A Foundation of Knowledge

Animated evolution: evolution-of-life.com
Evolution, what’s that – exactly? And how may teenagers be interested in the subject? Dr. Pleuni Pennings, Evolutionary Biologist at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität at Munich, and Dr. Yannick Mahé, Biologist and Moviemaker at the French Centre National de Documentation Pédagogique (CNDP) use animations, movies and simulations – and the internet. Five highly entertaining short films are already available online: “Darwin on the evolution trail” embarks on a voyage around the world – together with Charles Darwin, aboard the Beagle. Piccolina, a tiny, but ancient water molecule, is involved in the evolution of the first cell – in “O as Origin”. Almost thriller-like: “An evolutionary arms race” – a breathtaking evolutionary battle between army ants, snails, beetles, and others. The principles of evolution are presented in “Mutations - selection: the bacteria resist”. And finally, it is “Evolution before our eyes”, when a tobacco virus adapts to a new host plant. The short films will not only be presented in the internet and at exhibitions, but are also intended to enthuse pupils for the subject. The biology didactic Professor Dr. Marcus Hammann und his team at the University of Münster are currently developing additional teaching materials and simulations.
The international multimedia project was one of the twelve winners of the idea competition “Evolution today” and is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation with 100.000 euros, a further 100.000 euros was allocated to the development of teaching materials.