Introduction to Genetics and Evolution is a college-level class being offered simultaneously to new students at Duke University. The course gives interested people a very basic overview of some principles behind these very fundamental areas of biology. We often hear about new "genome sequences," commercial kits that can tell you about your ancestry (including pre-human) from your DNA or disease predispositions, debates about the truth of evolution, why animals behave the way they do, and how people found "genetic evidence for natural selection." This course provides the basic biology you need to understand all of these issues better, tries to clarify some misconceptions, and tries to prepare students for future, more advanced coursework in Biology (and especially evolutionary genetics). No prior coursework is assumed.
Offered By
Introduction to Genetics and Evolution
Duke UniversityAbout this Course
Skills you will gain
- Biology
- Genetics
- Evolution
- Genomics
Offered by
Duke University
Duke University has about 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students and a world-class faculty helping to expand the frontiers of knowledge. The university has a strong commitment to applying knowledge in service to society, both near its North Carolina campus and around the world.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Welcome to Genetics and Evolution
General introduction to this MOOC, including coverage and expectations.
Evidence for Evolution
This module discusses the definition of the word "evolution" in a biological context, evidence for the truth of evolution and common ancestry of species, and public thoughts and misconceptions about biological evolution. This module is optional and will not be included in the course assessments. There are not class discussion forums for this section, as we feel such discussion can happen on other, non-course-related, sites on this topic (of which there are a great many on the internet).
Genetics I
An introduction to basic transmission genetics and inheritance. This module reflects what is often covered in high school biology courses in the USA.
Genetics II
This module delves somewhat more deeply into genetics and specifically the concept of "recombination." It begins to discuss how recombination is leveraged in classic genetic works as well as mapping simple genetic traits using crosses or data from natural populations.
Genetics III
This module delves even more deeply into the complexities of the genetics underlying traits,the origin of genetic variation, and how "complex" traits (ones controlled by multiple genes) are studied genetically.
Reviews
- 5 stars85.56%
- 4 stars11.35%
- 3 stars1.65%
- 2 stars0.64%
- 1 star0.79%
TOP REVIEWS FROM INTRODUCTION TO GENETICS AND EVOLUTION
I really enjoyed the classes and the supplemental materials available. I loved how the lessons were taught and explained by Dr. Mohamed Noor and I really enjoyed the content of the classes.
An amazing course that explains so many natural phenomena. Dr Noor is a passionate, interesting and fun lecturer and was able to fit so much interesting and helpful sections into this course.
Perfectly designed course. Really interesting videos and tests that are actually fun to take part in. Highly recommended for everyone interested in Biology. Cheers Darwin and Wallace.
The course is very good and I learnt a lot from this course. I was able to get the basic understanding of genetics and evolution. The instructor is also magnificent he makes everything simpler.
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