The following topics/concepts were identified from recent course syllabi. Based on the way you and your co-instructors
teach the course, and thinking about what you want students to retain 6 months to a year after the course is over,
please categorize each topic/concept according to the following scale. Please also add any clarifying comments:
0 = Not important / Not taught
1 = Worth being familiar with / Nice for students to know
2 = Important for students to know and/or be able to do
3 = "Enduring" understanding / Essential knowledge for biologists
Evolution core course topic evaluation
How we study evolution
Patterns of evolution
Natural selection
Adaptation
Constructing evolutionary trees
Interpreting evolutionary trees
Mutation
Genetic (heritable) variation
Selection/types of selection
Nonrandom mating
Migration
Genetic drift
Hardy Weinberg equilibrium
Speciation/mechanisms of speciation
Linkage disequilibrium
Quantitative traits
Evolution of phenotypes
Testing adaptive hypothesis
Evolution of sex
Sexual selection
Kin selection
Coevolution (Host-parasite/mutualistic coevolution)
Evolution of behavior
Aging
Life histories
Human evolution
Human health and evolution/evolutionary medicine
Phylogenomics
Origin of life
Geologic time scale
Paleontology
History of life
Cambrian explosion
Great oxygenation event
Adaptive radiations
Mass extinctions
Reconstructing the deep past
Development and evolution
Responding to challenges to evolutionary thinking
3.00
2.00
3.00
2.67
1.67
2.33
2.67
2.67
2.67
2.00
2.00
2.67
2.67
2.67
2.33
2.33
2.33
2.00
2.33
2.00
2.00
2.00
1.67
1.67
2.00
2.67
2.67
1.33
2.33
2.00
1.67
2.67
1.33
1.33
1.67
1.67
2.00
2.33
3.00
0.00
0.58
0.00
0.33
0.67
0.67
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.58
0.58
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.00
0.33
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.33
0.33
0.58
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.00
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.58
0.33
0.00