Build your own lines of evolution and family tree. What do fossils tell you about evolution and the way animals used to live? Compare and contrast real fossils and models of molars, legs and skulls from 50 million years ago up to the present day. How have horses, elephants and humans evolved through the ages?
Everything you need to knowin a row
- Workshop
- Senior general secondary education Years 4 and 5, pre-university education Years 4–6
- Length: 120 minutes
- Number of students: no more than 36
- Areas: the "Early humans" gallery, "Workshop The past"
- The school supplies: one supervisor for every 20 students
- Naturalis supplies: two educational assistants
- Objective: Students learn how horses, elephants and humans have evolved through the ages. They ponder what caused these changes. They discover what knowledge scientists glean from fossils and find out how the body of knowledge about the evolution of organisms has grown. Additionally, students learn of human influence (including their own) on nature and the evolution of species.
- Keywords: evolution, fossils, geological time scale, genealogy, science, molars, skulls, bones
Course of the programat the museum
The program consists of two parts. The schedule given below is an indication only.
0-45 minutes: research in the “Past” workshop
Students will be given sets of fossilized molars and legs from horse-like and elephant-like animals. They will then use a determination table to identify the molars or legs and label each fossil with the species name and its age. The students will also get a fold-out map with a timescale from the Paleocene to the present. The map shows how the tropical forests of the past slowly gave way to larger expanses of grasslands. Students will arrange the molars and bones on large family tree posters. By doing so, they can observe how the molars got bigger and developed taller crowns and more ridges. They will also see how horses’ legs got longer and longer and gradually “lost” their toes. The groups will discuss possible reasons for these changes together.
45-75 minutes: in museum
For 20 minutes, students explore the ‘Evolution’ exhibition hall independently. A map with suggestions helps them find the best highlights and reflect on the evolution of life in a broader sense. They discover one of the earliest fossils of equids, learn how much of human DNA matches that of a banana, and consider which selective pressures (including human influence) cause animals to become extinct.
75-120 minutes: in the “Past” workshop area
Back in the workshop area, students will investigate the process of human evolution. They will compare the skulls of different hominids. They identify primitive and modern characteristics and arrange the skulls according to a family tree. What can they see happening over time? Why did our cranial volume get bigger and our zygomatic arches smaller? Together, the students discuss our evolution, while in the process, they discover something strange that had a major impact on science in the early 20th century.
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