Early Ancestors - Big History Project

BIG HISTORY PROJECT / LESSON 6.0 ACTIVITY
TEACHER MATERIALS
EARLY ANCESTORS IMAGE SORT (ANSWER KEY)
Directions: Print or project the Early Ancestors Image Sort worksheet, which shows some of our early ancestors. Have students indicate the order of the images,
from earliest ancestors to Homo sapiens, on the worksheet. At this point, the students are not presumed to have any formal understanding of how humans have
evolved. This activity provides an opportunity to start their thinking about this process and to put their limited understanding to use. This activity should be done
quickly. After students have arranged the images, ask them to jot down everything they can that differentiates humans from our ancestors. Have students share out
some of the differences they come up with. Later in the lesson, they will have a chance to form a deeper understanding of how humans have evolved from our early
ancestors, and to see how that compares with what they came up with here.
A. Homo sapiens
1.
B. Homo habilis
C. Neanderthal
D. Australopithecus
E. Homo erectus
D. Australopithecus: Extinct hominine genus, closely related to humans, that existed in Africa from about 4 million years ago to 2 million years ago.
2. B. Homo habilis: Extinct hominine genus, closely related to humans, that existed in Africa from about 2 million years ago to 1.4 million years ago.
3. E. Homo erectus: Extinct hominine relatives of modern humans that lived in Africa about 2 million years ago; some left Africa and journeyed to Eurasia.
4. C. Neanderthal: Homo sapiens’ closest extinct relatives, who lived concurrently with Homo sapiens and died out about 28,000 years ago.
5. A. Homo sapiens: Appeared about 200,000 years ago and is currently the final species in the evolutionary process of humans and the species to which all modern humans belong.
BIG HISTORY PROJECT / LESSON 6.0 ACTIVITY
STUDENT MATERIALS
EARLY ANCESTORS IMAGE SORT
Name:
Date:
Directions: Print or project the Early Ancestors Image Sort worksheet, which shows some of our early ancestors. Have students indicate the order of the images,
from earliest ancestors to Homo sapiens, on the worksheet. At this point, the students are not presumed to have any formal understanding of how humans have
evolved. This activity provides an opportunity to start their thinking about this process and to put their limited understanding to use. This activity should be done
quickly. After students have arranged the images, ask them to jot down everything they can that differentiates humans from our ancestors. Have students share out
some of the differences they come up with. Later in the lesson, they will have a chance to form a deeper understanding of how humans have evolved from our early
ancestors, and to see how that compares with what they came up with here.
A. Homo sapiens
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
B. Homo habilis
C. Neanderthal
D. Australopithecus
E. Homo erectus

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