Evolution - Human evolution and collective learning - Science - Year 10

Teacher instructions

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes - Tune in: Activating prior knowledge
15 minutes - Find out: Hobbes versus Rousseau
25 minutes - Take action: Creative writing explanation

Tune in: Activating prior knowledge

Step 1.

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

Have humans evolved from chimps? Humans did not evolve from apes, gorillas or chimps and we are not more highly evolved than these animals. We are all modern species that have followed different evolutionary paths, although humans do share a common ancestor with some primates. We evolved from the same line of animals but diverged about 25-30 million years ago. The lines of descent for humans and chimps diverged about 7 million years ago.
What traits do we share with other primates (physical, social, mental)? Large brains, eyes in the front of our heads, grasping hands, hierarchies (social orders).
What is bipedalism and how did it benefit human evolution? Bipedalism is walking upright on two legs. In evolutionary terms, bipedalism freed up our hands for creating and using tools.
What role do you think encephalisation played in human evolution? Larger brains have been equated with more complex technologies, more complex lifestyles and more complex relationships with the environment and each other.
In your own words, explain collective learning and why it is important to human evolution. Collective learning = preserving information, sharing it with one another, and passing it onto the next generation. Our ability to learn collectively helps us create entirely new forms of complexity within and across generations, without having to wait for our genes to catch up.

Note: You could also wait until after watching the video below before discussing answers as a class.

Find out: Hobbes versus Rousseau

Step 1. Watch:

Crash Course Big History #6: Human Evolution (https://youtu.be/6PZYYIaB0UY)

Step 2. Discuss:

Summarise the Hobbes versus Rousseau debate described in the video, and explain which side you sit on. Hobbes describes the foraging lifestyle as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”, there were no arts, no letters, no society, and a continual fear and danger of violent death. In contrast, Rousseau suggests that we are only selfish and evil because of the bad influence of society. Before we were corrupted by civilization, he imagines that human life was probably marked by peace and compassion, that people would be healthier, and that the lack of wealth disparity may imply greater equality between social rankings and genders.

Take action: Creative writing explanation

Step 1.

Working independently, invite students to complete the creative writing activity on the Student Worksheet. Story writing guidelines are provided on the Student Worksheet. The creative writing activity can be extended over several sessions, or completed as homework.In addition, you could consider giving students the Creative writing assessment rubric to help guide their writing.

Step 2.

Once students have produced their final drafts, encourage them to share their stories with classmates or publish stories on your class/school blog.

Reflection

Based upon their creative writing assessment feedback, invite students to suggest the top three actions they could take to improve their short stories. Students can add this information to a separate sheet at the end of their short stories, or use the space provided on the Student Worksheet.

Differentiated learning

Extension - Ask students to provide illustrations in support of their story. This activity could also form a homework task.

Provisional Learning Support - Reduce the word count for students or have students work in pairs.

Evolution - Human Evolution and Collective Learning

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