This website has been developed to provide a web based resource
for use by New Zealand secondary teachers, especially in the
science fields of evolution and geological time.
The comments on this site are the beliefs of individuals
and do not necessarily represent the views of the University
of Waikato as a whole.
This website
does not take any responsibility for the content of external
links. While every effort has been made to review and
regularly check outside sources we take no liability for other
websites.
The last check of the links was carried out in October
2004
Copyright
Information
If you have any comments on this site or wish to contact
us please email us at evolutionatwaikato.ac.nz (Note, please
substitute 'at' in this email address with @)
Through discussions with teachers and gaps in the information
and structure of existing sites (plus the findings of the
National
Curriculum Stocktake project it became obvious that there
was a need for a resource site for Science teachers. New Zealand
science teachers expressed a need for a website that provides
knowledge content (evidence, NZ examples, images) to enable
them to teach and answer questions arising in their classrooms
on evolution with accurate, clear and relevant scientific
information.
Our 'Evolution for Teaching' website is intended to provide
expert support and quality material and resources for New
Zealand Science teachers. This resource stands apart from
existing material available on the web in that it specifically
focuses on evolution, geological time, New Zealand examples
and the New Zealand senior school curriculum. Naturally it
can be used as a resource by science teachers of any nationality.
Recognising that teachers are very busy and consistently
adapt material for use with their classes this site provides
'bite sized' information with images for use in response to
student queries or for integration into a planned unit. A
key feature of this site is its 'search' function. There is
a Frequently Asked Questions area that will build up over
time with teachers using the email form provided to send in
their questions. Thus the site will have a degree of interactivity
and is an active area.
Our intention is that annually the content will be reviewed
in light of the senior secondary school science curriculum
and assessment and events in the scientific community so that
the site remains accurate and relevant.
This project was initiated by Dr Alison Campbell and Dr
Penelope Cooke. Essentially, four people worked as a team
to get this project up and running. We did not allocate official
roles we just got on with it. The notes provided here are
to highlight our level of experience and expertise to give
some reassurance that we know what we are talking about.
Dr Alison Campbell
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Role: |
Team Leader and
Content Development |
Qualifications:
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PhD (Massey) TTC
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After gaining a PhD in animal behaviour, Alison taught
in secondary schools for seven years. She then returned to
the university environment, working first at Massey University
and now at the University of Waikato, where she is based in
the Department of Biological Sciences. Her current role, in
addition to teaching responsibilities, includes mentoring
first year biology students as well as supporting international
students at all levels of study. Recent research projects
in science education include a study on the teaching in first
year biology courses and student and teacher understanding
of evolution.
Dr Penelope Cooke
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Role: |
Researcher and
Content Development |
Qualifications:
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BSc, MSc (Hons),
PhD (Waikato) PGCE (Bath) |
Having completed her Masters degree in Earth Sciences,
Penny embarked on her OE and while living in the UK completed
a Postgraduate Certificate of Education at the University
of Bath. She then taught at secondary school for 2 years,
before returning to New Zealand where she started her PhD
in addition to being a first year undergraduate Earth Sciences
tutor. Now that she has finished her doctorate in Neogene
palaeoceanography - it was a study of the ancient Tasman Sea
over the last 19 million years, Penny is starting on a new
project, the result of a recently awarded a Comer Foundation
Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her postdoc research will focus on
the climate history of New Zealand from the perspective of
the sediment supply to the deep ocean off the east coast of
the South Island. Discussions with Alison regarding student
understanding of evolution and geological time prompted a
joint research project in science education on student and
teacher understanding of evolution and the scientific method.
Dr Kathrin Cass
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Role: |
Researcher and
Content writer |
Qualifications:
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Mag.rer.nat.
(Salzburg, Austria), PhD (Waikato) |
Kathrin has a PhD in Geoscience Education from the University
of Waikato. She is also a trained secondary school teacher
for Biology and Earth Sciences and she has taught at schools
in Austria and New Zealand. Kathrin has spent the last 10
years developing and researching Earth Science resources for
teachers mainly in out of classroom environments.
Kerry Earl |
Role: |
Project Coordinator |
Qualifications:
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Dip Tchg, BEd (Canterbury)
MEd (Hons) (Waikato) |
Kerry has a Master's degree in Education from the
University of Waikato. She has taught in primary and secondary schools
in New Zealand and Britain and the United States. She has
worked on a number of case study projects in schools and industry organisations. Kerry currently works as an education
researcher for The School of Science and Engineering at The University of Waikato with
her main focus being online education research and development. Kerry's personal research interests are personal and professional
development and organisational change.
Scientific
knowledge is objectively proven knowledge, with no space for
personal opinions, speculations or preferences. Its aim is to
explain and predict after careful study. However there are many
things that have not yet been answered, maybe because the
technology available is not advanced enough or maybe because the
question has not been thought of. So in some cases it is OK not
to have all the answers. On this website we have tried to
provide comprehensive information about evolution and our aim
was to include any relevant scientific material. If there are
any areas that you would like to see extended or if there are
any questions that we haven’t answered we invite you to contact
us and we will try to answer them if we can.
We are grateful to Dr Geoff Chambers and his colleagues,
from the Institute for Molecular Systematics (School of Biological
Sciences) at Victoria
University , for providing us with the information on
kea, kaka, kakapo, karariki, geckos, and cicadas.
We also gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Professor
David Lambert and his colleagues, from Massey University's
Institute of Molecular Biosciences and the
Allan Wilson Centre, in providing information on microevolution
in Adelie penguins.
Dr Carolyn (Kim) King from the Department of Biological
Sciences at The University of Waikato, and Professor John
A. Campbell from the Department of Communication at the University
of Memphis kindly provided commentaries for the section on
Darwin and Religion.
Thanks to Mike Eagle (Auckland Museum and University of
Auckland) for his donation of a fossil collection to the Dept.
of Earth Sciences, University of Waikato, which was used for
the photographs.
Thanks to Barry O'Brian (Dept. of Biological Sciences,
University of Waikato) for the time and effort he put in to
taking the fossil photos.
Thanks to Professor Cam Nelson and Associate Professor
Roger Briggs (Dept of Earth Sciences, University of Waikato)
for help with the geology of New Zealand section.
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