Session 1: Session Title s13

UKS2 Topic: Dinosaurs and Fossils Block D: Fossil humans Session 1 The human family tree Science: Recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide National Curriculum information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago. Teaching Objectives To create a family tree showing how early humans and great apes are related. History: Continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of world National Curriculum history, and note trends over time. Teaching Objectives To put images of early humans in chronological order. Resources Weblinks Introductory pdf; Family http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/our-family-tree.html - A family tree of how humans tree templates; Pictures of compare to other great apes (warning – there are details about the sexual activity of the species); great apes and early http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-family-tree - A family tree of ancient human species; humans; Ask chn to bring http://shasthram.com/youngscientist/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/hevol22.jpg - Image of the in photos of their family possible direct and indirect ancestors of modern humans; members; A4 sheet for https://web.archive.org/web/20150314063004/http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature- each child; Large piece of online/life/human-origins/modern-human-evolution/3d-hominid-skulls/index.html - 3D paper, preferably A1 or A0 interactive skulls of different hominids to compare; already prepared with a http://www.familytreetemplates.net/category/kids - Family tree templates. tree drawn on as in introductory pdf. Whole class: Show chn the introductory pdf that explains what they are going to find out and do in the block. Create individual family trees for each child with the photos they have brought in. Talk through with them about their direct ancestors (grandparents) and indirect ancestors (uncles and aunties) and people they are related to that are the same generation as them (their first cousins). Now chn are going to create a family tree of hominids, which is the family that includes humans, past human species and great apes. Humans and great apes like chimpanzees and gorillas have all evolved from a common ancestor. They are alive at the same time but related and so are cousins. Show them the front page of the flash game here http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/our-family-tree.html on the w/b and examine how long ago the different branches of apes split off from the common ancestor. Which is the closest cousin? Which is the least closely related? (This is not just a case of which image is closer to the human on the picture, but how far back their branch split. So orang-utans are actually the least closely related to us as they split 16 million years ago, while chimpanzees are our closest cousins as we split 6 million years ago.) Introduce the family tree of ancient human species on the w/b. It shows several groups of early human species after the split with chimpanzees. Hover over each group to find out a bit more about each. Show the image of the possible direct and indirect ancestors. Which are our direct ancestors? (Australopithecus afarensis, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis). Which are indirect ancestors? (Australopithecus africanus, Homo neanderthalensis). You are going to create a huge family tree to combine the ones they have already seen. Model using the family tree on the w/b using the introductory pdf. Split the class into groups, each with an ape or early human picture card from the pictures resource and they have to find the right place on the family tree and stick it on. Easy/ Medium/ Hard Print out large copies of the two family trees from the links to use as reminders for each group. Less able chn could work together with more able chn in a pair or group of three. More able chn could use the family tree resources to find out the details of when and where the early human was around and to download a picture to put on the timeline. Plenary Looking just at the pictures of how scientists think the early humans looked that they stuck on their family trees, can you explain the differences and similarities between the human species? Homo rudolfensis looks very like Homo erectus, the older species look more like chimpanzees, and the Paranthropus species look very like Australopithecus afarensis. Can you think of any reasons for the similarities and differences? Outcomes Children will  Put dates into the correct chronological order  Reconstruct the family tree of great apes  Explain how some of the species are similar and different to each other

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