Are there good/bad analogies used when teaching evolution? Students have so many embedded and intransigent misconceptions regarding this topic, sometimes it's difficult to know what the students understand. One common misconception is that species "improve," almost on the level of subscribing to the "ladder" conception of evolution. I like the Red Queen (treadmill) analogy for single species as well as evolutionary arms races. I tell my students that my grandmother made $300 per year. My father, when I was a child, made about $300 per month, and it takes me less than a week to make the same money. Am I the richest? The students see that income cannot be the only factor. Cost of living rises, too. I may not reach every student, but many see the point I'm trying to make. Please use this discussion to talk about your experience with analogies in evolution that work or don't work. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
The technological transformation of mobile phones can be perfectly used in the analogy. Changes occur in species and mobile phones in response to some changes in the external environment.
Thank you for your answer. I agree 100%. I have used mobile phones and their different features (eg. speed, security, camera quality) to illustrate the concept of "consumer selection" in a 3-D graph setting to illustrate selection in nature. If you place these qualities using a 3D graph, you can get a landscape showing the "best competitors." That Darwin's theory can be used to explain more than what it was meant to explain shows its scope (one of the five criteria put forward by Kuhn).
There is a Dutch book written by Bas Haring, "Cheese and the Theory of Ecolution", which revolves around just this theme. On the author's website (http://www.basharing.com/english/), a free English translation is made available. The book uses many analogies, the most prominent of which is that of a room full of copiers, which recieve papers to copy that also have instructions coded into them (an analogy for DNA). For example, if the paper says "print me in bold", the printed paper will always be bold. Haring has a truly engaging and understandable writing style, and purposely choses his words for the understanding of younger children to read the text on their own. It's an engaging, funny read, and I can highly recommend it for your purposes.
I will add that book to my list for gifts to myself :) Thanks so much for your reply and detailed info.
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