Evolution: Education and Outreach

by Horenstein, Sidney

DOI: 10.1007/s12052-009-0116-5
Online Date: 1/28/2009
Print publication date: 3/1/2009
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by Horenstein, Sidney

DOI: 10.1007/s12052-009-0115-6
Online Date: 1/27/2009
Print publication date: 3/1/2009
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by Goldstein, Adam M.

This paper describes three Internet resources that publish manuscripts and published works by Charles Darwin. The authority, content, and design of each is outlined, and each site is assessed according to how effectively its design and organization of the material promotes exploration of Darwin’s works and ideas. The presentations of the materials are compared with the traditional presentation of text materials in books. It is concluded that, while these three sites offer a large amount of important work by Darwin, access to it is sharply limited because, particularly in the case of two of the sites, the material is not presented in a structured manner that might direct users to particular ideas or texts, especially if those ideas or texts are not well-known to the user.

DOI: 10.1007/s12052-008-0113-0
Online Date: 1/20/2009
Print publication date: 3/1/2009
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by Eldredge, Niles; Eldredge, Gregory

DOI: 10.1007/s12052-008-0108-x
Online Date: 1/16/2009
Print publication date: 3/1/2009
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by Scott, Eugenie C.; Branch, Glenn

Evolutionary biology owes much to Charles Darwin, whose discussions of common descent and natural selection provide the foundations of the discipline. But evolutionary biology has expanded well beyond its foundations to encompass many theories and concepts unknown in the 19th century. The term “Darwinism” is, therefore, ambiguous and misleading. Compounding the problem of “Darwinism” is the hijacking of the term by creationists to portray evolution as a dangerous ideology—an “ism”—that has no place in the science classroom. When scientists and teachers use “Darwinism” as synonymous with evolutionary biology, it reinforces such a misleading portrayal and hinders efforts to present the scientific standing of evolution accurately. Accordingly, the term “Darwinism” should be abandoned as a synonym for evolutionary biology.

DOI: 10.1007/s12052-008-0111-2
Online Date: 1/16/2009
Print publication date: 3/1/2009
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by Gregory, T. Ryan

It is clear from his published works that Charles Darwin considered domestication to be very useful in exploring and explaining mechanisms of evolutionary change. Not only did domestication occupy the introductory chapter of On the Origin of Species, but he revisited the topic in a two-volume treatise less than a decade later. In addition to drawing much of his information about heredity from studies of domesticated animals and plants, Darwin saw important parallels between the process of artificial selection by humans and natural selection by the environment. There was resistance to this analogy even among Darwin’s contemporary supporters when it was proposed, and there also has been disagreement among historians and philosophers regarding the role that the analogy with artificial selection actually played in the discovery of natural selection. Regardless of these issues, the analogy between artificial and natural selection remains important in both research and education in evolution. In particular, the present article reviews ten lessons about evolution that can be drawn from the modern understanding of domestication and artificial selection. In the process, a basic overview is provided of current approaches and knowledge in this rapidly advancing field.

DOI: 10.1007/s12052-008-0114-z
Online Date: 1/14/2009
Print publication date: 3/1/2009
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by Wycoff, Mick

DOI: 10.1007/s12052-008-0112-1
Online Date: 1/7/2009
Print publication date: 3/1/2009
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