[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-595423-105":59,"doc-detail-595423-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","evolving-the-concept-of-homology-teaching-exercise-for-homology","Evolving the Concept of Homology - Teaching Exercise for Homology","","Understanding homology is central to learning evolution, and this study presents a flexible classroom exercise in which students research the fate of homologous fish skull elements and create a mural to support learning. Starting from the bowfin, Amia calva, students trace bone changes through time and across lineages, learning names and association patterns rather than memorizing. Group work builds comparative insight across fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/evolving-the-concept-of-homology-teaching-exercise-for-homology/595423/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/evolving-the-concept-of-homology-teaching-exercise-for-homology/595423.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Blitz","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":14},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What teaching exercise is proposed to help students learn homology?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Students compile research on homologous fish skull elements and assemble a mural as a learning aid.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why is Amia calva (the bowfin) used as the starting organism?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Its skull represents many bony fish elements and its lineage has early fossils, making it suitable for tracing primitive skull bone patterns.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does the approach improve understanding compared with memorizing bone names?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It emphasizes bone group associations and relationships among structures and functions, helping students grasp evolutionary processes that shaped vertebrate complexes.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},595423,1792664210,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":14,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":24,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},24464137899374,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Evolving the Concept of Homology  \nVirginia L. Naples*, Jon S. Miller  \nDepartment of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University  \nDeKalb, Illinois 60115-286  \n[Email: vlnaples@niu.edu](Email: vlnaples@niu.edu)  \n*Corresponding author  \nAbstract: Understanding homology is fundamental to learning about evolution. The present study shows an exercise that can be varied in complexity, for which students compile research illustrating the fate of homologous fish skull elements, and assemble a mural to serve as a learning aid. The skull of the most primitive living Actinopterygian (bony fish), the bowfin, Amia calva, is the starting point for tracing the evolutionary fate of homologous bones in other living and extinct vertebrates. By tracing bone fates through time and across lineages, students learn both their names and association patterns. Emphasizing bone group associations, structures and functions replaces memorization of names, while facilitating understanding of evolutionary processes that shaped complexes and the vertebrates in which they occur. Working in groups, students learn cranial ossification patterns from fish to amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds that might otherwise seem unpredictable or unrelated to natural selection. Goals of this project include clarifying evolutionary processes, relating complex structures to functions, and assisting students in gaining a deeper understanding of features that define vertebrate anatomical relationships.  \nKeywords: Homology, evolution, vertebrates, fossils, comparative anatomy  \nIntroduction  \nOne of the most fundamental concepts underlying student understanding of the theory of evolution is homology, a term coined by Sir Richard Owen in 1848, which discusses the structure of the skeleton in vertebrates (Owen, 1848) . Homology maybe defined simply as organs or body parts that arose from a common origin, but may have diverged in appearance, function or both over time. Yet students often have difficulty in grasping the implications of this idea. An excellent means of illustrating complex concepts is to show examples that reveal their meaning. Such examples are even more instructive when students identify them using their own resources, by developing their own ideas while doing research on topics they have chosen.  \nIn teaching organismal components of courses ranging from introductory biology and zoology and those for which the main focus is exposition of evolutionary processes, such as comparative vertebrate anatomy, evolution, vertebrate paleontology and natural history, it is essential to convey the role the theory of evolution plays in allowing scientists to predict and interpret the relationships between living and extinct taxa. Evolution serves as a way of explaining relationships of living organisms as they change through time (succinctly defined as descent with modification) . It is essential for those engaged in teaching science, especially evolution, to ensure that  \nstudents learn both the precise language of evolutionary theory, and how to interpret correctly the complexities inherent in the understanding of concepts such as homology, natural selection and phylogeny. Moreover, a true understanding of these important biological concepts requires a person to be able to apply them to examples from the fossil record and living organisms. This is one definition of critical thinking, a skill all students must master to enable them to evaluate the quality of information from all sources, and a main goal of education across all subjects and at all levels.  \nTherefore, this study proposes an innovative method of teaching homology, a fundamental concept inherent to an understanding of evolution. The exercises described here allow students to interact among their own groups to discover how patterns change through time, using a study of the skull bones of fishes. Many courses in organismal biology require students to learn about the skeletons of animals. This is often","cbCairlze1IfmXqp","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairlze1IfmXqp","pdf",377050,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Homology as a core concept in evolution\n## Teaching evolution and critical thinking\n## Proposed teaching method and learning goals","[{\"question\":\"What teaching exercise is proposed to help students learn homology?\",\"answer\":\"Students compile research on homologous fish skull elements and assemble a mural as a learning aid.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is Amia calva (the bowfin) used as the starting organism?\",\"answer\":\"Its skull represents many bony fish elements and its lineage has early fossils, making it suitable for tracing primitive skull bone patterns.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the approach improve understanding compared with memorizing bone names?\",\"answer\":\"It emphasizes bone group associations and relationships among structures and functions, helping students grasp evolutionary processes that shaped vertebrate complexes.\"}]","Evolving the Concept of Homology - Teaching Exercise for Homology | PDF",1792081111,13]