working together, 4-5 students per question, each student just answers one question, but pick a different question than you worked on in the other Critical thinking blog post.
1. What's the purpose of this chapter?
2. What's the key question of the chapter?
3. What's the most important information in the chapter?
4. What are the key concepts of this chapter?
5. What does the author mean by those concepts?
6. What is the point of view or views of the chapter?
Some key concepts from Chapter Three are the Beagle Expedition, Lyell's "Principles of Geology", uniformitarianism, adaption to niches, the fixity of species, transmutation, natural selection, Utilitarianism (Malthus), and the idea of laissez-faire.
ReplyDeleteThe Beagle Expedition was a projected two-year expedition to chart the southern coast of South America and the islands of the South Pacific. This led to Darwin's theory of rising continents and sinking ocean floors. It also led to his theory of plant and animal distribution based on environmental factors.
The "Principles of Geology" was a controversial publication by Lyell that expressed his idea of uniformitarianism. It was left off of the reading list given to Darwin by Sedgwick for his Beagle expedition, but a copy was given to Darwin by the ship's captain Robert FitzRoy.
Uniformitarianism is the idea that the Earth's geologic process has acted in the same manner with virtually the same intensity in the past as they do in the present and that this uniformity can account for all geologic change.
Adaption to niches is the idea of an organism developing traits (Adapting) to changing environments.
The concept of the fixity of species is the idea that all species have remained the same throughout their entire history on the Earth. (Anti-Evolutionary Viewpoint.)
Transmutation is the idea of one species evolving into another that predated Darwin's theory of natural selection.
The idea of natural selection is one of the key mechanisms in the theory of evolution. Natural Selection looks at the idea of intraspecies competition for food and mates as creating new species within a given environment by continually selecting for traits that contribute to survival and reproduction.
Utilitarianism is the idea of looking for the best moral solution to a problem for all people involved rather than looking at things on an individual basis.
Laissez-faire is the concept of letting things take their own course. Whatever happens, happens.
The key question posed in this chapter is: "How did Charles Darwin formulate the theory of evolution?" The chapter then continues to narrate the story of a younger Darwin fresh out of college, that deeply wanted to go on the voyage to the Galapagos islands after developing an interest in environmental biology. The author then describes how Darwin used molten rock to understand the formation of islands, studied the various beaks of finches, and even discovered new species of plants. Darwin used all the data he collected to formulate his theories about natural selection, the existence of Pangaea, and finally the famous theory of evolution.
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