I received about 30, really useful responses to my query about good videos for a 2nd year evolution course. Many people wanted to hear what I heard back, so I have pasted the responses below. 'Thank you' to everyone who took the time to share their insights. Dr. Vicki Friesen, Professor Department of Biology, 4443 Biosciences, 116 Barrie Street, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada Tel: 613-533-6156 Fax: 613-533-6617 Haida Saying: Treat the Earth well: it is not given to us by our parents, it is loaned to us by our children. The "Stated Clearly" animations are short but very good. Cheers, Julia Dr Julia D Sigwart This youtube video is extremely lucid and well produced & comes with a simulator associated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeTssvexa9s ps Part II goes into quite advanced issues on mutational load. Richard Nichols I hope this is useful http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM2702731&R=2702731 Pedro -- Pedro Fernandes This site, while focused on ecology, had several good ones for evolution. https://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/videos-for-teaching-ecology/ Best wishes, Sam [Zeheloff] I am teaching an Evolutionary genetics/populations genomics course at Master level, and I am always starting with a course on the scientific theory of evolution based on J Coyne great 2009 book, it might be too general but I think it really gives a great overview of ideas and context for any evolution course, so I make my students watch J Coyne video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqGX08Og4CE that you may know, but just in case all the best Pauline [Garnier-Gere] This is not a movie - rather a computer dynamic illustration a bit in the game category - but it might be of help. http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/gn/ex/mit-eve.html Best wishes, --henry [Schaffer] I use short ( <10min) clips from the following documentaries 1st choice: What Darwin didn't know (BBC Documetary) Armand Marie Leroi This is a DVD that you can borrow/buy. Currently not available on you tube, removed for copyright issues. Occasionally shows-up in YouTube, for a while. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2001160/ http://eweb.furman.edu/~jfoltz/Courses/BIO102/lect/Videos/WDDK_transcript.pdf Not really as good... in my opinion: Evolution - What Darwin Never Knew - NOVA PBS Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYBRbCLI4zU Best, Pedro -- Pedro Fernandes I saw your Evoldir note. I have a series of videos, based on the style of the Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org/ ), that could possible serve your needs. Khan has pioneered the reverse classroom approach, where the students first watch a short video then come to class to discuss it. My videos are aimed at high school and early college students. There are 54 short (15 min) videos, and a growing series of circa 1 hour lectures on a variety of topics (http://post.queensu.ca/~forsdyke/videolectures.htm). Kingston, of course, has much to do with the development of evolutionary ideas, Darwin's research associate, George Romanes, being born here in 1848! My attempts to get the new medical school building south of Earl Hall named Romanes Hall have so far been unsuccessful. Should the students be interested, more can be found in my textbook (Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 2nd edition 2011), and there are my earlier historical works (The Origin of Species Revisited, McGill Queen's Press 2001, and a biography of William Bateson 2008). Don [Forsdyke] The HHMI BioInteractive Evolution series is absolutely wonderful. I use almost all of them in my teaching 2nd/3rd year Evolution students. In particular, the series of short films in The Making of the Fittest series are great (see link below). There are also interactive activities that go along with the videos, although I have never used those. Best of luck, Jannice http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/making-fittest http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/explore-evolution Jannice Friedman The american public broadcasting company (PBS; equiv to BBC) did a series several years ago called 'Evolution' (as part of their NOVA science productions) for which there is a boxed set of DVDs. There are also snippets of this series on YouTube. I also use Freeman and Herron (or now Herron and Freeman, since the 5th Ed came out) in my ugrad Evolution class, and have used some material from this series as short interludes in class (usually 5-20 mins). It can sometimes be a bit basic in terms of content, but is nicely produced and uses interesting and/or pretty examples. You can find more info and some snippets (and probably links on where to buy) here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/ all the best, - Leonie Leonie C. Moyle hi Vicki I show BBC Life of Birds: Finding partners to introduce sexual selection. [Laura Nagel] I found the HHMI evolution videos extremely useful for a third year evolution course last semester. I used the Darwin's Finches video, the Rock Pocket Mouse video, the Stickleback video and the Anolis video. Peter Grant connected me with the site when I asked him if he had any raw data from the Galapagos finches. My goal was to show the class some interesting individual variation data. As you'll see, the HHMI videos come with exercises, and graphing individual variation before and after a selection event was just what I was looking for. I also used the Anolis phylogeny reconstruction exercises. Only problem: They are short and won't give you an entire lecture break. The fact that they are short isn't bad though. I told the students to look at them all again before the exam. A request that a bit less demanding than it would have been if each was an hour long. Good luck, John Taylor I generally use youtube, with the "filter for videos <4 minutes" for short teaching videos. For longer options, I've shown both of these in different years: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/darwin-never-knew.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPdMmusV1ZU And, for a somewhat racist/sexist view of human evolution - at times sounds like 'lucky few escaped Africa' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dDXIX-y6aY (though my institution bought video for higher quality) [Laura Katz] Dear Dr. Friesen The Howard Hughes Medical Institution have produced several videos that I consider very good to teach different topics in Evolution. I got some DVD at the Evolution meetings over the past years, but they should be available at their web page: http://www.hhmi.org/ Check them out as they are short, and they incorporate an historical perspective, interviews with researchers and some techniques. Sincerely, m -- Dra. Mariana Morando I would recommend the HHMI BioInteractive videos. There are quite a few evolution ones. Some are short, some are longer. (http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/browse?&field_bio_biointeractive_topics[0]#477) I used the Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree video in my class this year (http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/origin-species-lizards-evolutionary-tree) and the students loved it. Plus, each HHMI video comes with teaching guides and quiz questions, which are helpful. If you are looking for something that is slightly more general, I would strongly recommend the BBC's 3-part Galapagos series. I showed my students the 2nd part as an introduction to Darwin and how he started figuring out natural selection. That entire series is absolutely breathtaking and inspiring, from a biodiversity standpoint. I have also used a NOVA scienceNOW video on mass extinction (http://youtu.be/ENR2KNEAYEw), which is also quite good. I hope these suggestions are helpful. Best wishes and enjoy! Amber Rice I am in the same boat as you; teaching an upper-level evolution course at the same time. I am using Herron and Freeman too. I am also looking for ways to diversity the teaching. For starters, I would recommend the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's video library. Here is the link: http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive. They have lots of videos that range in topics from medicine to evolution and the videos are free to educators. I am using the first chapter case study in my class and the HHMI video on HIV is an excellent resource. I'm not using the lecture part of the video, but instead I am incorporating the animations regarding how HIV infects a cell. The video is a wonderful complement to the text. (The video on HIV is found in the Holiday Lecture section of the web site.) They also have 'Your Inner Fish' and several other evolutionary videos. The videos took me about a week to get in the US; I'm not sure how long that it would take to get to you. Still, you can stream them as well. They also have virtual labs that I may incorporate. Here is another site that has information on evolutionary labs: http://www.faculty.virginia.edu/evolutionlabs/LabCourseMainPage.html I hope this helps. If you have anything that you are excited about, please feel free to share it with me. Best, Sheila [Lyons-Sobaski] Howdy, There are lots of good videos on evolution. 1. BBC Walking with cavemen, Walking with Dinosaurs, etc. movie 2. PBS series on Evolution 3. PBS series on "Your Inner Fish", "Your inner reptile," "Your inner monkey" 4. HHMI has a bunch of great videos on HIV, sticklebacks, etc. These are the ones that I use. Cheers, Becky Fuller I use, and highly recommend, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's "Making of the Fittest" series in my Evolution class, with their associated activities (free materials for download, or you can purchase). http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/making-fittest Their stuff is 8-15 minutes or so, but with added activities they can fill plenty of time. They also have many other really good films about many other topics. Ellen -- Ellen E. Hostert You're free to use the videos from my online Coursera course "Introduction to Genetics and Evolution". I have videos on Hardy Weinberg and other topics. However, they're basically just lectures, so not sure if that's what you're looking for. Best wishes, MN [Mohamed Noor] Your inner fish is great choice. Please share the responses you get as I am also hoping to use videos in my class Santiago [Santiago Ramirez] This might sound crazy, but I have my students watch an episode of Meerkat Manor with the evolution of behavior section of my course. They then write an essay on the costs and benefits of sociality using examples from the episode they watched. Pretty much any episode works for this and a lot of my students really enjoyed the show! Other than that, I use a lot of <5 minute nature clips for the course to give us a little breather. --Ajna [Rivera] I would be interested in the responses that you get about teaching videos for evolution. I have found some of the SimBio exercises (not videos, though) useful for some topics. Ann Sakai Here's another one http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/gn/ex/y-chrom.html which deals with the Y chromosome. Notice that it's actually the same math behind the scenes - in both exercises it's neutral drift at work. If you use both, students can't complain that it's gender biased. :-) I've done a number of these computer based simulations - here's one which deals with selection and this one is deterministic http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/gn412/select-sb.html This was written for an upper level course in which the students bred several generations of Sb Drosophila melanogaster and estimated the selection coefficient - and then ran this to discuss what happens over a longer time. So for the h value you get to enter - you might want to try it with both .3 and -.3 --henry [Schaffer] I don't know if this is quite what you are looking for, but here is a fun/interesting video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpQZj4M_Z2M It was brought to my attention mostly because Scott makes an appearance in it, and it is on the evolution of speed in different organisms. The people who make it might have other videos too...it looks like they have one on the evolution of venom too. You may already know of this one too, but the lab of O has some excellent shorter videos in their birds of paradise project site: http://www.birdsofparadiseproject.org/index.php Look at the Evolution in Isolation section...and of course the videos of the different species are excellent as well! Good luck! Allison -- Allison Shultz I am also teaching from this text this semester so I am hoping you can send along anything you hear about. I am a big fan of the HHMI video collections http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/explore-evolution and I am currently looking through the Peabody Museum's videos http://peabody.yale.edu/peabody-online/video-podcasts. The Smithsonian also has some good stuff. Take care, Diane [Ramos] You may already be aware of the selection of evolution videos available through HHMI but here are some relevant HHMI links in case you don't. You can request physical copies of many (most? All?) of the videos you find or stream them online. http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/origin-species http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/browse?&field_bio_biointeractive_topics%5B0%5D#477&field_bio_bio_series%5B1%5D#165 Once you get going you'll find all kinds of stuff. I think all of the videos are 30 minutes or less but some have interactive activities to go with them or can be used in conjunction with several 'virtual labs' (http://www.hhmi.org/order-materials/virtual-labs/virtual-lab-series) that are free (you can also requests this lab series on CD but they are also available directly online). The stickleback video and possibly the lab as well might do well for your adaptation treatment - that virtual stickleback lab is the only one I've looked at thoroughly and I was impressed enough that I plan to use it myself. I'm interested in what else you turn up - particularly interactive simulations and labs. Please keep me in mind if you had not already planned to post a summary of what comes your way on evoldir. Hope some of this is useful to you. Paul [Mack] HHMI has made a lot of useful biology education videos of various lengths: http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/ Over 100 of them are on evolution: http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/browse?&field_bio_biointeractive_topics[0]#477 I also recommend the recent program made for U.S. public television, Your Inner Fish. The programs are about the length you're looking for: http://www.pbs.org/your-inner-fish/home/ Finally, PBS (U.S. public television) made an 8-part series on evolution a few years ago that is available as a boxed set: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/ If you receive other replies that you think are useful, would you share them with the list or at least with me? Thank you! Cheers, --Sarah Stockwell I hope this finds you well. I know this response is a little late, but I am a first year professor at my institution teaching a course that sounds similar to what you described (an introductory evolution course to 2nd and 3rd year students). I have found that the Howard Hughes Medical Institute has a lot of good teaching material (including videos) for a number of courses, but especially for Evolution: http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive I would also be interested to hear if you got any good suggestions from your earlier email. Cheers, David Weese Finally, Tim Frasier kindly shared his compilation: Hi Vicki, Attached are the videos I use for my 2nd-year evolution course. Most are available online, but some require the actual DVDs. They are of varying quality, some are fantastic and others less so. I hope this is helpful! Sincerely, Tim Frasier 1. Evolution - General http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhHOjC4oxh8 2. Mutations and Variation (Ken Miller: Chimp & Human Chromosomes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi8FfMBYCkk 3. Natural Selection a. Beak of the finch (through about 11:38) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcM23M-CCog b. Coat colouration in mice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjeSEngKGrg c. Fallacy of Lemming Suicide i. Original Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMZlr5Gf9yY ii. Follow-up (20:58-26:54): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG4jnhrSukQ 4. Sexual Selection a. Ibex fighting: Planet Earth, Episode 5, deserts (27:24 - 31:30) b. Human (vampires) fighting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meOGODW9u4k c. Right whales sperm competition: Life of Mammals, Disk 3 (44:12 - ) 5. Female Choice a. Seinfeld: What do women want? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bts28rz0lJ0 b. Bird examples: Life of Birds, Disc 2, 1:05 - 4:20, 14:30 - 20:00, 32:00 - 34:43 6. Adaptations Richard Dawkins "Growing Up In The Universe": First ~8 minutes (Intro, comparison to a lock and key) 14:30 ~ 18:00 (Intro to Mount Improbable) 23:28 ~ 39:42 (Evolution of eyes) 39:50 ~ 45:23 (Evolution of wings) 7. Speciation a. Salamander Ring Species: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjcFSy1KCTI b. Richard Dawkins, when do you have a new species?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ClZROoyNM 8. Other great online references a. Smithsonian Human Evolution Site: http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-family-tree b. BBC History of Life on Earth: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth c. Tree of Life: http://tolweb.org/tree vlf@queensu.ca