On this day in 1809, the British naturalist Charles Darwin was born. As a 22-year old, recent graduate (B.A., Cambridge University), Darwin was invited to join a fateful, five-year survey expedition on the Royal Navy ship HMS Beagle, a journey which laid the basis for his later, seminal work, On the Origin of Species.
A founder of evolutionary biology, Darwin developed the theory of natural selection, the process through which populations of living organisms adapt to their environments, and which even today remains an important and founding work of modern biological science.
Now 215 years later, February 12 marks Darwin Day, a celebration and commemoration of Charles Darwin’s life and work, and an inspiration to “people throughout the globe to reflect and act on the principles of intellectual bravery, perpetual curiosity, scientific thinking, and hunger for truth as embodied in Charles Darwin.”
UC Press, the publisher of the National Association of Biology Teachers’ (NABT) The American Biology Teacher, is pleased to honor Darwin Day by sharing the latest issue of ABT—an annual Darwin and Evolution special issue.
In the issue:
Considering Explanatory Diversity and Holistic Understanding of Biological Phenomena
Ross H. Nehm
Using Darwin’s Pangenesis Correspondences to Examine Science as a Human Endeavor
Anthony Lorsbach, Allison Antink Meyer
Of Phylogenies and Tumors: Cancer as a Model System to Teach Evolution
Caryn Babaian, Sudhir Kumar
A Comparison of Measured Outcomes across Tree-Thinking Interventions
Kristy L. Daniel, Daniel Ferguson, E. Austin Leone, Carrie J. Bucklin
Online Professional Development Course Helps Secondary Educators Increase Their Confidence in Teaching Evolution to Religious Audiences
Kenneth Harrington, Hunter Nelson, Jordon Ockey, Austin Gibson, Jamie Jensen
Public vs. Private: High School Biology Teachers’ Acceptance and Teaching of Evolutionary Theory in Arkansas
Britteny Berumen, Misty Boatman, Mark W. Bland
Elephant Tusks and Natural Selection: Leveraging Naïve Student Models to Identify and Address Misconceptions Surrounding Biological Evolution
Aaron E. Kidd, Daniel J. De Jesús, Sarah V. Poor
An Integrated Undergraduate Laboratory Exercise to Demonstrate Microbial Evolution: Petite Mutants in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae
Qin Qi, Jeremy A. C. Stacey, Nureeni Wright, Sasha G. Tetu, Michael R. Gillings
A Tool to Teach Evolution of Protein Sequences and Structures: Prediction of Protein Structure by Building Homology Models
Agnieszka Szarecka, Christopher Dobson
Reconciling Evolution
Jeffrey D. Sack, Daniel G. Ferguson, PhD
How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason; Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It; Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity; and Verified: How to Think Straight, Get Duped Less, and Make Better Decisions about What to Believe Online
Kirstin Milks, Frank Brown Cloud, Douglas Allchin
The Master Builder: How the New Science of the Cell is Rewriting the Story of Life
Kirstin Milks, Frank Brown Cloud, Mark Terry
The American Biology Teacher is an award-winning, peer-refereed professional journal for K-16 biology teachers. Topics covered in the journal include modern biology content, teaching strategies for the classroom and laboratory, field activities, applications, professional development, social and ethical implications of biology and ways to incorporate such concerns into instructional programs, as well as reviews of books and classroom technology products.
online.ucpress.edu/abt
