Helping Students Conceptualize Species Divergence Events using the Online Tool “TimeTree: The Timescale of Life”

Misinformation, preconceptions, and the human perception of time (e.g., in seconds, minutes, days, and years) are factors that can contribute to difficulties experienced by students trying to understand evolutionary phenomena on the scale of geological or “deep” time. In addition to other approaches...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The American biology teacher Vol. 73; no. 2; pp. 106 - 108
Main Author:	Metzger, Kelsey J.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Reston University of California Press 01-02-2011 University of California Press Books Division
Subjects:	Behavioral Objectives Biodiversity Biological diversity Biological evolution Biological taxonomies Company business management Divergent evolution Educational aspects Embryology Estimates estimating species divergence times Evidence Evolution Fish Frogs How-To-Do-It How-To-Do-Its Humans Learning Processes Lesson Plans Management Mitochondrial DNA Phylogenetics Phylogeny Primary literature Science education Sciences education software Teachers Technology application tree thinking Trees United States
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Summary:	Misinformation, preconceptions, and the human perception of time (e.g., in seconds, minutes, days, and years) are factors that can contribute to difficulties experienced by students trying to understand evolutionary phenomena on the scale of geological or “deep” time. In addition to other approaches, the use of a simple online species-divergence estimate calculator, “TimeTree: The Timescale of Life,” can add resolution and clarity to big ideas that sometimes stand in the way of students' understanding of the unifying theory in biology, evolution.
ISSN:	0002-7685 1938-4211
DOI:	10.1525/abt.2011.73.2.9