Teach students about human ancestors with these biology activities.
Human evolution and the ancestors of modern humans are important subjects in a biology curriculum. Research in the field of paleoanthropology is growing, and our understanding of human evolution is becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex. Try these activities to teach students about human ancestors and the process of human evolution.
Make an Evolutionary Tree
Using websites or textbooks about human evolution, research the major human ancestors. Have students draw a tree representing the evolutionary process and label the human ancestor species. Include drawings of each species and information about when and where they lived and where their fossils were discovered.
Human Ancestors Matching Game
Create cards with pictures of fossils of human ancestors, as well as cards with the names of human ancestor species. After studying some of the key species in the human evolutionary tree, have students match the pictures with the cards. Cards can also include facts about physical and behavioral traits of each species, such as skull shape and tool use.
Fossil Skeleton Puzzles
Print images of human ancestors' skeletons and cut them to separate the larger bones (such as skull, spine and ribcage, femurs, lower leg bones, arm bones and foot bones). Have students try to re-create each skeleton. Use the reassembled skeletons to help students learn about the evolution of certain traits like bipedalism (upright walking).
Becoming a Paleoanthropologist
Have students research paleoanthropologists, scientists who study human ancestors. Possibilities include Louis and Mary Leakey and Donald Johanson. Find out which human ancestors the scientists discovered, and how and where they performed their research. Then have students write a story about becoming a paleoanthropologist and discovering a new human ancestor fossil.
Visit a Museum
Take a field trip to a science or natural history museum. Create a checklist of human ancestor species, and try to identify each of them in the museum's human evolution exhibit. Note how human evolution is portrayed. Are human ancestors shown as fossil bones, or are they re-creations of how a living human ancestor might have looked? If possible, schedule a tour of the paleoanthropology laboratory.
Tags: human ancestors, human ancestor, human evolution, about human, ancestor species, Have students
