Week 13, Chapter 10 -- Digging Deeper Course home | Weekly schedule | Announcements | Instructor Info | Desire2Learn | MasteringBiology® | Honor Code | FAQs | HELP!

Instructions:

In this exercise, you will “Explore the Evolution Revolution” by cruising through an interactive timeline that allows you to gather information on different events that led to the modern development of the theory of evolution.

Go to "Evolution Revolution," a web activity on the PBS Evolution website. Watch the introduction flash movie, and then you will see a timeline that introduces you to numerous events relevant to the theory of evolution (mouse-over or click the black arrow to the right to continue to modern day events). Clicking on any event reveals a detailed explanation. In the screen shot below, I have clicked on Spontaneous Generation, and a short blurb entitled “A close-up view of ‘spontaneous generation’” appeared below the timeline.

At the upper part of the screen shot are four labeled, colored boxes: Rise of Evolution, Evolution Challenged, Battle in the Schools, and Reconciliation. Notice that each event in the timeline is coded with one or more of these colored boxes (they become apparent only when you click on each event). Spontaneous generation, for example, is coded with an orange box because it is relevant to the Rise of Evolution.

Part 1:

Choose 10 different events from the timeline – they can be from any point along the timeline, but at least two must come from each “colored box” category. For each one, tell what category(ies) it comes from, then write a one- or two-sentence summary of the event. Then, for each event, explain how YOU feel this event affected the development of evolution and/or its acceptance in society. List your events chronologically.

Part 2:

After you have finished your list of 10 events, write a paragraph about your experiences with the topic of evolution. How has reading this chapter and completing this assignment affected your opinion about evolution? Or, if your opinion has not changed, explain why not.

You can view a sample assignment here.

Part 3:

Use D2L's spell checker (or the one on your word processor software, which will give you a word count as well). Proofread it yourself too, because spell checkers don't catch everything. When you are satisfied, post your completed assignment in the Digging Deeper forum for this week at the D2L discussion board.

Part 4:

Respond to the Digging Deeper posts of at least two other students. (If you are the first or second person to post, you will have to check back later to complete this part of the assignment).

• Just as you spell checked and proofread your original post, you should do the same for your responses.
• Please respond to posts with 0 responses first; once every post has at least one response, you are free to choose any post to respond to.
• When you respond, please use the name of the student you are responding to. That is, say "Hi Trudy" or "Hi Paul" so that you can get used to the names of the people in class. (You can find a list of "real" names and preferred names at D2L).
• In your response, be sure you mention something specific that the writer did well. Also, specifically address anything you find that seems incorrect to you (phrased in a constructive way -- use the same language you would want someone else to use in telling you something you did wrong). You may wish to argue with (or critique) what the student wrote, request supporting evidence, evaluate the student's argument, add new information, make a factual correction, or explain why you agree. At a minimum this response should be at least 50 words and 50-100 is preferable. Check out this page for more on the topic of good and bad responses.

After you have posted your assignment AND responded to two other students, go to Desire2Learn and complete the Gradebook Declaration for this week's Digging Deeper assignment. (Your Gradebook Declaration is subject to the Honor Code.)

Contemporary Issues in Biology -- BIOL 1003 Mariëlle H. Hoefnagels, Ph.D. © 2004-2015. biology1003 at OU dot edu (at = @, dot =.) Last Updated August 5, 2014 11:02 PM