Lesson summary for...

Webcast: Endless forms most beautiful

Author/Source: Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Overview:In lecture one of a four part series, evolutionary biologist Sean Carroll discusses Darwin and his two most important ideas: natural selection and common ancestry.
This lecture is available from Howard Hughes' BioInteractive website.
Concepts:This lesson covers the following concepts:
  • Present-day species evolved from earlier species; the relatedness of organisms is the result of common ancestry.
  • Evolution results from selection acting upon genetic variation within a population.
  • Traits that are advantageous often persist in a population.
  • The process by which advantageous traits are maintained and disadvantageous traits are weeded out of a population is known as natural selection.
  • Inherited characteristics affect the likelihood of an organism's survival and reproduction.
  • Natural selection acts on individuals and populations in a nonrandom way.
  • The proportion of individuals with advantageous characteristics may increase due to their increased likelihood of surviving and reproducing.
  • Science is a human endeavor.
Grade Level:9-12
Time:60 minutes
Teacher Background:Explore these links for additional information on the topics covered in this lesson:
Teaching Tips:This lecture may be most useful for advanced high school biology courses. Clips of the lecture (now available as an indexed video with synchronized slides) might provide students with an experience similar to that of a first year college student. An interesting and useful exercise would be to have students watch the lecture (or part of it), take notes, and then process with classmates what the experience was like (both in terms of the content they learned and the way in which the lecture format challenged them to listen, absorb, and take notes).