Did reading this book help you understand some of the concepts we discussed in class? Please explain. You can collectively work on your critical thinking worksheet here, if you so desire. You'll still need to turn in one individually, but you can jointly construct answers.
This Cosmos episode that you would like discusses many of the concepts we'll discuss when finishing the book next week. Here's a description:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_of_the_Things_That_Molecules_Do
You can watch Cosmos on Netflix if you have access (and maybe elsewhere?)
In retrospect, I thought the critical thinking was a waste of time. But now I see its benefits. At first glimpse of the assignment, I began to focus too much on the individual chapters and had a hard time relating one thing to another. What I did was review the individual chapters and bring points together and see how one topic lead to another. For example, the first chapter is about Cuvier, and his version of evolution by looking at fossils. The following chapters describe a different scientists way of defining or expanding on evolution as it pertains to humans or organisms.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Lauren, I felt the critical thinking for the whole book of Evolution was a little difficult because there is just so many different theorists thoughts and opinions on evolution. The critical thinking actually helped me with the videos and the reading but over the whole book was a little too complex.
ReplyDeleteI have watched a few episodes of The Cosmos on Netflix and I really enjoy the series. Like the book though, they are a little hard to follow. I liked the content of the book but there was a lot of names and things discussed that were quite over my head. However, I do think the book had a good un-biased grasp on the history of evolution and how evolution itself changed over time as well as the theories of evolution and how the advancement of technologies impacted the way we looked at evolution.
ReplyDeleteI have never even heard of Cosmos before this class and I willingly admit I am not a fan of the episodes. I just think the language they use was completely over my head. That being said, watching the videos and reading the book there were some connections to be made. Sarah highlighted the main one that I saw as well, the way that evolution grew with different viewpoints impacting it.
DeleteThe reading helped me understand the concepts and put them together. The concepts we learned are hard to grasp and the reading gave us detailed examples. Inversely, I think the concepts helped us understand the reading because it gave a background to what we were learning. I was not a big fan of learning about evolution mainly because it's old and finite science to me. Though there are many many new discoveries regarding evolution, I believe scientists have a firm grasp on it and the lack of mysteries doesn't really intrigue me. I found the cosmos series very interesting. Cosmos science would definitely be my favorite science because it is still so unknown and unexplored. I really enjoyed the discussions on the cosmos videos and wish there were more.
ReplyDeleteThe book was extremely difficult to read for me, when i was working on my chapter to present i found myself rereading paragraph after paragraph to really try and understand what was being said. Once i understood i could then put together some thoughts and the discussions in class really helped me understand it all. The critical thinking along with the readings brings the book to a whole new light rather than just a black and white mindless way of reading it.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the book was a challenging read as well. In the beginning i would just read the chapters and just be confused the whole time and eventually give up and try to learn about it when we talked in class. But, after a few chapters i began looking up words that i didnt know and this definitely helped me learn more about what we were reading. Overall, as much as i hated doing the critical thinking assignments, they did help me understand what was going on a whole lot better.
DeleteI think that reading the book helped me understand what was going on. It was difficult at times to read and I couldn't understand some parts, but overall it helped me piece concepts we went over in class together. Doing the critical thinking with this book helped me think critically and deeper while reading, but for this book it was pretty hard.
ReplyDeleteThe book helped me understand the evolution of the theory of evolution itself. It also helped me learn concepts and terms by using them in a way that I could understand. I think it was because of the fact that I had to re-read a lot of paragraphs that it helped me so much.
ReplyDeleteThe book had me rereading things so many times i just got frustrated and pissed off at the author. me reading comprehension is that of a child in grade school so It was a hard read but between all the names and specifics and dates and stuff there was a big picture that was being explained. i enjoyed that aspect of the book, explaining the evolution of the theory of evolution was cool and helped me understand the thought process that lead to what we know today.
ReplyDeleteThe book to me was a little difficult to understand mainly because i don't know a lot about evolution. I had to go back and read page by page in depth to fully understand what it was trying to say. The critical thinking worksheets were a big part though to helping me understand the chapters more.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the Cosmos videos we watched, they made me think about things i never would have thought twice about. I honestly got really bored at night and decided to watch a few on my own and it was interesting to see how little i knew about the world and the universe. The string theory video we watched was confusing but i thought was interesting, especially the part where they were explaining alternative realities and that we could possibly be in a world with different dimensions. It was neat to see that every move we make can lead to alternative realities like when he ordered a drink at the bar, there were multiple outcomes that could happen, it was neat to see how that could affect the reality we are in.
ReplyDeleteThe book was definitely hard to understand. It seemed to be more challenging because of the vocabulary and how the theories were presented. If the theories were re written in laymans terms it would be easier to learn and comprehend. I would also venture to say that the critical thinking worksheets were even less helpful. The only way i understood anything in this book was when the presentations over the chapters were well dissected and interpreted to the class.
ReplyDeleteThis book was hard to understand but definitely worth the read. It is very informative about basically any questions we have had about evolution. The book walks you through time basically and talks about many different people that have been influential to the discovery of evolution. The only reason the book was hard to understand was because there was just so much information in each chapter and even each page, that is was hard to take everything in. It was just a ton of information in such little time to actually embrace what each chapter is going over.
ReplyDeleteI believe that reading the Evolution book was very helpful in understandings the concepts that were discussed in the class. One thing that I really liked was that it started from the beginning and explained how to Theory of Evolution was developed and the minds behind the theories that came before it. Not only did this explain the origins of the Theory of Evolution, but it also showed how the competing theories that still exist today came about and the justifications used to support them. I agree with Lauren that when you look at the book on the basis of individual chapters, it can seem to be all over the place. If you look at the book as a whole though, you can see how everything ties together. The names associated with the theories are not as important as the theories themselves. I think that this book did an extremely good job in giving a philosophical explanation of the Theory of Evolution.
ReplyDeleteDuring my high school years we glanced over evolution ever so lightly that formed some my thoughts negatively. After reading the book, I feel better formed about the different theorists and how some came to their conclusions
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