Honors Integrated Science I
Spontaneous Generation: Guided Reading
Refer to pages 8 to 13 in Biology as you answer these questions.
1. Take a look at the recipe for Bees on the bottom of page 8. Why did reasonable humans once accept that
this was truly where bees come from? How is this drastically different then what we consider true today?
2. What is spontaneous generation? Define it in your own words.
3. Who was Francesco Redi? When and where did he do his research?
4. Why should only one variable at a time be changed in an experiment?
5. The textbook uses the term “manipulated variable.” What is the more scientific synonym of this term?
6. The textbook also uses the term “responding variable.” What is the more scientific synonym of this term?
7. Describe Redi’s experiment. What was his independent variable? Dependent variable? Variables that were
held constant? Results? Be sure to summarize it in your own words.
8. What was Anton van Leeuwenhoek’s major invention?
9. Who was John Needham? When and where did he conduct research?
10. Describe Needham’s work. This was more of a demonstration than an experiment, so there isn’t a clear
independent and dependent variable. Instead, describe his process and his results.
11. What things were similar between Redi’s experiment and Needham’s research?
12. What things were different between Redi’s experiment and Needham’s research?
13. Who was Lazzaro Spallanzani? Where did he conduct his research?
14. Spallanzani conducted a true experiment. What was his independent variable? His dependent variable?
Describe his conclusions.
15. What things were similar between Redi’s, Needham’s and Spallanzani’s research?
16. What things were different between Redi’s, Needham’s and Spallanzani’s research?
17. Who was Louis Pasteur? When and where did he conduct his research?
18. Describe Pasteur’s experiment. What was his independent variable? Dependent variable? Describe his
conclusions.
19. Scientists today believe that spontaneous generation does not happen. Summarize how these researchers
contributed to this understanding. Don’t forget to address Needham’s work—remember, no experiment is a
failure if we can gather information from it.
20. List at least three questions that have come to mind after reading this section and answering these questions.
Honors Integrated Science I
Darwin’s voyage on the HMS Beagle: Guided Reading
Refer to pages 369 to 372 in Biology as you answer these questions.
1. What is a scientific theory?
2. When and where was Charles Darwin born?
3. Summarize the route of Darwin’s voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle.
4. Each time the ship anchored, what did Darwin do?
5. The textbook says, “Darwin was intrigued by the fact that so many plants and animals seemed remarkably
well suited to whatever environment they inhabited.” How does this relate to what we learned last semester
about competition between individuals and the niche of each species?
6. What questions did Darwin have after studying the fossils he collected?
7. Where are the Galápagos Islands located? Give a brief summary of the major differences between the
islands, in terms of size and habitats.
8. What did Darwin observe about the tortoises on the Galápagos Islands? Describe the relationships between
the tortoises’ bodies and the vegetation on various islands.
9. We know now that the birds Darwin observed were all finches. Why did he mistakenly think they were
different species (wrens, warblers, blackbirds, etc.)?
10. Consider the bolded statement on page 372. Why is this statement in bold? Rewrite this statement in your
own words.
Honors Integrated Science I
Scientists who influenced Darwin: Guided Reading
Refer to pages 373 to 378 in Biology as you answer these questions.
1. One might argue that Darwin was born at the perfect place and time. What details about Darwin’s life would
support this argument?
2. What did most Europeans assume about the Earth prior to Darwin’s time?
3. What were James Hutton’s major conclusions about the Earth? What evidence did he suggest supported
these conclusions?
4. What were Charles Lyell’s major conclusions about the Earth?
5. How did Lyell’s writing influence Darwin’s thinking? And what geological events did Darwin observe that he
related back to Lyell’s ideas?
6. Consider the bolded statement on page 376 about Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s ideas. Summarize this statement
in your own words. Underline the keywords in your summary. (We will be dedicating a whole learning target
to comparing Lamarck’s and Darwin’s ideas, so only be concerned with his one key point at the moment.)
7. Summarize Thomas Malthus’s ideas about human population growth.
8. Why did Darwin believe that Malthus’s ideas could be more true about plants and non-human animals than
to humans?
9. What important questions did Darwin have about population growth after considering Malthus’s work?
10. What caused Darwin to put off publishing his work? And what finally prompted him to publish On the Origin
of Species in 1859?
Honors Integrated Science I
Artificial and Natural Selection: Guided Reading
Refer to pages 379 to 382 in Biology as you answer these questions.
1. Summarize the idea of “natural variation” in your own words. Describe at least three traits for which humans
show natural variation.
2. Give a definition of “artificial selection” in your own words, and tell two examples of how agriculturalists
might use artificial selection to improve crops or farm animals.
3. This is a thinking question—not from the textbook. What traits were probably selected in order to produce
Thoroughbred racehorses? Chihuahua dogs? Cherry tomatoes? Sriracha peppers?
4. In artificial selection, who chooses of the offspring will be bred to produce the next generation?
5. How does competition for limited resources play a role in which individuals in a species will survive?
6. Tell Darwin’s definition of an adaptation in your own words. What do adaptations allow organisms to do?
7. What are two physical adaptations polar bears have to their niche?
8. What are two physical adaptations cacti have to their niche?
9. Give two examples of behavioral adaptations.
10. What will likely happen to animals with a low level of fitness to their environment?
11. What will likely happen to animals with a high level of fitness to their environment?
12. We’ve all heard of “survival of the fittest.” Does “fit” in this case mean biggest and strongest? If not, what
does it really mean?
13. This is a thinking question—not from the textbook. Darwin observed that organisms have more offspring
than survive (some offspring are not likely to live to adulthood) and he also observed that there are a wide
range of variations between individuals in a huge number of traits. How do these two ideas relate to the
phrase “survival of the fittest”?
14. Summarize Darwin’s principle of descent with modification.
15. What is a common ancestor?
16. Try to explain the following statement in terms a 3rd grader would understand: Domestic cats and tigers have
a common ancestor.
17. Try to explain the following statement in terms a 3rd grader would understand: Tigers and whales have a
common ancestor.
Honors Integrated Science I
Comparing Lamarck’s and Darwin’s Ideas: Guided Reading
Refer to page 376 in Biology as you answer these questions.
1. Summarize Lamarck’s claim that organisms tend toward complexity and perfection. What sounds fishy about
this idea?
2. What did Lamarck claim use and disuse of parts of organisms’ bodies? What sounds fishy about this idea?
3. What is an acquired trait? What traits can humans acquire? Do you believe that acquired traits can be
inherited?
4. What are the key ways that Lamarck’s ideas are different than Darwin’s?
5. Let’s give credit where credit is due. Some of Lamarck’s ideas were eventually proven wrong and may even
seem a little silly today… But what were his ideas that turned out to be true? These ideas are considered to
be original to Lamarck.