Early Humans Lesson Plan

Objective:

The students will learn the basic distinctions between Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and Homo sapiens. They will research related internet sites and complete a comparison chart and questions using the school computer lab.

California Social Studies Standard:

6.1 Students describe what is known through archaeological studies of the early physical and cultural development of humankind from the Paleolithic era to the agricultural revolution.

Length:

Approximately 60 minutes (10 minutes review and guided instruction, 45 minutes independent research, and 5 minutes closure).

Anticipatory Set:

This lesson will be an introductory activity after our initial reading about early humans from our social studies textbook. The lesson will begin with of a review of what we have learned so far about how hominids were in a process of long-term evolution and how they adapted to their surroundings through physical growth and innovations.

Procedure:

1. The lesson will begin with a guided tour of the four websites that they will use to research. The students will watch the computer lab projector while I show them the following websites:

a) http://ancienthistory.mrdonn.org/EarlyMan.html - Point out that this site has a good summary of each hominid group, and it also highlights important facts throughout the descriptions.

b) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/stoneage/toolkit.html - This site is mostly about the early tools used by modern humans around 40,000 years ago. The information at this site is mostly for information and is not a part of the comparison chart.

c) http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/index.html - This is the site of a French cave dating back as early as 32,000 years before present. The best way to navigate through this site is to click on “View the Cave”. This cave shows how the paintings were layers of art created over years by many artists.

d) http://sapphire.indstate.edu/~ramanank/ - The Neanderthal site is a way to discuss a group of nearly-modern humans who became extinct. The weblinks on the margins are good guides to what it was like living at that time. Points to remember include 40-year life spans, not good planners, may have communicated verbally, and their housing construction material involved wood, bone, and animal skins.

2. The websites will be already bookmarked on the school classroom links. Asking students to write down these long addresses will likely lead to error and consume work time.

3. After the short-guided instruction through the four sites, the students will complete the comparison chart and questions independently (see below).

4. If students finish early, they may go the reference website for Lucy (see below) and complete the computer lab’s web site evaluation form.

5. An enrichment exercise would be for the students to hypothesize how humans will have changed 3,000 years from now. Will there be new languages, a money system, new energy sources, new countries, or new physical features like larger ears or noses…?

Evaluation

The students will complete the early human chart and questions. There will be a class discussion of results, and the chart will be part of the study guide for the Hominids Quiz. The quiz will be given after the completion of the textbook’s early humans unit.

Name __________

Early Human Comparison Chart

Directions: Use the provided websites to complete this chart. Each answer must be in complete sentences, use the backside if needed.

	Australopithecus	Homo habilis	Homo erectus	Homo sapiens
What was this hominid’s nickname?
Name two important contributions for each hominid.
What are the two most interesting facts about each group?

Questions:

What are two possible reasons cave paintings were invented?

Who were the Neanderthals, and what was their hominid category?

Use Google Images to search for illustrations for each hominid. Copy and paste your findings onto a new Microsoft Word document and save to your work folder.

Early Human Comparison Chart Answer Key

Directions: Use the provided websites to complete this chart. Each answer must be in complete sentences, use the backside if needed.

	Australopithecus	Homo Habilis	Homo Erectus	Homo Sapiens
What was this hominid’s nickname?	Southern Man	Handy Man	Upright Man	Wise Man
Name two important contributions for each hominid.	Tools of Bone Scavenged Meat	Basic Stone Tools Lived in Small Groups	Fire Builders First Hunters	Cave Paintings Buried Dead
What are the two most interesting facts about each group?	Various Answers	Various Answers	Various Answers	Various Answers

Questions:

1. What are two possible reasons cave paintings were invented? Art, Religion, Communication

2. Who were the Neanderthals, and what was their hominid category? A sub category of Homo sapiens who became extinct as their counterparts, Cro-Magnon, began to thrive.

Use Google Images to search for illustrations for each hominid. Copy and paste your findings onto a new Microsoft Word document and save to your work folder

References:

http://www.asu.edu/clas/iho/lucy.html - Lucy website.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/ - A general overview of paleoanthropology.

http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/archaeology/ - Cave painting activity.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/first/radiocarbon.html - Radiocarbon dating activity.

http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1602/pchomini.html - A small comparison

chart.

http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/ - The famous Lascaux cave site.