BIOLOGY IN FOCUS

PATTERNS IN NATURE
At the time of writing, an Australian
synchrotron is being built at Monash
University and will be about the size
of a football field.
Figure 1.9 A confocal
microscope
detector
detector pinhole aperture
out-of-focus
light rays
in-focus
light rays
dichromatic
mirror
laser excitation
source
objective
excitation
light
rays
light source pinhole
aperture
focal planes
specimen
SECONDARY SOURCE
INVESTIGATION
PFAs
P3
BIOLOGY SKILLS
P11.1
P12.3; 12.4a—f
P13.1a—e
P14.1; 14.3b, d
P15
78
The impact of technology on the development of the
cell theory
■ use available evidence to assess the impact of technology,
including the development of the microscope, on the
development of the cell theory
Scientists in the past were limited in their
research by the technology available to them.
As equipment and techniques became more
sophisticated, they could collect new evidence,
leading to new biological views/theories.
Task
This is a complex task that requires high-order
thinking skills from students, so a suggested
method of tackling this task is given below.
1. Collect relevant information about two things:
■ the advances in technology (such as
microscopes and techniques for preparing
specimens for viewing)
■ the improvement in understanding of a
biological concept (the cell theory) over time.
Plot the relevant information on a timeline.
2. Analyse information to enable you to answer
the dot point. Using both your timeline
and information in the textbook, answer a
series of questions which should improve
your understanding of the links between
the history of the cell theory and the history
of the invention and improvement of the
microscope.
3. Answering the dot point: a ‘scaffold’ has
been provided on page 80 to assist you with
this step.
SAMPLE CHAPTER ONLY