Curated OER
Comparing Fossils
Learners explore early hominid evolution as they analyze bones that share characteristics of both apes and humans. Students compare and contrast key skeletal differences between chimpanzees and humans. In groups, they sort and group a...
Curated OER
Hominoid Cranium Comparison
High schoolers describe, measure and compare cranial casts from contemporary apes (chimpanzees and gorillas, typically), modern humans and fossil "hominids" (erect and bipedal forms evolutionarily separated from apes).
Curated OER
Studying Fossils
Students compare and contrast key skeletal differences between chimpanzees and humans: brain size, teeth, hand and thumb, trunk, pelvis, lower limb, foot and big toe. They then sort and group a set of mixed "fossil bones" of chimpanzee...
Curated OER
Primary Source: Lucy
In this primary source instructional activity, students read a selection about Lucy, a skeleton discovered in 1974, then complete a set of 4 document-based questions.
Curated OER
Chromosome Fusion
Students see how patterns can reveal events of the past, thereby merging elements of both experimental and historical science.
Curated OER
Missing
In this missing worksheet, students, with a partner, complete a variety of activities associated with terms and phrases having to do with the term missing.
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Evolution's Gift of Play, From Bonobo Apes to Humans
Learn about our similarity to apes, and how they solve their problems so peacefully at times but humans, the more "advanced" species, can behave so primitively. [7:02]
Discovery Education
Discovery Education: Apes to Man
This lesson plan explores the primates in the African savannas that were the first animals to walk erect (bipedalism), which is a milestone in human evolution.
Other
Becoming Human: Comparison of Human and Ape Chromosones
Have you ever wondered how closely we are related to other primates? Join this chromosone comparison adventure to compare the banding patterns of human chromosones to those of apes.
BBC
Bbc News: The Unmasking of Piltdown Man
A BBC news feature explores a twentieth-century "scientific embarrassment." The Piltdown Man fossils, originally thought to present a link between apes and humans, were revealed to be forgeries forty years after being discovered. Find...
Other
Institute of Human Origins: Classifying Life
In this exercise you will build two skeletons, one of an ape and one of a modern human being. The bones have been completely mixed up so its up to you to find the right fit. In this exercise you will learn about the unique...
Talk Origins Archive
Talk Origins: The Hominid Species
Talk Origins gives a broad description of the types of Hominid species, and then gives a description of each species. Includes the specific characteristics of each, and explains the differences between the species.