Skip to main content

Table 1 Student learning outcomes for the Evolution and Medicine supplement as determined by the advisory board

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.