In this 90-minute activity, students act as scientists by collecting different lines of evidence for evolutionary change over time. Using the Sackler Educational Lab fossil skull collection and the exhibits in the Spitzer Hall of Human Origins, students will search for clues of physical, genetic, and environmental change through time.

Grades 9-12 Science

Essential Question: How do Paleontologists, Physical Anthropologists, and Evolutionary Biologists collect evidence to support biological evolution or change over time?

Students will be able to explain three lines of evidence for biological evolution and change across time.

When: Monday - Friday
Morning Lab: 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Afternoon Lab: 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m

Living Environment Key Idea 3: Individual organisms and species change over time.

New York State Science Core Curriculum
Major Understanding: LE 3.1a: The basic theory of biological evolution states that the Earth's present-day species developed from earlier, distinctly different species.

PREPARE YOUR STUDENTS FOR THEIR TRIP WITH THE FOLLOWING PRE-VISIT ACTIVITIES:

Spitzer Hall of Human Origins Educator Guide
For Teachers: Pre-visit Activities, Grades 9-12
Click here.

Meet Your Relatives
How are you like a chimpanzee? In what ways do you differ from a Neanderthal? Find out with this detailed, interactive look at humans and their closest cousins.
Click here.