Darwin didn't discover evolution;
there were many other scientists before him who had argued that species were not
immutable. In this part, you will explore the ideas of three scientists: Lamarck, Wallace,
and Darwin.
1. |
Read Jean
Lamarck's "Zoological Philosophy." |
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What is the role of the environment in Lamarck's
explanation? |
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What scientific approach is suggested by Lamarck's
statement: "Nothing of all this can be considered as hypothesis or private opinion;
on the contrary, they are truths which, in order to be made clear, only require attention
and the observation of facts." |
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Was Lamarck's explanation scientific? Why or why not? |
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Can you propose any other explanations for Lamarck's
observations about the disuse and use of organs? |
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2. |
Read Alfred
Russel Wallace's "On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the
Original Type." |
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How would you characterize Wallace's idea, "The life
of wild animals is a struggle for existence?" How is Wallace's view scientific? |
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Wallace claims that "useful variations will tend to
increase, unuseful or hurtful variations to diminish." How does this occur? What
evidence does he cite? |
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How does Wallace's explanation differ from Lamarck's? |
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What do you think of Wallace's critique of Lamarck's
hypotheses? |
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3. |
Read excerpts
from Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. |
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What led Darwin to formulate his ideas about the origin
of species? |
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On what did he base his explanations? |
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What did Darwin propose as the origin of species? |
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Was Darwin's explanation scientific? Why or why not? |
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How did Darwin attempt to determine how modifications of
a species are accomplished? |
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How did Darwin explain the incomplete nature of his
ideas? |
After reading all three scientists' views of evolution, answer this
question:
What was the relationship of Lamarck's and Wallace's work to Darwin's? On a piece of
paper, create a chart to compare and contrast Lamarck, Wallace, and Darwin's theories, and
identify the connections between each evolutionary theory.
-- This activity is adapted from Teaching Evolution and the Nature of Science
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