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Explore Your Inner Animals

Start Interactive
Image of a human skeleton from the interactive

Topic

  • Anatomy & Physiology
  • Skin & Musculoskeletal System
  • Evolution
  • Paleobiology
  • Human Evolution

Resource Type

  • Interactive Media
  • Click & Learn

Level

High School — GeneralHigh School — AP/IBCollege
Saved By
32 Users
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Description

This interactive module explores different anatomical features of the human body and what they reveal about the evolutionary history of humans.

A close look at the human body reveals structures that evolved from common ancestors shared with other animals, including long-extinct species. For example, the pattern of the bones in human arms can be traced back to fossilized fish that lived when life first made the transition from water to land. Other structures that were present in early human ancestors have only vestigial forms in modern humans. The tailbone, for example, is all that’s left of an ancestral tail. This Click & Learn allows students to explore these and many other features — and compare them to those of fossilized organisms, such as Ardipithecus (Ardi), Gorgonopsid, Notharctus, Proconsul, Tiktaalik — to discover the evolutionary history of our bodies.

The accompanying worksheet guides students’ exploration.

The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.  

Student Learning Targets

Describe the anatomical features in human bodies that reveal human evolutionary history.

Estimated Time

One to two 50-minute class periods.

Key Terms

adaptation, amphioxus, ancestry, common ancestor, fossil, primate, skeleton, tetrapod, transitional form, vertebrate

Terms of Use

Please see the Terms of Use for information on how this resource can be used.

Version History

Date Published 03.25.14
Date Updated 05.26.20

NGSS (2013)

HS-LS4-1, HS-LS4-4; SEP6

AP Biology (2019)

EVO-1.M, EVO-1.N, EVO-3.A, SYI-3.D; SP1, SP2

IB Biology (2016)

5.1, 5.2

AP Environmental Science (2020)

Topic(s): 2.6
Learning Objectives & Practices: ERT-2.H, SP2

IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)

8.1

Common Core (2010)

ELA.RST.9-12.2, ELA.WHST.9-12.9

Vision and Change (2009)

CC1; DP1

Materials

Resource Google Folder (link)
Teacher Materials (PDF) 129 KB
Student Document (PDF) 143 KB

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Image of the 3D body from the interactive
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Tiktaalik Fossil: Body
Image of the 3D pectoral fin from the interactive
3D Models
Tiktaalik Fossil: Pectoral Fin
Image of the 3D pelvis from the interactive
3D Models
Tiktaalik Fossil: Pelvis
Image of the 3D humerus from the interactive
3D Models
Tiktaalik Fossil: Humerus
Computer image of Tiktaalik from the video
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Exploring Transitional Fossils
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Young Students Recognize a Transitional Fossil

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