Students work in teams, classify furniture, share categories/rationales, and note how their different schemes are logical and useful, but vary and are completely arbitrary. They then see how living organisms are classified and note how these natural groupings reflect the same ancestral relationships in the same nested hierarchies. The concept is exemplified using primate phylogenetic trees.

In this set of lessons, students explore patterns of genetic diversity (DNA similarities and differences) in humans across the world. Students perform calculations using genetic data from actual studies, use data to detect patterns of diversity, and link processes to explain the patterns. They learn and reflect on how much all humans have in common, ways we differ, and how differences may or may not be related to where our ancestors lived.

In this set of lessons, students explore patterns of phenotypic diversity in humans — including variation in physical traits, biochemical traits, physiological traits, and even some preferences and behavioral tendencies. By examining data from actual studies and making inferences about patterns they observe, students learn about and reflect on how much all humans have in common, ways we differ, and how differences may or may not be related to where our ancestors lived.

Evolutionarily, chimps (and bonobos) are the closest living relatives to modern humans, with 99.6% of their DNA being the same as ours. How can we be so close genetically and yet so far away from being the same? This lesson helps to explain how one of our biggest differences— locomotion—might be the key to why our evolutionary paths diverged.

Students observe that the banding patterns seen on stained chromosomes from humans and chimpanzees show striking similarities. Possible evolutionary relationships are explored, as are the chromosomes and relationships of other apes.

Students describe, measure and compare cranial casts from contemporary apes, modern humans, and fossil hominids to discover some of the similarities and differences between these forms and to see the pattern leading to modern humans.

Students formulate explanations and models that simulate structural and biochemical data as they investigate the misconception that humans evolved from apes.