Teacher instructions

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune in: Activating prior knowledge

20 minutes

Find out: Investigate hominids and hominins

30 minutes

Take action: Create a phylogenetic tree of human origins

Tune in: Activating prior knowledge

Some knowledge of phylogenetic trees would be an advantage. The activity Taxonomy and Phylogenetic Trees can be used to build knowledge on this topic. In addition, this fact sheet - Phylogenetic tree factsheet - may be useful.

Step 1

Discuss (these questions are also available on the Student Worksheet):

What do you already know about phylogenetic trees?
What do you know about the way humans have evolved?

Find out: Investigate hominids and hominins

Step 1

Read the Human evolution factsheet.

Step 2. Watch:

Facts about Human Evolution (https://youtu.be/ROwKq3kxPEA)

Step 3.

Discuss (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Describe the difference between hominids and hominins.
List three hominins and their distinctive features.
How do you think environmental conditions would affect the survival of hominins? Give one example.
Why should scientists be careful about making too many judgments about where Homo rudolfensis fits into the story of human evolution at this time?
In three sentences, construct an argument that could explain how Homo habilis evolved from Australopithecus afarensis.

Take action: Create a phylogenetic tree of human origins

Step 1

Explain to students that a good way to visually represent the evolutionary relationships between different species is by creating a phylogenetic tree. A phylogenetic tree is a branching diagram or "tree" that shows the evolutionary relationships based upon similarities and differences in the physical or genetic characteristics of species.

For example, the following image shows a simple phylogenetic tree showing the evolutionary relationships between humans, cats and fish:

The root of the tree represents the ancestral lineage, the branch tips represent existing species, the branches connect common ancestor and the nodes depict where one species converged into two or more species.

Step 2.

Break students into pairs and give each pair a copy of the Phylogenetic tree factsheet. Working in their pairs, ask students to create a phylogenetic tree of the following:

Australopithecus afarensis
Homo heidelbergensis
Homo ergaster
Turkana boy
Homo neanderthalensis
Homo sapiens

Reflection

Invite some students to present their Facebook pages or phylogenetic trees to the class.

Differentiated learning

Extension - Ask students to include chimpanzees and bonobos in their phylogenetic tree.

Evolution - Help a Hominin Get onto Facebook

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