content we might present from year to year. However, keeping up with the current progress of our field, what’s new and exciting in research, and how current advancements can impact our health, well-being, and society in the future can keep us inspired, and help us continue to inspire our students. Come discuss what’s happening in biology news today, hear what we’re excited about and bring your own ideas to share

Session C-1: Ecosystem Disruption: Using lab and real-world examples to bring changes in Earth’s ecosystems to life

The magnitude of the changes occurring in Earth’s ecosystems seems difficult to tackle in the classroom and lab. Here we explore ways to demonstrate the changes in the Earth’s water and carbon cycles in the lab and bring them to life in real-world ecosystems in the classroom

Evolution - #3: Evolution on the Web

This lesson is a companion piece the previous one: Evolutionary Evidences and Inferences. It is completed supported by readings at an online site hosted by The University of California at Berkeley. The site is linked here: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/evo_1

Evolution - #2: Evolutionary Evidence and Inferences

The theory of evolution articulates elegantly a series of inferences from a vast collection of observations and evidence. We present some of those evidences here to stimulate in our students the sorts of scientific reasoning necessary to understand the presence and origin of diversity of life on the planet

Evolution - #8: Ecosystem disrupted

This is the culminating activity for the evolution unit. For this assignment, students must research into the impact human industry has on a small part of our world. Students have had a brief introduction to the history of the planet and the role that carbon dioxide concentration play in climate change. The role of climate and weather patterns is important in a discussion of a chosen place on the planet. Students have spent a large amount of effort in understanding evolutionary theory and mechanisms and seen it in practice as they read about speciation. With this assignment, students can synthesize all of their previous learning into one presentation

Evolution - #4: Genetic drift and Founder effect

Genetic drift is a term used to describe chance fluctuations in the allelic frequencies in a population over time. The effects of genetic drift tend to be very minor in large populations, but they can be quite significant in small populations. Alleles are different functional forms in which a gene might exist. Humans have two alleles, sometimes the same but sometimes different, of most of their genes. In any population, it is possible to determine the frequency of all alleles. If these alleles get passed on to the next generation at random, then we should expect to see approximately the same frequencies of alleles in the next generation. But due to chance, slightly more of one allele might get passed on, causing the allelic frequencies to change over generations. This affect will be more pronounced in a small population with a small number of alleles. Thus, the frequencies of the alleles in a population will tend to fluctuate or “drift” up and down over time