First WWW Lab Instructions

Introducing World Wide Web (WWW or Web) Resources Available to You

This is a lab designed to introduce you to the WWW with emphasis on how it can help you learn about evolution. I will give more detailed in-lab instructions. The following is intended as a general overview of lab objectives.

See me or ask a classmate if you are new to Macintosh computers. Don't let the computer intimidate you. The secret of this lab is to click on any underlined links that look interesting to you. An example of such a link is:

Send Me Back to Bio 404 Home Page.

Hint: Learn to use the "Back" and "Forward" buttons effectively in order to get back to the Web page you started from. Try them now!

Part 1: How to Get on the Web

We will first cover the essential steps for getting to our class "Home Page" starting with sitting down in front of the computer. The address for the class is:
HTTP://biology.fullerton.edu/courses/biol_404/web/

Write this address down and you will have it accessible for future reference. If you are new to the Web and Web browsers like the Netscape program then also write down step-by-step instructions for what you did to get to this page. Make your instructions clear enough so that one of can follow it in a month or two when you are at a lab all by yourself.

Part 2: Exercise For Understanding Hierarchies

Understand how and why animals (and other organisms) are grouped as hierarchies. Also learn how to construct an indented classification hypothesis that is based on a cladogram. When you are ready to begin, click on:

Go to Hierarchies Tutorial

Part 3: Surfing the Web To Learn about Evolution and Organisms

Gain an increased appreciation for the tremendous diversity of life and its evolution, and to be aware of the wealth of resources available on the Web.

You will be asked to record the Web address, along with a sentence or two describing what you found there, for four sites that you can get to from one of the following links.

Go To General Evolutionary Biology WWW Links

Go To Organism WWW Links

Part 4: Free-form Web Searching

Learn how to use powerful WWW search engines to find information about practically anything.

To start this part, have someone from your group write your names followed by an organism name on the board. No two groups can choose the same organism! For searches to be effective, it will help if you choose a fairly specific animal name. "Racoon" or "crocodile" will work better than "dog" or "fly" because the latter two names will be found on many Web pages in different contexts that have nothing to do with the dogs and flies. Click on one of the provided links to a Web search engine: Lycos, Webcrawler, or Yahoo. Enter your search text and then click on the returned links until you find pages that provide information about your group's animal. If you cannot find any information, it is OK to start over with a different organism. Write down the name of your organism and between one and three Web addresses you found that provided information or images of it. Get to know your classmates and your instructors, emphasizing cooperative learning.

Extra Credit (1 point)

Email Prof. Eernisse at deernisse at fullerton dot edu. Do not forget to give me your name and email address if you have one and tell me what you did or did not like about the lab. I would like to hear from you.

Back to Bio 404 Home Page