Digital Program | Primate Evolution
Analyse and compare living primates with fossils, bones, bio facts and DNA to reveal human’s closest living and extinct relatives, the evolutionary trends leading from primates to humans and what it means to be classified as Homo sapiens.
Program description
VCE Biology Unit 4
Each program includes a 30-minute online workshop with a Zoo Teacher and a teaching guide filled with activities for your scope and sequence. While not a tour of the zoo, you will have direct access to your own expert Zoo Teacher and unique zoo content.
Through collection of observational data and analysis of fossils, anatomy and DNA, students will uncover human’s closest living and extinct relatives. Determining the evolutionary trends leading from primates to humans.
Students will explore primate biofacts obtained from the past and present to identify and analyse adaptations and determine the phylogeny of species. DNA sequence comparisons will be utilised to further analyse species relatedness and draw phylogenetic trees. Students will gather some evidence to support human evolution through behavioural observations and comparing with a range of primates.
Students will learn:
- The anatomical and behavioural characteristics of primates, hominoids and hominins
- The processes that underpin speciation of primates and humans
- Construction and use of phylogenetic trees to identify relatedness of species
- How to collect and analyse behavioural observation data
Want to come face-to-face with our incredible wildlife and extend your students' learning in their environment? Book in an excursion to one of our three amazing zoos.
Program sequence
Connect
Use the activities in the Teaching Guide and Workbook (below) to inform and prepare students’ before their online workshop.
Connect and Understand
Students will draw on their analysis of anatomical, molecular and behavioural evidence, in combination with understanding of evolutionary processes. They will identify evolutionary trends, describe relatedness of species and build a phylogenetic tree to model human evolution. Data collected and provided can be used as part of the school based assessment.
Understand
Use activities in the Teaching Guide and Workbook to deepen students’ learning.
Act
Use the Teaching Guide to enable students to master their knowledge and skills in real-world contexts.
Program resources
Learning outcomes
Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) – Biology
Area of Study 1: How are species related?
- Students will use comparative anatomy, behaviour observations and DNA of living and once living primates to explore changes in the genetic make-up of a population, changes in biodiversity over time, determine relatedness between species and human change over time
Area of Study 3: Practical Investigation
- Students will carry out behavioural observations and compare primary and secondary data to understand the trends in primate and human change over time that can be used as part of the school based assessment
Online workshop details
Your Online Workshop will be hosted on Zoom.
All you need is a computer or device with internet access.
Students can also communicate with a Zoo Teacher by typing in the Chat or Q & A box.
We will send out a link to join the program to the teacher that booked.
Join us ten minutes before your start time. Arriving early will enable us to check any tech issues and start your session on time.
Online workshop delivery
Paid (outside of remote learning) |
Free (during remote learning) |
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Exclusive to your class |
Open to all |
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Up to 30 students |
Up to 1000 children |
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Cameras on |
Cameras off |
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Microphones on |
Microphones off |
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Chat on |
Q&A on |
Book now
Register for the free online workshop during periods of Victorian remote learning.
Please note online workshops follow the same content per session throughout the week. The sessions are repeated to offer schools varied times when booking.
For any questions, email education@zoo.org.au