What Darwin Never Saw
The great biologist Charles Darwin saw many things in his lifetime. During his travels to the Galapagos Islands, 600 miles off the coast of South America, he witnessed some of the most remarkable types of life found anywhere on earth! Darwin kept detailed journals highlighting the characteristics of species which he noticed. Later, after returning to England, he started a revolution in scientific thinking by introducing the idea of evolution. In this episode of The New Explorers, you and your students will join a team of ornithologists on the faraway island as they find evidence of changes in the beaks of Darwin's finches. You can get a glimpse of what Darwin never did see- evolution in action!
In the classroom, introduce the program to your students by previewing the What Darwin Never Saw video. If the one-hour video is too long to show in a single class session, break it up into approximately 30-minute sections. Each of the lesson introductions makes a reference to the tape for continued discussion with students. This encourages ongoing focus on issues like natural selection or the preservation of specialized habitats like the Galapagos Islands. Repeated viewing of the video, or specific parts of the video, is recommended.
Summary of Video
(approximate counter numbers, in minutes and seconds)
00 00 - Introduction to the Galapagos Islands
02 15 - New Explorers Intro
03 15 - Bill Kurtis introduces Peter and Mary Grant and finches
11 10 - Begin inventory of island: Banding birds
19 13 - Flashback to Darwin's childhood
22 14 - Giant tortoises on Galapagos Islands
26 18 - Tourist on the Galapagos
27 12 - Back to work: Natural Selection/Genetics
29 20 - Bill Kurtis looks at finches
32 47 - Family vacations
34 10 - Mr. Grant (almost) sits on birds
35 08 - Birds found dead due to drought
37 20 - Bigger beaked birds get the seed
41 03 - Flashback to Darwin's sickness and more of Galapagos Islands
44 10 - Thirteen distinct beaks
48 00 - El Nino -1983
54 40 - Keeping it in balance: The end