Darwin's Beagle Travels

Project #1655 on iSENSEProject.org

To begin our unit on evolution, we start with Darwin's voyage and his infamous stay on the Galapagos Islands.  Students are given copies of excerpts from Darwin's diaries during his travels, as well as an 11x17 sized copy of a world map.  Students are to read the excerpts, select 10 unfamiliar words, and find the definitions of those words.  Students must locate where Darwin stopped on his journey using the latitude and longitude given, mark each point on the map, and connect those points based on how the Beagle would have sailed.  Finally, they are expected to find pictures or drawings of what Darwin would have seen at each of these locations.  The excerpts are included in this project.

It is always interesting to see how students complete this task.  Often, they have the ship sailing through/across South America.  Almost always, they struggle with the map being two dimensional and flat and the world being round.  Consequently, students have the Beagle sailing back through Cape Horn from Tahiti, around the Cape of Good Hope, and on to Sydney, Australia.  They forget the world is round.

Questions:

1.  In what hemisphere were most of Darwin's ports of call made?  How do you know?

2.  Using Google Maps, find three (3) of Darwin's ports of call.  Next, find drawings of these same ports of call around the time of Darwin's visits.  Compare and contrast these with drawings with the satellite images of those same areas today.