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Peer Review

EvolutionLab

Reviewed:

Aug 19, 2002 by Biology
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Ratings

Overall Rating: 4.0 stars
Content Quality: 4.0 stars
Effectiveness: 5.0 stars
Ease of Use: 3.0 stars
Overview:

This is a commercial site that is not available to the general population without a subscription fee. EvolutionLab is a java-based simulation with guided exercises that are part of the BiologyLabs On-Line series. Users gain access to the materials through a variety of licensing packages. There is a free, limited-time access for instructors looking to examine the materials. The simulation provides an investigative approach to understanding the interplay of a number of factors that influence the change in species over time-evolution. Variables investigated include heritability, variance, size of the population, size of the geographical area in which the population lives. Investigations are done using java applets to provide immediate feedback. Prepared assignments guide students through the scenarios and encourage them to draw conclusions about how evolution works from data provided and created by their manipulation of the variables.

Type of Material:

Simulation.

Technical Requirements:

html, java capable browser for either Macintosh or Windows, 32 MB or more of installed RAM (64 MB recommended).

Identify Major Learning Goals:

  • - Help develop an understanding of the important factors that affect evolution of a species.
  • - Demonstrate important biological and environmental selection factors that influence evolution by natural selection.
  • - Simulate how changes in beak size and other characteristics of finch populations influence evolution of beak size and population numbers.
Target Student Population:

Avanced high school to intermediate college students.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

  • - Evolution and the importance of natural selection as a central concept of Darwinism.
  • - Biological and environmental factors that influence natural selection.
  • - Evolutionary principles associated with population genetics.

    Content Quality

    Rating:
    Strengths:

    Quality of Content: (4.0) (5.0) = 4.5


    • - Good set of background information provided to get student started; covers both historical background on natural selection and basic Mendelian inheritance; with a little more detail they could cover all the prerequisite material.
    • - Different factors are investigated are investigated in separate simulations.
    • - The variables provided give adequate room to explore the concepts outlined in the learning objectives.
    Concerns:

    • - Would be helpful to connect simulation results with terms such as gene flow and drift.
    • - Should address where the variations in the population come from.
    • - The model on which the simulation is based is not available, but could be
      useful to advance students.

    Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

    Rating:
    Strengths:

    Potential Effectiveness: (5.0) (5.0) = 5.0


    • - Contains several assignments that allow students to investigate various aspects of evolution.
    • - Assignments further graded by difficulty within each category.
    • - Promotes problem solving to clarify relationships between factors that affect the evolution of characteristics in a population.
    • - Assignments divided between those suitable for non-majors and for biology majors.
    • - Use of java applets gives students immediate feedback after making changes to parameters.
    • - Objectives clearly stated and difficulty ratings for the assignments are helpful.
    • - Graphics of birds change as evolution simulation works-as beaks get larger, graphic changes with it-gives an almost animated appearance to simulation.
    Concerns:

    • - Commercial nature of site limits access to the material.
    • - An assignment or a portion of an assignment that explores the stochastic
      factors would be a useful addition especially for advanced students.

    Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

    Rating:
    Strengths:

    Ease of Use: (3.5) (4.0) = 3.75


    • - Clear statement of technical requirements.
    • - Prerequisite information required clearly specified.
    • - An excellent overview with instructions on how to use a notebook, make inputs, interpret the output screens, and export data.
    • - Instructions within each assignment are detailed and clear.
    • - The control panel based simulation set up is attractive, and easily learned.
    Concerns:

    • - The "start lab" button is located at the bottom of the left at bottom of sidebar frame; difficult to figure out how to get started the first time using the simulation.
    • - When exporting graphs, addition of simulation conditions would be helpful.
    • - A note book that could store both graphs and text data would be helpful.
    • - There are issues with the use of Java applets and the visually impaired and those who require the keyboard to navigate an interface.
    • - Does not function with Netscape 6.
    Other Issues and Comments:

    Overall Rating: (4.2) (4.67) = 4.44

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