Thursday, October 28, 2010

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Influences on Darwin


The person that I chose that I thought had a positive influence on Darwin’s theory was Georges Cuvier. Cuvier’s research, produced knowledge that would ultimately support Darwin’s theory of evolution, unfortunately he did not realize it. Cuvier was the first to demonstrate that the different strata of rock in the Paris basin each had it’s own mammal fauna. He also showed that the lower a stratum was, the more different its fossil animals were from species living in the present.

Evolution was described by Darwin as the outcome of a simple algorithm that gets repeated again and again over the course of a very large number of generations in an environment of scarce resources. This algorithm states that each generation has a variation, and the inheritance of that variation, and natural selection. This means that the offspring inherit much of their parents; traits but not perfectly, they are slightly different from their parents. All living creatures need roughly the same kind of resources in order to survive and reproduce are said to belong to a certain biological or ecological niche.

Cuvier demonstrated this in his research with the different strata of rock. Cuvier could be called the founder of comparative anatomy, and it was his knowledge in this field that accounted for his well-known and almost uncanny ability to reconstruct animals from only fragments of fossil remains. Cuvier showed that fossil mammoths differed from any such creatures presently living. Cuvier contributed to Darwin’s work because he studied animals, which is what Darwin studied. I think that Darwin could have came up with his theory without the ideas of Cuvier.

Darwin’s work had a tremendous impact on religious thought. Many people strongly opposed of his idea of evolution because it conflicted with their religious convictions. Darwin avoided talking about the theological and sociological aspects of his work, but other writers used his theories to support their own theories about society.


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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Scientific Method Scenario Discussion

What is the scientific method? Hypothesis- a set of explanations why he's falling asleep in class. . Support- A list of reasons as to why he's falling asleep. Untestable- Assessing the student perhaps sit in class and figure out if he's simple not interested in the class or he's just being rude.

I have been in classes where several classmates have fallen asleep in the back of the class, it was a bit frustrating. There could be several scientific reasons that this student falls asleep:
1. He could be partying all night with his friends
2. Staying up all night watching television and playing video games
3. He could working nights trying to support, himself and his mother because she is a single mom
4. He could take medication that would cause him to be sleepy
5. He could have a sleeping disorder
6. He could have no interest in the class, because it is boring to him
7. He could have low energy lack of interest in life itself due to depression
If I were his professor I would dig deeper and set up a time to meet with the student in my office hours. I would then ask him why he is falling asleep in my class, and try to stir his interest in my class. I would then give him a stern warning that if this matter persists, I would have to take other action such as; possibly transferring to another class (if it's not too far into the semester), him dropping the class, or possibly failing him for non-participation in the class.