EVO: Ten Questions Everyone Should Ask About Evolution
All living things, and even the non-living, are interdependent. This interdependence came about through 3.4 billion years of the evolution of life.
“EVO: Ten Questions Everyone Should Ask about Evolution” makes innovative use of DVD technology and an inquiry-based approach to help students and teachers explore evolution within high school and introductory college curricula. EVO stresses that cooperation is as important in evolution as competition. The DVD engages students in evolution through the words of top evolutionary biologists, narration, stunning cinematography and animation. It consists of ten short films based on ten essential questions in evolution. The DVD is structured to incorporate group discussion into the learning process and challenges students to grapple with important scientific ideas. EVO awakens in students a lively interest in scientific inquiry.
A Teachers’ Guide, to be written under the supervision of noted science educator Rodger Bybee, provides an effective structure for inviting students into evolutionary inquiry. It organizes the DVD - based lessons and includes specific learning goals, formative assessments, questions that involve higher order thinking, and additional content background that will help teachers successfully teach this program in their diverse classrooms. EVO’s flexible structure makes it adaptable to a variety of classroom settings and will integrate well into learning and presentation technology that teachers already use in their classrooms. The contents of the DVD and Teachers’ Guide conform to state and national science standards. EVO has a review committee of evolutionary scientists to oversee the accuracy of the production as well as an advisory committee of high school biology teachers.
EVO grew out of the World Summit on Evolution that was held in June 2005 on the Galapagos Islands. Hosted by the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, the Summit brought together the world’s most important evolutionary scientists for discussion and debate.
EVO will be distributed via education publishers, catalogs, and e-stores to reach a diverse group of high school and college biology teachers nationwide.
The Ten Questions
- What is evolution?
- Who was Charles Darwin?
- What is natural selection?
- What is a species?
- Where do heritable variations come from?
- What is cooperation?
- What is the controversy?
- Is evolution random?
- What is a brief history of life?
- Can we control our own evolution?
“EVO” includes interviews with:
Prof. Leticia Aviles (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Prof. William Calvin (University of Washington, USA)
Prof. Daniel Dennett (Tufts University, USA)
Dr. Niles Eldredge (American Museum of Natural History, USA)
Prof. Douglas Futuyma (State University of New York-Stony Brook, USA)
Prof. Pierre-Henri Gouyon (Université Paris-Sud, France)
Prof. Peter Grant (Princeton University, USA)
Prof. Rosemary Grant (Princeton University, USA)
Prof. Laura Katz (Smith College, USA)
Prof. Antonio Lazcano (Universidad Autónoma de México, Mexico)
Prof. Lynn Margulis (University of Massachusetts-Amherst, USA)
Prof. Geoff McFadden (University of Melbourne, Australia)
Prof. Richard Michod (University of Arizona, USA)
Prof. William Provine (Cornell University, USA)
Prof. Joan Roughgarden (Stanford University, USA)
Prof. Samuel Scheiner (National Science Foundation, USA)
Dr. Michael Shermer (Skeptic Magazine, USA)
Prof. Frank Sulloway (University of California-Berkeley, USA)
The Filmmaker
EVO is being written and directed by award-winning filmmaker John Feldman. John Feldman has been making films for nearly 40 years. He has made four award winning independent theatrical feature films and many documentaries and non-fiction works. His films have won numerous honors and received considerable critical acclaim. He is also highly regarded as a writer and director of business, educational, and corporate films and has developed a reputation for being able to explain complex subjects to a lay audience in an engaging and informative way. Clients include many Fortune 500 companies and not-for-profits. In 1997, John Feldman devoted the full attention of his production company, Hummingbird Films LLC, to digital video. His movie, “Who the Hell is Bobby Roos?” which won the New American Cinema Award, is considered a pioneering digital feature. Currently, Mr. Feldman is concentrating his company’s efforts – and his skills – on creating educational videos which are engaging to high school students (a tough audience!) and helps them learn (and helps their teachers teach) about science and the arts. He has an MFA in filmmaking from Temple University, a BA in biology from the University of Chicago and a lifelong passion for the natural sciences.
Producers
John Feldman, Hummingbird Films, New York
Rodger Bybee, Executive Director Emeritus, BSCS, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Hugo Burgos, Dean, Universidad San Francisco de Quito.
Carlos Montufar, President, Universidad San Francisco de Quito