Audio Interviews
Charles Darwin was a naturalist who set sail on the HMS Beagle in 1831. It was on this voyage through the Galapagos Islands and other places where he began to collect evidence for his theory of evolution. In his book The Origin of Species, he established that all organisms descended or evolved overtime from common ancestors. He also proposed the scientific theory of natural selection. Natural Selection refers to the process whereby organisms or individuals who are better adapted to their environment will survive and produce more offspring. He also noted that these adaptations or characteristics would be passed on from one generation to another. Survival of the fittest does not measure how big, strong or fast an organism is, but measures its reproductive rate due to their adaptations. Genetics was at its early stages during Darwin’s time, but now we know that these adaptations, characteristics, or phenotypes, are simply an expression of the organism’s genotype or genes. In other words it is these genes that are passed on from one generation to another.
During my interview with these students, I wanted to find out how well they understood the concept of Evolution, Survival of the fittest, and adaptation. I also wanted to see if they were victims of the misconception that people believe that Charles Darwin’s theory says that we came from monkeys.
