Show Me the Evolution! Assessing Effectiveness of a New Teaching Resource

该项目是加州大学古生物学博物馆理解进化（UE）和国家进化综合中心（NESCent，以杜克大学为中心）的共同努力，旨在加强和评估“新闻中的进化”，这是一个每月更新的网站，其特色是前沿的进化研究，进化生物学在日常生活中的相关性，以及进化理论在其他学科中的普及和推动进展。该网站以一篇时事新闻作为切入点，展示一个重要的进化论概念，并整合了一篇插图文章、一个以科学家访谈为特色的多媒体播客、支持教育材料以及与流行和科学文献的链接。这个网站试运行的第一个月就收到了3万多个页面请求。要对本科生受众进行评估的特征包括：材料的可访问性、受众吸引力、使用模式和教育有效性。参见http://www.NESCent.org/eog/eitn或http://evolution.berkeley.eduIntellectual优点：进化论教育是现代理解生物系统如何在各个层面上运作和相互作用的重要组成部分。目前的研究表明，许多学生对进化论的基本概念和理论的科学地位持有误解，并且可能认为进化论与他们的生活没有什么关系。“新闻中的进化论”计划旨在为本科教师提供引人注目的、最新的进化论例子，以便在课堂上使用，这些例子可以很容易地以一种合理的教学方式进行部署。评估网站的有效性将增加其智力价值。更广泛的影响：该项目旨在促进教学和学习，接触广泛的受众，并为建立一个更具科学素养的社会做出贡献。多媒体教学的目的是吸引各种不同的学习方式，对非传统的学生和非英语母语者都有好处。通过网络分发材料利用了技术的优势，超越了地理障碍，服务于农村和城市群体，使社区和教学学院的教师能够接触到进化生物学的新研究，他们可能无法直接接触到该领域的前沿人士。通过将易于部署的教育工具与先进的教学内容和策略联系起来，该项目为教师提供了一个独立的专业发展机会。然而，为了不断提高任何网站的有效性，并让更广泛的社区参与其使用，有必要不断评估使用情况和使用结果。随着越来越多的科学内容继续在网上提供，本项目中的正式评估将继续有助于教育界了解如何有效地利用课堂上的网络媒体，使这些材料的课堂潜力更加明显。

The project, a joint effort of the University of California Museum of Paleontology's Understanding Evolution (UE) and the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent, centered at Duke University), is designed to both enhance and assess Evolution in the News, a web-site updated monthly that features cutting edge evolutionary research, the relevance of evolutionary biology in everyday life, and the pervasiveness of evolutionary theory in informing and enabling advances in other disciplines. The site uses a current news item as a jumping off point to showcase an important evolutionary concept, integrating an illustrated article, a multimedia podcast featuring scientist interviews, supporting educational materials, and links to popular and scientific literature. The pilot of this web-site has garnered more than 30,000 page requests during its first month. Features to be assessed with an undergraduate audience include: accessibility of the material, audience appeal, use patterns, and educational effectiveness. See http://www.NESCent.org/eog/eitn or http://evolution.berkeley.eduIntellectual Merit: Evolution education is an essential component of a modern understanding of how biological systems at all levels function and interact with one another. Current research indicates that many students hold misconceptions about basic evolutionary concepts and the scientific status of the theory and may additionally perceive evolution as having little relevance to their lives. The Evolution in the News program is designed to provide undergraduate instructors with compelling, up-to-date examples of evolution to use in class that can be easily deployed in a pedagogically sound manner. Assessing the site's effectiveness will add to its intellectual merit.Broader Impact: This project is designed to promote teaching and learning, reach a broad audience, and contribute to the generation of a more scientifically literate society. The multimedia approach is designed to engage a broad range of learning styles, and have benefits for non-traditional students and non-native English speakers. Distribution of the material via the web takes advantage of technology to transcend geographic barriers, serving both rural and urban groups and making new research in evolutionary biology accessible to faculty at community and teaching colleges, who may have less direct access to those at the cutting edge of the field. By linking easily deployable educational tools with both advanced content and strategies for teaching that go beyond the lecture format, the project provides an opportunity for independent professional development for instructors. However, in order to continually upgrade the effectiveness of any web-site and to engage a broad community in its use, it is necessary to continually assess usage and outcomes of that usage. As more science content continues to be made available online, the formal assessment within this project will continue to contribute to the educational community's understanding of how to effectively leverage web-based media in the classroom, making the classroom potential of these materials more apparent.