Evolution 2013: A Workshop for Educators

1. Evolution 2013: A Workshop for Educators National Evolutionary Synthesis Center North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences June 17-19, 2013

2. Why is teaching evolution so hard? • Evolution is “only a theory” • Students misunderstand the common use of theory versus a scientific theory, which is tested and widely accepted • Teachers do not feel comfortable teaching evolution • Many teachers lack a background of scientific knowledge about evolution, and are hesitant because of the controversial nature • Only 14% of Americans believe evolution is “absolutely true” (Miller, 2006) • Teachers have to battle misconceptions of students and the community • Americans in general are wholly scientifically illiterate

3. Evolution Brings it all Together “The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) strongly supports the position that evolution is a major unifying concept in science and should be included in the K–12 science education frameworks and curricula.” Evolution is “Big Idea 1” in the new AP Biology frameworks. “The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life.” Evolution is an important concept in the NGSS. Teaching evolution at the beginning of a course sets the fundamental framework for understanding the story of life on earth.

4. Evolution All the Time • Where else can I teach evolution throughout the year? - You can always teach evolution • Cells: Endosymbiont Theory of eukaryotic cell evolution; divergence of prokaryotes and eukaryotes • Genetics: co-evolution of Sickle Cell and malaria; lactose intolerance • DNA: mutations as a source of evolution • Taxonomy: evolutionary relationships; using DNA to classify organisms, describing adaptations as a result of environment • Cell Energy: glycolysis as an ancient metabolic pathway • Ecology: effect of climate change on populations; co-evolution of predator-prey/pollinator relationships

5. Ways to Teach Evolution Scientific Inquiry Inquiry Stations Cooperative learning Seminars Case Studies Online simulations Arts & Crafts (posters, modeling, construction)

6. References http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/evolution.aspx Miller, J. (2006). Civic Scientific Literacy in Europe and the United States. World Association for Public Opinion Research, Montreal, Canada. http://www.arcsfoundation.org/Pittsburgh/JMiller.pdf Miller, J. (2006). Public Acceptance of Evolution. Science, 313, 765-766. Scearce, C. (2007). Scientific Literacy. ProQuest Discovery Guides. Ann Arbor, MI. http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/scilit/review.pdf

7. Evidence for Evolution Ways for students to explore the lines of evidence which support evolution

8. Lines of Evidence • Fossils • Diet, climate, geography, behavior • Molecules • DNA, proteins (cyt C, Hb) • Anatomy • Homologous, analogous, vestigial structures; embryology • Artificial Selection • Evolution of dogs, mustard, horses, pigeons

9. Biodiversity & Biogeography Rats and Birds and Lizards, Oh My!

10. Biodiversity Background • Types of Biodiversity • Ecosystem, species, genetic • Threats to biodiversity • Habitat destruction, hunting/poaching, invasive species • Effects of biodiversity loss • Small populations, loss of genetic diversity, bottlenecks, extinction • Characteristic model species • Polar bears, cheetahs, humans

11. Island Biogeography Basics • High level of endemism • Large islands should have more species • Islands closer to mainland should have more species • Geographically isolated • Biodiversity hotspots • Generally threatened • Characteristic islands: Galapagos, Madagascar

12. Hominid Evolution I GIVE Primates the Thumbs up

13. Hominid Highlights • There are not many/any specific objectives dealing with hominid (including human evolution) in most curricula. • Make good examples to support • Co-evolution: malaria and sickle-cell • Anatomical evidence: skull allometry, thumbs, no tails, vestigial organs • Molecular evidence: chromosome comparisons between humans and chimps, etc. • Hominids are familiar, characteristic “megafauna”

14. Hominid Evo Resources Smithsonian Human Origins Exhibit Skull lab sans skulls ENSI ENSI Skull Resources

15. Online/Computer-Based Evolution Simulations Much easier than simulating natural selection of your students

16. Considerations • Classroom climate • Teacher-lead vs. student-lead activity • Computer Availability • Computer lab vs. mobile lab • Laptops vs. netbooks • Wireless/Internet Reliability • Adding new software to school computers • Web-based apps vs. computer-based programs

17. Options • Web-based application • http://www.radford.edu/~rsheehy/Gen_flash/popgen/ • Activity aligned to new AP Biology framework • PhET • http://phet.colorado.edu/ • Great simulations for all science disciplines (esp. physics) • Robust library of activities and demos • Aipotu • aipotu.umb.edu • Most appropriate for higher-level/AP courses

18. Bioinfor-what! • From Wikipedia: • Bioinformatics is a branch of biological science which deals with the study of methods for storing, retrieving and analyzing biological data, such as nucleic acid (DNA/RNA) and protein sequences, structures, functions, pathways and genetic interactions. It generates new knowledge about drug designing and development of new software tools. Bioinformatics also deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, structural biology, software engineering, data mining, image processing, modeling and simulation, signal processing, discrete mathematics, control and system theory, circuit theory, and statistics.

19. Usefulness in a Classroom • Activities using databases can teach concepts like: • DNA/RNA structure • Protein structure • Gene expression/regulation • Mutations • Comparative genomics • Evolutionary biology (phyloinformatics) • Systems modeling

20. Classroom Friendly Databases • Blast – Basic Local Alignment Research Tool • http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi • Databases of genomic sequences • Commonly used by biologists in several disciplines • Used in new AP Biology lab manual (Investigations 2 & 3) • Neotoma • http://www.neotomadb.org/ • Databases of mammal and pollen fossils from last 5 million years • Has “Explorer” application which lends itself to student inquiry • Useful for biology, earth/environmental science classes

21. Other Online Resources • HHMI • Evolution of Stickleback • Rock Pocket Mouse • Malaria and Lactose Tolerance

22. Evo Books I Like Genome – Matt Ridley Your Inner Fish – Neil Shubin The Third Chimpanzee – Jared Diamond Survival of the Sickest – Sharon Moalem The Reluctant Mr. Darwin – David Quammen Seven Daughters of Eve – Brian Sykes The Pandas Thumb - Steven Jay Gould The Plausibility of Life – Marc Kirschener