http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ A search of MERLOT materials Copyright 1997-2013 MERLOT. All rights reserved. Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:40:30 PDT Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:40:30 PDT http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/images/merlot.gif http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ 44 34 http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=78477 This is a great site where users will examine major evolutionary concepts, explore teaching methodologies, and address obstacles to teaching evolution.  There are many modules for this site, including topics such as the nature of science, Darwin's theory, human evolution, misconceptions about evolution, and teaching evolution. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=80710 To address the critical teacher shortage in math and science, the Teaching and Learning Interchange grant produced three products: two series of online video case studies of accomplished teaching and a resource guide explaining the techniques, ideas for engaging students, assessing learning progress, creating and maintaining a classroom conducive to learning, along with strategies for working with English Learners and Special needs students. Originally conceived for use with pre-service and intern teachers, the cases and resources have been recommended by field reviewers for use at all stages of the teacher professional continuum.The Pedagogy in Practice: Science video case studies document lessons from general science, biology and chemistry; the Pedagogy in Practice: Math video cases cover 8th grade algebra, high school algebra and geometry. Each case is supported by relevant artifacts that develop real contexts for the learning and includes teaching cues and transcripts of classroom dialog. National Board certified and Exploratorium Master teachers deconstruct their own teaching practices and share how they break subject matter standards into mind-sized learning units, then demonstrate those same learning units in action. Teacher reflections on assessment, along with links to resouces found in the Strategies in Practice Resource Guide, provide support for classroom management, lesson planning and essential strategies that describe how to adapt the instructional pedagogy modeled in the videos. All lessons are aligned simultaneously to the California standards for teaching and science subject matter content. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=79890 A lesson on whale evolution based on DNA, geological, paleontological, physiological and morphological evidence. Students will experience the historical discovery of fossils which increasingly link whales to earlier land-dwelling mammals. This experience reveals how scientists can make predictions about past events, based on the theory and evidence that whales evolved. Such predictions suggest the age and location of sediments where fossils of early whales would most likely be found, and even their traits. This lesson also provides confirmation, with multiple independent lines of evidence, that there IS a series of intermediate forms, showing gradual accumulation of changes, linking certain terrestrial mammal groups with modern whales. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=78489 Easy-to-use site with 18 autopsy cases created as part of a medical informatics module. Each case provides H&P, links to pertinent test/lab results, brief report of patient's care until death, and interactive cadaver which organizes color photographs of body tissues/organs and a brief synopsis of results by body system. Each case also allows the user to select from possible causes of death and provides feedback on incorrect/correct choices. The site also contains case-relevant A&P mini-tutorials by body system. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=83568 Students follow the growth of the Kruger National Park elephant population from 1903-1996. While following the history of the population, students calculate values using the logistic equation. Students will complete a case study in which they: 1) learn the biological and sociopolitical history of the KNP elephants; 2) calculate dN/dt, N, and 1-(N/K) over time; 3) explain how assumptions of logistic growth affect the shape of the curve; and 4) evaluate how well the KNP population fits the logistic model. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=83576 Students look at speciation case studies. They are asked to think critically about evidence they collect to answer questions within the following contexts:Mosquito case: Does the evidence support separating one species into more than one species?Panther case: Does the evidence show that the FL panther is unique enough to conserve? (also useful for conservation lessons). Students will: 1) interpret real data on Anopheles quadrimaculatus species complex and the Florida panther, including morphological traits, haplotypes, population histories, ecology, molecular phylogenies, hybridization, and geographic distributions; 2) define species in real life situations; and 3) make a conservation decision based on concepts in species and speciation. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=79447 Classification can (and should) be used to illustrate more than a mere hierarchical grouping of organisms. This lesson introduces students to the building of cladograms as evolutionary trees, showing how "shared derived characters" can be used to reveal degrees of relationship. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=79694 This site allows a student to test their knowledge of pathogenic bacteria by identifying one to four unknowns. Each case reqires the selection and interpretation of appropriate tests. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=81692 The National Institutes of Health biochemist Marshall Nirenberg figured out that triplets of DNA bases code for specific amino acids in 1961, 8 years after James Watson and Francis Crick unraveled DNA's helical structure. This new online exhibit chronicles the race to break the code by Nirenberg, who later won the Nobel Prize. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=85647 For almost four decades, problem-based learning (PBL) has been the stated cornerstone of learning in many medical schools. Proponents of PBL cite the open nature of the learning experience where students are free to study in depth, unencumbered by the burdens of broad courses based on the memorization of facts; detractors, on the other hand, cite the lack of breadth and factual knowledge required for professional qualification. Both points of view have merit. Professional schools have a different set of needs and requirements, and it is these that drive the curriculum and learning philosophies.