Unit 1 Section 7: Evolution of Living Things

Part a | Part b | Part c |  Lab 1 | Lab 2 | Key terms | Term Review | Concept Review | Weekly Quiz | Quizstar

 

 

Did Charles Darwin say man evolved from a monkey?

 

 

 

When observing nature we see that we share the planet with millions of other organisms of every imaginable shape, size, and habitat. All of these different living things here on earth make up the diversity of life (biological diversity). Nature itself has presented us with a question. How did all of these different organisms come to be? How are they related? These questions hit at the heart of the puzzle of  the biological diversity we see today on this planet.

 

The scientific explanation for this diversity of life is a collection of scientific facts, observations, and hypotheses called the evolution theory. Remember: a theory is a well-supported testable explanation of phenomena that have occurred in the natural world. Evolution, sometimes also called, change over time, is the process by which generations of organisms have descended from ancient organisms.

 

 

Evolution: the process by which living things change over a period of time.

 

 

How long ago did people begin thinking about Evolution: check out this link – History of Evolutionary Thought.

 

 

 

Who was Charles Darwin?

In what country did Charles Darwin live?

Charles Darwin was born on 12 February, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. His father, Robert Darwin, was a physician, the son of Erasmus Darwin, a poet, philosopher, and naturalist. Charles's mother, Susannah Wedgwood Darwin, died when he was eight years old. At age sixteen, Darwin left Shrewsbury to study medicine at Edinburgh University. Repelled by the sight of surgery performed without anesthesia, he eventually went to Cambridge University to prepare to become a clergyman in the Church of England. After receiving his degree, Darwin accepted an invitation to serve as an unpaid naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle, which departed on a five-year scientific expedition to the Pacific coast of South America on 31 December, 1831. Darwin's research resulting from this voyage formed the basis of his famous book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Published in 1859, the work aroused a storm of controversy. Here Darwin outlined his theory of evolution, challenging the contemporary beliefs about the creation of life on earth. Darwin continued to write and publish his works on biology throughout his life. He lived with his wife and children at their home in the village of Downe, fifteen miles from London. Thought now to have suffered from panic disorder, as well as from Chagas' disease contracted during his travels in South America, Darwin was plagued with fatigue and intestinal sickness for the rest of his life. He died on 19 April, 1882, and lies buried in Westminster Abbey.

The Voyage: Excerpt from Charles Darwin's Autobiography

"During some part of the day I wrote my journal, and took much pains in describing carefully and vividly all that I had seen; and this was a good practice.... Everything about which I thought or read was made to bear directly on what I had seen and was likely to see; and this habit of mind was continued during the five years of the voyage. I feel sure that it was this training which has enabled me to do whatever I have done in science."

Darwin spent 20 years gathering evidence and writing about his theory before he published it. He anguished over the controversy it would create in Victorian England. If the naturalist Alfred Wallace hadn't come to similar conclusions and written to Darwin for help in presenting them, it might have been even longer before the world heard about On the Origin of Species.

Take a peek at Darwin's Diary.

Today it is widely accepted that the Earth orbits the Sun and not the other way around. But before Copernicus proposed this idea in 1543, people did not understand the structure of the solar system. They assumed that Earth was at the center of everything. Similarly, before Darwin published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, most people assumed that each species appeared on Earth spontaneously and was unrelated to other living things. Today, thanks to Darwin, it is generally accepted that all living things are related. They share, in Darwin's terms, a common ancestor. We now know that they also share a common genetic blueprint. So when Darwin observed nature, what did he see that led him to his revolutionary perspective? How did he develop his theory of evolution by natural selection?

The turning point in Darwin's life seemed to be when he set off on his voyage.

1.7a Assignment - Evolution of Living things
Scoring rubric

Working in pairs complete Darwin's Great Voyage of Discovery.  (Click here for full directions)

1. Read Activity one and complete Part A (Putting Darwin on the Map) and part B (Observations Lead to a Theory).
• Be sure to list out and number separately the longitude and latitude measurements from his diary in the correct time sequence (see #2).
• Put your illustrations from the voyage on another sheet of paper (see #4).
• Color your  map  (make it look nice).
• Do not do number 5 on part A or number 2 on part B.

 

• Honors biology: complete/include number 2 on part B. (concept map link ) concept map of concept mapping
• Microsoft word can be use to create your concept map (Click on: insert, picture, then AutoShapes: right click on shapes to add text, connect with lines using draw tool, 07 version use smart art)
• Or check to see if your computer has the program - Inspirations.
• Remember read and follow the directions carefully.
• Staple all pages together (rubric on top-follow order of rubric).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charles Darwin did not say "man evolved from monkeys".
When asked if humans fit into his theory of natural selection, Darwin said that man and monkey may have had a common ancestor. After this public statement, a newspaper ran the headline, "Darwin says man evolved from monkeys".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charles Darwin lived in England.