UNDERSTANDING Evolution: An evolution website for teachers

While many states are facing challenges to the teaching of evolution in their science classrooms, the University of California Museum of Paleontology, working with the National Center for Science Education, has developed a useful web-based resource for science teachers of all grade- and experience-levels. Understanding Evolution (UE) was developed in January 2004 in response to teachers' needs for science content, teaching resources, and teaching strategies. The UE website at http://evolution.berkeley.edu has since been expanded to include more resources for teachers, students, and the general public. Rather than focusing on the controversy over evolution, the site concentrates on the science of evolution and provides resources for effective teaching. Thus the cladogram has two distinct lineages--content and resources--labeled "Learning Evolution" and "Teaching Evolution." Learning Evolution is a handy resource for teachers who want to brush up on their background knowledge on the nature of science and evolution, as well as for those for whom evolution is a relatively new topic. Teaching Evolution provides the resources for including evolution as an integral part of K-12 science curricula. The summative evaluation of the original site for teachers was astonishingly positive. Pre- and post-tests from a broad spectrum of teachers revealed an average increase of understanding of 12%. Along with this increase in understanding comes an increase in confidence to teach evolution, which is really the goal of this project. (Contains 2 figures.)