Charles Darwin WebQuest

Learning about the life and work of scientist Charles Darwin can be more engaging with a lesson plan incorporating a WebQuest. Students can do their own research to learn more about the "Father of Evolution" by using these questions with the links provided.

Charles Darwin WebQuest:

Directions: Go to the webpages listed below and answer the following questions using the information on those pages.

Link #1: Who Is Charles Darwin? https://www.thoughtco.com/who-is-charles-darwin-1224477​

1. When and where was Charles Darwin born? What were his parents named and did he have any siblings?

2. Briefly describe Darwin’s schooling and why he did not become a doctor.

3. How did Darwin get selected to sail on the HMS Beagle?

4. What year did Darwin first propose the Theory of Evolution through Natural Selection and who was his collaborator? 

5. What was the name of his most famous book, when was it published, and why was he so reluctant to publish it?

6. When did Charles Darwin die and where is he buried?

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Charles Darwin's Finches

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Link #2: 5 Interesting Facts About Charles Darwin https://www.thoughtco.com/interesting-facts-about-charles-darwin-1224479​

1. Who did Charles Darwin marry and how did he meet her? How many children did they have?

2. What TWO things did Charles Darwin have in common with Abraham Lincoln?

3. How did Darwin influence the beginning of Psychology?

4. What is the name of the book Darwin wrote that was influenced by Buddhism and how is it related to that religion?

Link #3: People Who Influenced Charles Darwin https://www.thoughtco.com/people-who-influenced-charles-darwin-1224651​

(Note: In this section, you may have to click on the links of the people’s names to get to their biographies to answer some of the following questions)

1. Give the birth and death dates of Jean Baptiste Lamarck.

2. What did Lamarck believe would happen to older, unused structures as new adaptations took over for them?

3. Who influenced Darwin to come up with the idea of Natural Selection (also sometimes called “Survival of the Fittest”)?

4. The Comte de Buffon was not a scientist. What area was he most known for and what did he help discover?

5. Alfred Russel Wallace contributed to the Theory of Evolution as well but is far less known outside scientific circles. Briefly describe Wallace's contributions.

6. What relation was Erasmus Darwin to Charles Darwin and how did he influence Charles Darwin?

Link #4: Darwin’s Finches https://www.thoughtco.com/charles-darwins-finches-1224472​

1. How long did it take the HMS Beagle to reach South America and how long did they stay there?

2. Besides the finches, what two things did Darwin study while on the Galapagos Islands?

3. What year did Darwin return to England and whom did he enlist to help him figure out the situation with the finches’ beaks? (Name the man and his occupation.) Describe the man’s reaction and what he said about Darwin’s information.

4. Relate why the finches had different beaks to the evolution of the species. How did this new information compare to Jean Baptiste Lamarck’s ideas?

5. What is the name of the book Darwin published about his trip to South America?