Classification: A beginner's guide to some of the
systems of biological classification in use today
Jones, S. & A. Gray (1983).
Classification: A beginner's guide to some of the systems of biological
classification in use today. London: British Museum (Natural History).
Quote from source: This
booklet is based on Classification - a permanent exhibition at the
Natural History Museum. It has been written by Dr. Susan Jones and Mrs.
Anne Gray of the Department of Public Services, in collaboration with
their colleagues throughout the Museum.
classification & evolution of caminalcules
Gendron, R. P. (2000). The
classification & evolution of caminalcules. The American
Biology Teacher 62(8):570-576
Quote from source: For
the purpose of teaching evolution to college and high school students,
the Caminalcules offer several important advantages (McComas &
Alters 1994). First, because Caminalcules are artificial organisms,
students have no preconceived ideas about how they should be classified
or how they are related. This means that students have to concentrate
on principles rather than prior knowledge when constructing a
phylogenetic tree or classification. Second, unlike everyday objects
such as fasteners, the Caminalcules have a
‘‘real’’ evolutionary history,
complete with a detailed fossil record.
Climbing the Tree of Life:
Taxonomy and Phylogeny
Quote from source: Climbing
the Tree of Life: Taxonomy and Phylogeny for High School biology takes
advantage of student' interest in biodiversity and concern about its
decline to introduce concepts of taxonomy and phylogeny, the nature and
methods of science, and the personal and social relevance of science.
Features include interactive, inquiry-oriented activities with videos,
animations, simulations, and printable documents; off-computer
research; individual and collaborative learning; and a teacher's
comparative method, hypothesis testing and phylogenetic analysis
Singer, F., J. B. Hagen, et al.
(2001). The comparative method, hypothesis testing and phylogenetic
analysis. The American Biology Teacher 63(7): 518-523.
Quote from Source: Textbook
discussions of scientific methodology often focus almost exclusively
upon controlled experiments, but biologists also use many
non-experimental techniques for testing hypotheses. Particularly
important are the comparative methods developed for phylogenetic
analysis by biologists who study systematics. Today, these comparative
methods can be applied at multiple levels of organization from behavior
and ecology, to more traditional levels of gross anatomy and
development, and downward to information carrying macromolecules (DNA,
RNA and proteins).
Nothing in biology makes sense
except in the light of evolution
Dobzhansky, T. (1973). Nothing in
biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. The American
BiologyTeacher 35(March): 125-129.
Quote from source: Seen
in the light of evolution, biology is, perhaps, intellectually the most
satisfying and inspiring science. Without that light it becomes a pile
of sundry facts some of them interesting or curious but making no
meaningful picture as a whole.
Order and diversity in the living world: Teaching
taxonomy and systematics in schools
Crisci, J. V., J. D. McInerney, et
al. (1993). Order and diversity in the living world: Teaching taxonomy
and systematics in schools. Reston, VA, National Association of Biology
Quote from source: Recommended
grade level: 1-8+. Order and Diversity in the Living World is a small
book that presents a rationale for classroom study of biological
diversity and the relationships between different organisms. It also
offers a brief review of the current state of diversity and rate of
species extinction, identifies standards that should encourage changes
in the way systematics is taught in the classroom, and gives directions
for 10 sample activities that involve students in "doing" systematics
in the classroom rather than simply reading about the nature of this
subdiscipline. -- Quoted from
Phylogeny Wing of University
of California Berkeley, Museum of Paleontology
Quote from source: The
Phylogeny Wing is the largest of our museum's on-line exhibit halls,
with more than 235 individual exhibits, many with multiple pages. The
wing provides a survey of biodiversity, focusing on major lineages of
organisms. Many of these lineages have gone extinct or currently exist
at a much lower diversity than in the past, so there may be large
exhibits on groups of organisms that are unfamiliar to you. They are
featured because they play an important role in the history of life on
What, if anything, is a zebra?
Gould, S. J. (1983). What, if
anything, is a zebra? Hen's teeth and horse's toes: Further refections
in natural history. New York, W. W. Norton & Co.
Quote from source:The
potential dilemma for zebras is simply stated: they exist as three
species, all with black-and-white stripes to be sure, but differing
notably in both numbers of stripes and their patterns. ... Do these
three species a single evolutionary unit? Do they share a common
ancestor that gave rise to them alone and to no other species of horse?
Or are some zebras more closely related by descent to true horses or to
asses than they are to other zebras? If this second possibility is an
actuality, ... there is, in an important evolutionary sense, no such
thing as a zebra.
to the Top