About this course: In this course you will learn how evolution works. You will develop an understanding of evolutionary processes and their formative power. You will see how evolution has shaped biodiversity, and continuously influences our daily life. Evolution impacts human endeavors as varied as medicine, agriculture, psychology, economy, and culture. It is the major unifying principle for biology and a fundamental natural law. In five weeks we will make evolution accessible for you and help you to recognize evolutionary processes around you, in nature as well as in society. We make use of the unique collection of Naturalis, the natural history museum in Leiden, but also take you to the field. Using classical and up-to-date examples, we will show you how scientists address evolutionary questions. In the last module, we will have a look at the future. How will humans evolve? And how do we influence our own evolution and that of other organisms? This course is aimed at anybody with a drive to obtain a deeper, broader, and pragmatic understanding of evolution, including high-school students, BSc (undergraduate) biology students, MSc (graduate) students from other disciplines, medical professionals, conservation officers and educators in museums, libraries, national parks, and schools.
Who is this class for: The course is designed for everybody with interest in Evolution or biology in general. All the basics will be covered, so no academic knowledge on this subject is required. It might help when you graduated high school with biology, but it is definitely not necessary. People that like to learn how to do legitimate research in the Natural Sciences are also very welcome to join this course. This course is not meant for philosophical purposes. We do not discourage to discuss this topic on the forum, but our main approach is strictly scientific. We welcome everyone, but if you are not interested to learn about the science of evolution, this course is not for you. This course is free, and will remain free for participants. You can purchase a certificate.
Created by: Universiteit Leiden, Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Taught by: Menno Schilthuizen, Prof. Dr.
Naturalis Biodiversity Center and Leiden University
Taught by: Maurijn van der Zee, Dr.
Leiden University
Taught by: Rutger Vos, Dr.
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
| Level | Beginner |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Welcome to the course Evolution Today
Great that you are joining us! In this course you will learn about Evolution. Before you start with this course we invite you to first take a look around and meet your fellow learners. We would like to know what brings you here and what you would like to get out of the course. If you encounter any difficulties while studying, please let us know in the forum. For technical difficulties or questions regarding the course certificate, you can always contact the Coursera Learner Helpdesk. Good luck & we hope you will enjoy studying in this course!
6 readings
- Reading: Meet the instructors & the team
- Reading: Welcome to Leiden University!
- Reading: Complete our short survey
- Reading: Study tips for studying online
- Reading: Being successful in an international virtual learning community
- Reading: Behaving in an academic way
- Discussion Prompt: Introduce yourself
WEEK 2
Do we change?
In this module, you are going to learn that a very powerful mechanism, natural selection, leads to evolutionary change. We are going to have a detailed look at what is required for this natural selection. And, knowing these conditions, we can judge whether traits in humans are evolving at the moment. This is a surprisingly simple module. I am looking forward to discuss human evolution with you at the end!
5 videos, 5 readings, 4 practice quizzes
- Video: Introduction
- Video: Natural Selection
- Reading: Evolution is Everywhere
- Practice Quiz: Natural Selection
- Video: Natural Selection in the Field
- Reading: Observe it with your own eyes!
- Practice Quiz: Natural Selection in the Field
- Reading: Online lab simulated evolution
- Video: Dialogue
- Reading: Eyes, HIV and Human Body Height
- Practice Quiz: Human Evolution
- Video: Sexual selection
- Reading: Science evolves
- Practice Quiz: Sexual Selection
- Discussion Prompt: Let's talk about human evolution
- Discussion Prompt: Let's talk about muscles
- Discussion Prompt: Let's talk about our heads
- Discussion Prompt: Let's talk about human evolution in general
Graded: Test your knowledge
WEEK 3
How do we change?
This is a real puzzle-module. We are going to decipher the language of DNA, and see that mutations in this DNA lead to new variation. As we saw, variation is the raw material for natural selection. Thus, take your pen and pencil and unravel with me the code of your own DNA!
5 videos, 2 readings, 3 practice quizzes
- Video: Introduction
- Video: DNA
- Practice Quiz: E-tivity: translating a short human gene
- Video: Mutation
- Practice Quiz: E-tivity: mutations in human genes
- Video: Dialogue
- Reading: Imperfect weasels
- Video: Evo-devo
- Reading: Gene Switches
- Practice Quiz: E-tivity: playing with Hox-genes
Graded: Test your knowledge
WEEK 4
Who is this "we" anyway?
In the first two modules, we have asked ourselves whether we experience evolutionary change, and if so, how this change comes about. In this module, we will explore who this "we" is anyway: is it us, the individual? Is it our species? Our genes? Who is in charge here?
6 videos, 5 readings, 5 practice quizzes
- Video: Introduction
- Video: Levels of Organization
- Reading: The false allure of group selection by Steven Pinker
- Practice Quiz: Units of Selection
- Video: Selfish Units
- Reading: Distinguishing between Selfish DNA and The Selfish Gene
- Reading: Selfish cells
- Practice Quiz: The Good of the Species
- Video: Supressing Selfishness
- Reading: Video lecture on behavioral evolution by Robert Sapolsky
- Practice Quiz: Single Round Prisoner's Dilemma
- Practice Quiz: Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma
- Video: Promoting Collaboration
- Reading: Green beards and eusociality in the Red Imported Fire Ant
- Practice Quiz: Hamilton's rule
- Video: Discussion
- Discussion Prompt: Let's talk about...
Graded: Test your knowledge
WEEK 5
How have we (and haven't we) changed?
In this module, we will take a look at the limitations to evolution. Despite the strength of the process of natural selection, some things simply are not possible. Evolution has to play by the rules, and this module will explore what those rules are.
4 videos, 2 readings, 2 practice quizzes
- Video: Introduction
- Practice Quiz: Similarity and relatedness
- Video: Contingencies
- Reading: Contingencies
- Discussion Prompt: Can humans evolve better eyes?
- Video: Trade-offs and Compromises
- Discussion Prompt: Can you think of other trade-offs?
- Discussion Prompt: Trade-offs and sex in bedbugs
- Video: Evolutionary Inertia
- Practice Quiz: "Living fossils" and evolutionary inertia
- Reading: Interview with Dr. Paul Ewald
Graded: Test your knowledge
Graded: Maladaptation
WEEK 6
How will we change?
In this module, we will have a look at the future. How will humans evolve, and, as our impact on the world increases, how will we affect the evolution of other organisms?
5 videos, 5 readings, 3 practice quizzes
- Video: How will we change?
- Video: The Future Evolution of Humans
- Practice Quiz: Selection in humans today
- Reading: Current evolution in humans
- Discussion Prompt: Sexual selection in humans today
- Video: Human-Induced Rapid Evolutionary Change (HIREC)
- Reading: Videos on fast evolution in guppy fish
- Practice Quiz: Cities and caves
- Discussion Prompt: Evolutionary rescue and "evolvability"
- Video: Novel Ecosystems
- Reading: Op-ed on novel ecosystems from the New York Times
- Practice Quiz: Tele-coupling
- Video: Evolutionary Thinking
- Reading: An evolutionary computer game ("Niche")
- Discussion Prompt: Cancer cells adapting
- Reading: Complete our short survey
Graded: Test your knowledge
Graded: Final Exam of the Course
Graded: Discover HIREC where you live
FAQs
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Creators
Universiteit Leiden
Leiden University is one of Europe's foremost research universities. This prominent position gives our graduates a leading edge in applying for academic posts and for functions outside academia.
Leiden University is the oldest university in the Netherlands. It was founded in February 1575, as a gift from William of Orange to the citizens of Leiden after they had withstood a long siege by the Spanish. Our motto is: Praesidium Libertatis — Bastion of Liberty.
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Naturalis is the natural history museum of the Netherlands and the national research institute in biodiversity. We collect, conserve and study animals, plants and rocks. Our collection now contains 37 million objects and that makes it one of the largest in the world. And it is still growing each day thanks to the worldwide fieldwork of our researchers and many amateur scientists.
Ratings and Reviews
This course really made me think about evolution. :) Would recommend this course!
not overly demanding so far but really interactive and interesting. 5/5
Sensacional, muito bom. Mas poderia estar na língua portuguesa, traduzido para o português do Brasil.
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PH
A good course with interesting information. The only issue was on genetic codes.Cordons should have been marked off for ease of answering questions, a few of which were poorly worded. But overall, very good.