Darwin and His Finches

Overview

The process of discovery in science is seldom ever neat. Sometimes an idea comes in a sudden flash of insight. Other times it may develop over a long time. Still other times, a scientist may miss an insight because he was looking in the wrong places or because there was a flaw in the way he gathered his data. Unfortunately, popular accounts of science tend to overlook the very human way that even great scientists went about their work. In the pursuit of a compelling story, the storytellers often sweep away all the messiness that can go with real science. Instead of scientists, we are shown heroes and legends.

This is no less true of Darwin than anyone else. It is commonly believed that Darwin's insight about evolution was sparked by the finches of the Galápagos Islands. But is this how it happened? In this activity, students will read through relevant chapters of The Voyage of the Beagle and The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, and Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist, by science historians Adrian Desmond and James Moore, to determine what helped give Darwin his idea.

Learning Objectives

• Students will understand that scientific discovery is sometimes a messy process.
• Students will understand that popular accounts of history and science may conflict with scholarly accounts and with the evidence.
• Students will synthesize material from various sources to determine what factors may have inspired Darwin's theory of evolution.
• Students will be aware of the importance of using scholarly sources and original material for verifying popular accounts of history.

Directions

Introduce the activity by summarizing the first two paragraphs of the overview. Distribute the readings and worksheet to students and have them work individually or in small groups. After they've had time to finish the worksheet, have the class discuss what conclusions they came to.

Readings