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Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
For the instructor:
Pedagogical research indicates that students learn better if they are actively
engaged. The following slides require only a few minutes each and are designed
to actively engage students with lecture material on the topic of evolution by
asking students to write “minute papers.” Minute papers are brief, in-class
writing exercises, typically carried out at the end of a class session, which ask
students to write a few sentences (or more) about some aspect of the class
session that day or of the course as a whole. Minute papers have become a
widely used technique for actively engaging students and provide an excellent
way to break up a class session. The papers can be read after class by the
instructor and used to determine the direction of future instruction or graded
with a check/check-plus/check-minus system.
This slideshow is provided by Understanding Evolution
(understandingevolution.org) and is copyright 2011 by The University of
California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Regents of the University
of California. Feel free to use and modify this presentation for educational
purposes.
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
What is evolution?
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
Is evolution a theory, a fact, or
something else entirely? Why?
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
What evidence supports the
theory of evolution?
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
What is the fossil record’s unique
contribution to our understanding
of evolution?
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
What do you think it means when a
species is called a “living fossil?”
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
What are transitional features?
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
Is it correct to say that humans
evolved from chimpanzees?
Why or why not?
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
Describe the mechanisms
of evolution.
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
In order for natural selection to occur
in a system, what characteristics
must the system have?
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
If a species has a vestigial anatomical
structure that it no longer uses, would
you expect this structure to disappear
over many generations through the
action of natural selection? Always,
sometimes, or never? Explain your
answer.
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
Outbreaks of E coli that are resistant
to antibiotics have killed and sickened
many. Is this an example of evolution?
Why or why not?
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
What does it mean to be fit in
an evolutionary sense?
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
Why are small populations more
strongly affected by genetic drift
than large ones?
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
What is coevolution?
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
Compare and contrast the biological
species concept and the phylogenetic
species concept.
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
Describe a situation in which it would
be difficult to apply the biological
species concept and explain why it
would be difficult.
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
How is allopatric speciation similar
to and different from sympatric
speciation?
Understanding Evolution: Minute paper
Write a short response to the following question:
The phylogenies below show two hypotheses regarding the
relationships among vertebrates. The phylogeny on the right
groups sharks and ray-finned fish together as a clade, and the
phylogeny on the left does not. Which hypothesis do you think is
more likely to be accurate and why?