Human Evolution - Early Human Diets
Next Generation Science Standards
- MS-LS1-1 Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells, either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.
- MS-LS1-4 Use argument based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants respectively.
- MS-LS4-1 Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.
- MS-LS4-2 Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.
Human Evolution - Early Human Diets
This Smithsonian Science How learning collection, from Q?rius at the National Museum of Natural History, is part of a distance learning program at http://qrius.si.edu/explore-science/webcast This collection focuses on the significance diet for human evolution. Targeted at middle schoolers, the collection invites students into an authentic understanding of the evidence for early meat-eating in humans. Anthropologist Dr. Briana Pobiner is featured as an expert explainer. The collection includes an interactive webcast video with discussion questions, cross-cutting activities, an independent project, and other resources for teachers and students.
Key Terms: paleoanthropology, fossil, archaeology, human evolution, extinction, taxonomy, phylogeny
Key Concepts:
- What it means to be human
- Diet and culture of early humans
- Interpreting the family tree of humans
- Factors shaping human evolution
- Technology used by paleoanthropologists