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Projects

American Institute of Biological Sciences
   http://www.aibs.org/

AIBS is becoming an important resource for science educators. Of particular interest to those of us teaching about evolution include:

ActionBioscience.org which has a peer reviewed collection of evolution articles for educators and the general public.

Evolution: Understanding Life on Earth which was the title of the 2002 Annual Meeting and the presentations are available (free of charge) to watch online from the virtual library.

Evolutionary Science and Society: Educating a New Generation which was a two-day special symposium that was cosponsored by BSCS and the NABT.

Quote from source: The American Institute of Biological Sciences was established as a national umbrella organization for the biological sciences in 1947 by 11 scientific societies as part of the National Academy of Sciences. An independent non-profit organization since 1954, it has grown to represent more than 80 professional societies and organizations with a combined membership exceeding 240,000 scientists and educators.


BEDROCK Bioinformatics Education Project
   http://bioquest.org/bedrock/

This project site contains lots of resources for getting started with the analysis of molecular sequence and structure data to teach biological principles. The project emphasizes engaging students in research like problem solving and the use of an evolutionary perspective for making sense of comparative bioinformatics techniques. The problem spaces have collections of data and curricular materials around issues like HIV evolution, chimpanzee conservation, and the phylogenetic position of whales.

Quote from source: BEDROCK (Bioinformatics Education Dissemination: Reaching Out, Connecting, and Knitting-together) is an NSF-funded project aimed at integrating bioinformatics throughout the undergraduate biology curriculum, using an inquiry-based approach in which students explore and analyze actual data in a way that recreates the experience of conducting research.


Biological Sciences Curriculum Study
   http://www.bscs.org/

Credited with putting evolution back into biology textbooks in the 1960, BSCS continues to support excellence in science education through their curriculum development and teacher professional development activities.

Quote from source: The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) is a nonprofit corporation that develops and supports the implementation of innovative science education curriculum for students in kindergarten through college. BSCS has developed integrated science programs for elementary and middle schools, and biology programs for high school and college students. In addition, BSCS provides professional development for the improvement of science education and conducts research and evaluation that demonstrates the effectiveness of reform-based science programs.

BSCS is a leader in the field of science education because of our support for the teaching of evolution, our comprehensive approach to improved science teaching and learning, and our development and implementation of the BSCS 5E instructional model.


The BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium
   http://bioquest.org

The BioQUEST resources and community are an important resource for biology educators. Since 1986, BioQUEST has coordinated projects that engage students in problem posing, problem solving and peer persuasion.

Quote from source: The BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium actively supports educators interested in the reform of undergraduate biology and engages in the collaborative development of curricula. We offer the following resources: The BioQUEST Library, BQ Notes, The BioQUEST Website, publications by project staff and participants, workshops and presentations for institutions and organizations, and support of an extended BioQUEST community. We encourage the use of simulations, databases, and tools to construct learning environments where students are able to engage in activities like those of practicing scientists.


Evolution and the Nature of Science Institutes
   http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/home.html

Widely recognized as an important source of high quality evolution teaching units, ENSI continues to expand and serve teachers. Several specific resources from this extensive collection are highlighted elsewhere in this bibliography including Classification: Arbitrary or not? and, Molecular Sequences & Primate Evolution.

Quote from source: The main objective of ENSI is to improve the teaching of evolution in High School Biology courses by encouraging teachers to teach evolutionary thinking in the context of a more complete understanding of modern scientific thinking.


Modeling for Understanding in Science Education
   http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/ncisla/muse/

This curriculum development and educational research project from the National Center for Mathematics and Science at the University of Wisconsin – Madison has a detailed set of materials for teaching natural selection.

Quote from source: Modeling for Understanding in Science Education (MUSE) is a collaborative project of university researchers, high school teachers, and students. The educational units found here are based on several years of research at a local high school. Each of these units contains extensive information and materials for use in middle school and/or high school classrooms.


National Center for Science Education
   http://www.ncseweb.org/

The NCSE plays an important role supporting teachers who face resistance to teaching evolution and defending evolution education in public schools.

Quote from source: The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) defends the teaching of evolution in public schools. We are a nationally-recognized clearinghouse for information and advice to keep evolution in the science classroom and "scientific creationism" out.


National Conference on the Teaching of Evolution
   http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/ncte/

Quote from source: The purpose of the National Conference on the Teaching of Evolution (NCTE) was to bring together a broad representation of scientific, educational, and other interested professional organizations to improve the quality and accessibility of materials that support the teaching of evolution. The focus of the meeting was to develop an action plan to ensure that evolutionary principles are taught in pre-college, college, and teacher preparation classrooms as well as in the informal science environment. The proceedings from the meeting will be published by the Geological Society of America.


The Tree of Life Project
   http://phylogeny.arizona.edu/tree/phylogeny.html

This web site is a great place to reinforce the relationships between taxa and how they can be used to organize biological knowledge. Some of the well documented groups have images, references and links to other resources. It is also interesting because as an active research site it contains nice discussions of current phylogenetic controversies. See for example the discussion of bat phylogenetic relationships.

Quote from source: A multi-authored, distributed Internet project containing information about phylogeny and biodiversity. The Tree of Life is a project containing information about the diversity of organisms on Earth, their history, and characteristics. The information is linked together in the form of the evolutionary tree that connects all organisms to each other.

 

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