U10a1 Life in the Universe Review Assignment Coursework

U10a1 Life in the Universe Review Assignment - Coursework Example Evolution is a natural phenomenon. Natural selection is the reason why evolution happens. In its most basic form, evolution is genetic change within a population - specifically changes in the allelic frequencies of said population. Genetic drift, natural selection, mutation, and migration these are the basic mechanisms of evolution. Evolutionary thought can be traced back to classic Greece, but it is most commonly associated with Charles Darwin. Darwin only described one of the mechanisms that now are known to guide evolution: Natural Selection. He also put forward his idea that all the species have originated from a common ancestor and changed over time to the present situation. Natural Selection is the process by which favorable heritable traits become more common in successive generations of a population and unfavorable heritable traits become less common due to differential reproduction. That is: given a certain population, those individuals who are more fit to the selective pres sure(s) by their habitat will leave more descendants than those less fit. This means that for Natural Selection to act, a population must be composed by individuals that differ in their traits. Evolution is the explanation for the development, adaptation and diversity of life, as well as the morphological similarities between different kinds of life. Darwin's Theory of Evolution: Darwin's Theory of Evolution is the widely held notion that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor: the birds and the bananas, the fishes and the flowers -- all related. Darwin's general theory presumes the development of life from non-life and stresses a purely naturalistic "descent with modification". That is, complex creatures evolve from more simplistic ancestors naturally over time. In a nutshell, as random genetic mutations occur within an organism's genetic code, the beneficial mutations are preserved because they aid survival -- a process known as "natural selection." These ben eficial mutations are passed on to the next generation. Over time, beneficial mutations accumulate and the result is an entirely different organism. Darwin's Theory of Evolution - Natural Selection: Natural selection acts to preserve and accumulate minor advantageous genetic mutations. Suppose a member of a species developed a functional advantage, its offspring would inherit that advantage and pass it on to their offspring. The inferior members of the same species would gradually die out, leaving only the superior members of the species. Natural selection is the preservation of a functional advantage that enables a species to compete better in the wild. Natural selection is the naturalistic equivalent to domestic breeding. Over the centuries, human breeders have produced dramatic changes in domestic animal populations by selecting individuals to breed. Breeders eliminate undesirable traits gradually over time. Similarly, natural selection eliminates inferior species gradually over time. With the proper tools, we can sample the DNA of a population to see how the abundance of a particular gene changes as the environment changes. For example, in the mangled example of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, one type of antibiotic targets the prokaryotic ribosomes. A drug that binds bacterial ribosomes blocks the ability of the bacteria to synthesize proteins. One way that bacteria can evade this type of drug is to mutate the target site. If in the

Critical Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Critical Review - Essay Example Data was collected via interviews and questionnaires. The research concluded that the speaking assessments were designed to minimize the psychological stress upon the students, save their as well as the teachers’ time, and obviate the need for teacher to interview the students. The teachers involved in the research were found least concerned with their assessments’ reliability and validity. This essentially minimized the teachers’ confidence in their own assessments. The classroom specific barriers included large size of the classes, excessive work, and lack of sufficient training of the teachers. Korean secondary school teachers require assistance of administration in order to realize new and improved ways of speaking assessment. Critical analysis: This article has the potential to influence the Korean academia in a number of ways. Realization of a problem is the first and the foremost step for its resolution. This article particularly addresses this. English sp eaking ability of the Korean students depends fundamentally upon the skills and competence of the teacher as well as the methods employed by them to assess the speech of students. This research has covered the basic steps in the way of bringing improvement in the speaking assessment ability of the teachers. Apparently, no negative aspect of the article can be depicted since the research article makes a significant contribution to the existing body of knowledge regarding the factors evaluated by the teachers in their assessments of students’ speaking ability. The fundamental goal of assessment is to improve the pedagogical approach adopted by the teacher and assist the students in controlling their learning. This can not be achieved without authentic assessment which is linked with the program’s instructional objectives. Development and administration of a speaking assessment can be very challenging specially when the teacher’s powers are limited by a lot of cons traints. One thing of particular interest discovered as a result of this research was that most of the problems with the speaking assessment pertained to the system employed in the educational setup. A vast majority of the teachers knew that the quality of the methods employed by them to assess the students’ English speaking ability was compromising, yet there was little that they could do about it. The problem was found to originate not in the teachers’ slackness, but in various constraints most of which were beyond the control of teachers. In a conventional educational system, time is limited. Teachers have to cover a lot of course in a very limited time. In that time, the teacher does not only have to achieve his/her target with respect to curriculum, but also counsel the students individually and collectively, understand the psyche of each student so as to work out the method that best works for him/her, and take exams. Ironically, most teachers give easy assignmen ts because they find it easy to check them. It is interesting to find that assignments, that are abhorred by students are actually much more of a burden for the teachers who have to find time to check them. Another factor that is very interesting is the fact that the teachers themselves do not at all feel