Darwin's Journey

Project #1619 on iSENSEProject.org

Darwin’s Journey

https://isenseproject.org/projects/1619

Data derived from: http://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/educators/teachstuds/pdf/darwins_excerpts.pdf

Objective:  Introduce students to basic mapping skills while following Darwin’s voyage on the HMS Beagle near and around South America.

Standard: Grade 8 MS-LS4-4: Explain the mechanism of natural selection, in which genetic variations of some traits in a population increase some individuals’ likelihood of surviving and reproducing in a changing environment. Provide evidence that natural selection occurs over many generations.

Directions: Students will use the hand out of the excerpt’s from Darwin’s Journey (attached.) In each of the 18 journal excerpts, there is the following information: location, longitude and latitude, and the date. Students will open up the isense project and enter the data into the preset fields. Students will have to read the data carefully and translate the longitude and latitude from their cardinal points to positive and negative numbers (i.e. 38° W = -38). There are 18 points of data – I will assign single and pairs of students one of the data points to enter.

Guiding Questions:

1. In entering the longitude and latitude we had to change the values to positive and negative numbers. Why? How is entering map coordinates related to entering data on a coordinate plane?

2. Look at the visualization grouped by DATA SET NAME. In TOOLS, click “connect markers.”  Based on your information, In what general direction did Darwin sail?

3. Look at Darwin’s journey near Australia. According to the visualization with the markers connected, it looks like Darwin crossed over Australia. Is that true? Explain your answer.