1. Discuss the fact that Lamarck was the first to try to develop a possible mechanism for evolution and should be considered among the great biologists of history, rather than the one who got evolution wrong.
2. Consider how Darwin would have reacted to Mendel's work if he had read it (Darwin had a copy of the publication of Mendel's papers, but the pages had never been cut so that it could be read). Darwin did not have a mechanism to explain the passage of traits from parents to offspring, which seriously troubled him.
3. Consider why Darwin waited over twenty years from
his seminal trip on the HMS Beagle to publish his theory.
One of the topics to consider is Darwin's feelings for his wife,
who was a very religious woman, and the impact that the theory
of natural selection and evolution had on those who considered
the theory of special creation to be absolute truth.