From: Evolution and Medicine: An Inquiry-Based High School Curriculum Supplement
1. Students will understand the importance of evolutionary comparisons for studying biomedical problems. |
 • Students will understand the importance of biologists studying genomes of a large number of other organisms and other humans. |
 • Students will appreciate the value of using other organisms as model systems for studying health-related issues in humans. |
 • Students will recognize that the rates of evolutionary change in genetic sequences give clues about the role of purifying and diversifying selection on that region. |
 • Students will be able to describe how rates of evolution relate to medical applications (for example, how the mechanisms of evolution affect the development and use of vaccines). |
2. Students will understand the role of evolution in diseases. |
 • Students will understand that evolution explains many aspects of why humans (as a species) are the way they are. |
 • Students will understand that health and disease are related to our evolutionary history. |
 • Students will understand that selection is acting at the level of the phenotype, and phenotype is a product of genes, environment, and their interactions. |
 • Students will understand that natural selection influences health only to the extent that it influences reproductive success. |
 • Students will understand that evolution often involves tradeoffs which can influence health. |
3. Students will understand the role of evolution in infectious diseases, including evolution of antibiotic and antiviral resistance. |
 • Students will be able to describe how evolutionary processes can affect antibiotic/antiviral resistance. |
 • Students will understand the role of evolutionary theory in the development and use of vaccines and other treatments. |
 • Students will understand the role of evolutionary theory in identifying and understanding the origin and trajectory of pathogens. |