Video Resources Form
A. Video Information
Video title | Where Did Humans Come From? | |
Video made by | Its Okay To Be Smart | |
URL |
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B. Resources
1. Summary
Write a three-sentence overview of the video.
This video relays the story of human ancestry by going through the evolutionary tree. It also depicts the strategic analysis of ancient remains in determining which species were our ancestors, and which were our distant cousins. It tells us a story of how different species (from primitive apes to all the ape and human intermediates) evolved to make us human today.
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2. Why watch this video?
Identify three key questions that the video answers.
1. Have you ever wondered …? |
What is the oldest and youngest species in the human family album? |
2. Would you like to know how [something works or happens/ happened]? |
Paleoanthropologists used fossils and footprint records to determine which species were more like us; which were our closest living ancestors. |
3. Have you ever been confused by …? |
How chimps are similar to us in many ways, but at the same time so different? |
3. Key terms
Identify three terms that are technical in nature, and that are key to understanding the topic of the video and define them in simple language.
Term | Definition |
Species | A group of organisms that are able to breed with one another. |
Ancestral traits | Traits developed in early organisms in an evolutionary sequence. |
Fossils | Remains that have been preserved from ancient organisms; remains that give an insight into how they might’ve looked and the way they lived out their life. |
4. Loose ends
Identify three “loose ends,” and explain the loose ends so that others watching the video will not be confused by them.
Loose end #1: | It was stated in the video that some ancient species were probably already comfortable on two legs when they first hit the ground. This is a bit confusing because, when the video later mentions how species went from swinging to walking; it almost sounded revolutionary. Which begs the question, what about those species that were comfortable on two legs when they hit the ground? |
Loose end #2: | How do we know which species are our closest living relative if there might be fossils we haven’t found yet? The answer to that is, the branches on the evolutionary tree are not set in stone, there is room for change, and whatever fossils may be found later on would only better explain the story of how human species evolved, not hinder it. |
Loose end #3: | The family tree has a lot of gaps, so how could it be told as a proper story. Stephen Jay Gould gave somewhat of an explanation when he said, “human ancestry is less like a tree and more like a scraggly bush, full of tangles and shadowy areas”. However; there is still room for a more in-depth explanation. |
5. Self-Test Questions
Write five multiple choice questions so students can test their knowledge after watching the video. Supply the correct answers and an explanation of why the answers are correct and/or why the other answers are wrong.
Question 1
Question: | Which of the following is NOT evidence that evolution was already doing experiments on two legs 3-4 million years ago? |
Answer a: | Human like foot |
Answer b: | Long pelvis |
Answer c: | Short pelvis |
Answer d: | Femur that angles inward |
What’s the answer and why? | |
The answer is B: Fossil evidence found in support of two legged adaptations indicate a shorter pelvis, not a longer one. All the evidence above is a further indication of a species that was able to handle bipedal movements. |
Question 2
Question: | What is the reason behind ape’s sudden switch from swinging from trees to walking? |
Answer a: | Food was suddenly easier to find |
Answer b: | Their legs grew longer over time |
Answer c: | Change in climate forced them change their travel patterns |
Answer d: | All of the above |
What’s the answer and why? | |
Answer is C Food was actually harder to find once the African forests turned into grasslands, due to climate change. This put apes in a difficult situation as they had to travel long distances to find food; which was hard to do by swinging. Also, the climate had changed, so swinging wasn’t as suitable for their new environment as it once was in the African forests. |
Question 3
Question: | Which of the following is true? |
Answer a: | Homo habilis wasn’t the first hominin to use tools |
Answer b: | Homo habilis was the first hominin to use tools |
Answer c: | Homoerectus were the first to cook their food |
Answer d: | Both A and C |
What’s the answer and why? | |
Answer is A: Homo habilis was not the first hominin to use tools, but they did pioneer the “maker movement. Also, Homo erectus were the first to cook their own food, which probably came from the fact that they had larger brains than those before them, so they needed more food to sustain their brain activity. |
Question 4
The term hominin specifically refers to the current human species (us)
Question: | Which of the following are our closest relative? |
Answer a: | Homo naledi |
Answer b: | Homo erectus |
Answer c: | Homo neanderthalensis |
Answer d: | Ardipithecus ramidus |
What’s the answer and why? | |
The answer is B: Homo erectus were on Earth 8X longer than we’ve been so far, they had larger brains similar in size to ours, they were the first to cook their own food, they were also the first to move out. |
Question 5
Question: | What evidence did Paleoanthropologists use to narrow down the search on which ancient species had bipedal movements? |
Answer a: | Footprints |
Answer b: | Fossil records |
Answer c: | Footprints and fossil records |
Answer d: | None of the above |
What’s the answer and why? | |
The answer is C: Footprints gave paleoanthropologists the evidence they needed to secure the notion that some chimps were walking on two feet back then, but footprints alone didn’t solve the case. They had to make an estimated guess by using the fossil records to see which species had two legged adaptations. |
6. Categories
For which course modules is this video relevant? Choose up to three and rate the relevance by entering the numbers 1, 2, and 3 next to the categories, with 1 being the most relevant.
Rating | Module |
Module 1. Geological Time | |
Module 2. Geological Materials and Biogeochemical Cycles | |
Module 3. Plate Tectonics and Supercontinents | |
2 | Module 4. Life, Evolution, and the Fossil Record |
Module 5. Early Earth and the First Life | |
Module 6. Early Paleozoic: Cambrian and Ordovician | |
Module 7. Middle Paleozoic: Silurian and Devonian | |
Module 8. Late Paleozoic: Carboniferous and Permian | |
Module 9. The Mesozoic Era | |
1 | Module 10. The Cenozoic Era (pre-Holocene |
Module 11. The Holocene |
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