Table of Contents
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What's this lesson all about?
Biological anthropology is less focused on culture than the other three sub-fields. It is the sub-field that addresses some of the genetic and physiological questions of what it means to be human. Primatology is the study of primates (Think: Jane Goodall). Primatologists may study food procurement strategies and behavior.
Why Study Primates?
This falls under the umbrella of biological anthropology because studying our closest living relatives helps us learn more about ourselves.
Playful Primates is important because this is the lesson that addresses the link between other living primates and humans. Understanding our evolutionary connection with primates is an important part of anthropology. Most primates are social creatures that put a lot of time and effort into caring for their young (sound familiar?). Although none of our living relatives are a direct evolutionary ancestor, studying them can help us understand why the way we live evolved in the first place.
The Meddling Monkeys activity addresses not only food, but primate locomotion! Although we humans use bipedal locomotion, some primates use what we call knucklewalking. Students usually love this activity because they get to run around on their hands and knees while trying to find food.
Primate Diet
Primates eat all types of foods from leaves to fruit to insects, and all have different energy values.
One of the biggest draws for students to pick anthropology during partnership is eating bugs. It never fails that each year when we ask if the students know antyhing about anthropology, the response we get is "you get to eat bugs!" Some years we buy mealworms and crickets pre-packaged, but recently we have been cooking the crickets ourselves. The students go wild for this.
Why Study Primates?
This falls under the umbrella of biological anthropology because studying our closest living relatives helps us learn more about ourselves.
Playful Primates is important because this is the lesson that addresses the link between other living primates and humans. Understanding our evolutionary connection with primates is an important part of anthropology. Most primates are social creatures that put a lot of time and effort into caring for their young (sound familiar?). Although none of our living relatives are a direct evolutionary ancestor, studying them can help us understand why the way we live evolved in the first place.
The Meddling Monkeys activity addresses not only food, but primate locomotion! Although we humans use bipedal locomotion, some primates use what we call knucklewalking. Students usually love this activity because they get to run around on their hands and knees while trying to find food.
Primate Diet
Primates eat all types of foods from leaves to fruit to insects, and all have different energy values.
One of the biggest draws for students to pick anthropology during partnership is eating bugs. It never fails that each year when we ask if the students know antyhing about anthropology, the response we get is "you get to eat bugs!" Some years we buy mealworms and crickets pre-packaged, but recently we have been cooking the crickets ourselves. The students go wild for this.
Here is a quick vlog on our lesson on Primates, taught by Bre Tucker at TMSE in the Spring of 2018. |
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Common Core
This lesson illustrates the structure and function of the human skeletal structure compared to other primates. It showcases how similar in structure the hands and arms of all primates are, and shows how these structures function through visual demonstration. Highlighted in particular are primates’ grasping thumbs and ability to brachiate.
This lesson illustrates the structure and function of the human skeletal structure compared to other primates. It showcases how similar in structure the hands and arms of all primates are, and shows how these structures function through visual demonstration. Highlighted in particular are primates’ grasping thumbs and ability to brachiate.
Playful Primates Lesson Plan
Third Grade
Eight Sessions
Materials Needed:
Focus:
Learning Objectives:
Input and Modeling:
Independent Practice: Meddling Monkeys and Insect Eating
Summary: Ask questions to check for understanding.
Eight Sessions
Materials Needed:
- Construction paper – insects, leaves, fruit, baby monkeys
- Cooked crickets/worms
Focus:
- What are primates?
- What can we learn from studying primates?
- Why is it important to study primates?
- What do primates eat?
Learning Objectives:
- To show similarities between humans and other primates through skeletal structure, behaviors, and physical abilities
- Understand the differences between apes and monkeys
- To understand how studying other primates helps us learn about ourselves
Input and Modeling:
- Ask about their knowledge of primates
- Show them characteristics of primates that make us unique
- Grasping thumbs
- Binocular vision
- Brachiation
- Teach them about different primate diets
Independent Practice: Meddling Monkeys and Insect Eating
Summary: Ask questions to check for understanding.
Meddling Monkeys Scavenger Hunt
Setup: Cut construction paper into shapes like leaves, insects, fruit, and baby monkeys. Scatter these pieces around the room (hiding some) without the students seeing. Leave the baby monkeys divided equally among the "home bases" for each group.
Divide the students into two or three groups, depending on the size of the class. Each group should have a home base assigned to them that is away from the other groups' home base(s).
Objective of the game: To collect as many calories as possible while protecting all of your infants.
Rules:
Divide the students into two or three groups, depending on the size of the class. Each group should have a home base assigned to them that is away from the other groups' home base(s).
Objective of the game: To collect as many calories as possible while protecting all of your infants.
Rules:
- Search the room to find as many calories as you can. There are leaves, insects, and fruit hidden throughout the classroom.
- You can only carry one food item back to your troop at a time. You may steal food that is unguarded or babies that are unprotected.
- You must “knuckle walk” at all times–i.e., one hand must always be on the ground when moving about
- Someone must be at the “home base” to prevent stealing at all times, otherwise the food is open to theft and your babies to kidnapping. However, you may choose to leave as few or as many people at the nest as you wish.
- Once all the food has been gathered, groups will reunite and scores will be tallied. Foods will be worth the caloric value assigned as follows:
- Leaves: 1 calorie
- Insects: 2 calories
- Fruit: 3 calories
- A kidnapped baby results in -5 points taken from the group
Downloadable Content
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Still hungry for more information? Check out our blog! Below are a few links to the Primates lessons we've taught over the years:
Gallery
Below is a gallery of pictures from over the years that were taken during the primate lesson. Some show the knucklwalking activity- you can see the different foods that the students were able to find. During the scavenger hunt, they have different food options like insects and leaves, which represent different point values. These point values correspond to what would be the higher energy in an environment. After the activity is done, the students get to eat REAL bugs!