Name: _____________________ # ______
Date: __________________ Core: ______
Evolution Anticipation Guide
Directions: Use the following anticipation/reaction guide to interact with information regarding evolution of living things. Before reading the assigned
material, mark whether you agree or disagree with the statements below. After reading the assigned material, fill in the page number where you found the
answer and record whether or not you were right and reflect on what you found. Assigned reading pages: B17--34 in textbook.
Agree/
Disagree
Evolution happens gradually over long
periods of time.
Charles Darwin was the first to propose a
model of how life evolves.
Darwin based his theory of evolution on
observations made while visiting the
Galapagos islands.
One of Darwin’s most notable observations
was about the variety of finches and how
their wingspans were different based on
what island they lived on.
agree
disagree
agree
disagree
Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural
selection was inspired by his hobby of
cross-breeding pea plants.
disagree
Natural selection is a process by which
organisms hunt and kill one another in
order to survive.
disagree
Natural selection is driven by
overproduction, variation, mutation, and
selection.
disagree
Page #
Were
you
right?
Reflect—if you were right, what details from the reading support
your thinking. If you were wrong, what is the correct answer
and why?
evolution takes a long time because it occurs slowly over many
generations of offspring
Lamark proposed a theory about evolution about 50 years before
Darwin, but he theorized that an organism acquires a new trait during
its lifetime (ex. a giraffe that stretches its neck to reach leaves that are
higher in a tree will pass that longer neck on to its offspring)
Darwin observed similar organisms on the 18 islands of the Galapalos
and came up with his theory of evolution based on the similarities and
differences he saw
Darwin noticed different species of finches had beaks of different
shapes and sizes based on where they lived and what they ate
Darwin knew from his personal experiences breeding pigeons that
selective breeding can produce new varieties of organisms which led
him to deduce that the same thing can happen in nature (natural
selection)
natural selection occurs when members of a species that are best suited
to their environment survive and reproduce more than other
members of the species
overproduction—organisms produce more offspring than the environment can handle to
ensure that as many offspring as possible survive to reproduce and carry on the
species
variation—natural differences occur within a species; these differences are what allow
natural selection to occur
adaptation—an inherited trait that gives an individual an advantage in a particular
environment; this makes it more likely that the individual will survive to reproduce
selection—when an organism survives to reproduce, its genetic material is passed on to its
offspring, whereas the genetic material of an organism that doesn’t survive to
reproduce is lost
Name: _____________________ # ______
Date: __________________ Core: ______
Agree/
Disagree
Adaptations happen over a small period of
time—like you adapting to life in a new
city if you moved.
Isolation contributes to the process of
speciation.
There is little evidence to support Darwin’s
theory of evolution by natural selection.
It is obvious that chickens, rabbits, and
salamanders would have common
ancestors.
Whales have small leg-like bones
suggesting they have evolved from
ancestors with legs.
Genetic material is studied to see how
organisms might be related or have
changed over time.
disagree
agree
disagree
disagree
Page #
Were
you
right?
Reflect—if you were right, what details from the reading support
your thinking. If you were wrong, what is the correct answer
and why?
an adaptation is inherited, so as it becomes more common from one
generation to the next, more members of the species will show the
trait
when a group of organisms becomes isolated from the rest of their
species, genetic differences begin to appear based on the adaptations of
the isolated individuals that help them survive in their isolated
environment
1. fossil evidence
2. anatomical evidence
a. homologous structures—organisms with a common
ancestor have similar bone structures (ex. a bat wing, a
manatee flipper, and a human hand)
b. vestigial organs—organs or structures that are reduced and
unused by an organism, but were used by an ancestor (ex.
whales have a vestigial pelvis which shows that at some point
they had an ancestor that used 4 legs)
c. development—the embryos of organisms with a common
ancestor look similar
3. genetic evidence
while the adult organisms look very different, the early stages of the
embryos of all three look very similar because they have a (very
distant) common ancestor
agree
the vestigial pelvis found in a whale is evidence that it evolved from an
organism that once used 4 legs
agree
the more genetic material organisms of different species have in
common, the more closely related they are (ex. about 96% of human
and chimpanzee DNA is the same; about 75% of human and mouse
DNA is the same)