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Human Feet Are Strange

Image of footprints from the activity

Topic

  • Evolution
  • Paleobiology
  • Human Evolution
  • Scientific Skills & Literacy
  • Explanations & Argumentation

Resource Type

  • Activities
  • Labs & Demos

Level

High School — GeneralHigh School — AP/IBCollege
Saved By
20 Users
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View in Spanish

Description

In this activity, students examine concepts about the evolution of human bipedality explored in the short film Great Transitions: The Origin of Humans. They create their own trackway of footprints and compare it to a trackway of fossil footprints.

A 3.6-million-year-old trackway of footprints was discovered at the Laetoli site in Tanzania in 1976. Fossils of the hominid species Australopithecus afarensis were found near the Laetoli footprints. Since A. afarensis was the only hominid species known to be living in the area at the time, it is assumed that the footprints at Laetoli were made by A. afarensis.

By studying footprints made during class using paint, students explore what footprints reveal about our human ancestors in this three-part activity, through observations, analysis, and evaluation. Students draw inferences from an illustration of the Laetoli trackway, compare their own footprints to those at Laetoli, and evaluate the evidence that the Laetoli footprints were made by a fully bipedal human ancestor. The activity ends with a summary activity in which students compare chimpanzee and human footprints. This last section can be completed as homework.

Student Learning Targets

  • Differentiate between observations and inferences.
  • Develop inferences based on observations and other types of evidence.
     

Estimated Time

Two to three 50-minute class periods.

Key Terms

Australopithecus afarensis, bipedalism, great apes, hominid, hominin, Laetoli, Lucy

Terms of Use

The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.

Accessibility Level (WCAG compliance)

PDF files meet criteria. Spanish files meet criteria.

Version History

Date Published 09.25.15
Date Updated 02.24.20

NGSS (2013)

HS-LS4-1; SEP2, SEP4

AP Biology (2019)

EVO-1.M, EVO-1.N; SP2, SP3

IB Biology (2016)

5.1

IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)

3.2

Common Core (2010)

ELA.RST.9–12.9

Vision and Change (2009)

CC1, CC2; DP1, DP3

Materials

Educator Materials (PDF) 383 KB
Student Handout (PDF) 550 KB
Educator Materials - Español (PDF) 472 KB
Student Handout - Español (PDF) 520 KB

Additional Materials

  • one 3 foot × 10 foot strip of white paper for the trackway
  • four or five plastic 33-gallon trash bags to place under the trackway (optional, if the floor is carpeted)
  • one roll of wide masking tape or duct tape
  • dark shade of washable finger paint or washable poster paint
  • four disposable aluminum baking pans large enough to fit a large foot
  • foam paint brush (optional)
  • two basins of water for washing feet
  • paper towels for drying feet
  • four chairs (two at each end of the trackway)
  • meterstick
  • images of other animals’ feet, including those of primates and great apes (optional)
  • twelve laminated copies of the 10-inch version of the Laetoli trackway (downloadable)
  • hi-res version of the entire trackway
     

Use This Resource With

Video Resource
Great Transitions: The Origin of Humans

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