Welcome to Rift Valley Airlines Flight 330

Please take your seat.

How can learning about human origins anchor our students’ understanding of

Global History and Geography?

Friday, March 1, 2013

Goals for Teachers• Share insights into how to frame

student learning.• Useful activities for integrating

human origins into Global classes.

Goals for Students• To begin to build a foundation of

knowledge that will broaden their perspective on Global History.

• To practice the skills of Anthropologists and Historians. These skills can be applied throughout the Global course.

Who am I?

• Matt Roberts• Social Studies Teacher at Brooklyn

Frontiers High School• Many years teaching US History, Global,

PIG, Economics, and lots of electives• Traveled to Kenya last summer on a

Fund for Teachers fellowship. (Fundforteachers.ORG)

Brooklyn Frontiers High School• A public school in downtown Brooklyn• All students enter 9th grade at least 2

years behind• Opened in 2011• Students take PIG, US1 and US2 in

their first year.• Students take Anthropology as an

elective, prior to taking Global

How does Brooklyn Frontiers define Anthropology?

• The study of mankind, starting with the origins of humanity.

Why Anthropology? • To start at the beginning• To start with something new.• To build confidence, perspective as

well as critical thinking skills.

Who are we traveling with?What experiences have we

had in learning and teaching Anthropology?

Nairobi

Our Accommodations in NairobiNairobi International Youth Hostel

Connect students’ experiences with the story

of human origins.

Turning Points

Arrange the events in the order you think they

happened.

Human ancestors begin to walk upright-- on 2 legs…

…as a result, they have a better view of their environment and they get better at hunting and

gathering food...

Early humans learn how to use their hands to make tools…

they use the tools to improve their hunting and gathering skills. Their

diet improves and they learn more…

… Early humans learn how to make fire…

…with fire, humans can stay warm, scare off predators, and cook their

food. The improved diet leads to more learning…

… Early humans acquire the ability to speak…

…by communicating with one another early humans can share knowledge and learn

from each other. This will lead to a major turning point in human history…

...Early humans learn how to grow their own food…

Early humans establish the first civilizations. These are permanent

settlements, in river valleys.

…this is the Neolithic Revolution. Humans learn how to grow food and domesticate

animals. This will improve their diets greatly and will lead to the creation of

civilizations.

Five Steps in Human Evolution

Explaining Evolution

Mistakes that worked.

The line example.

Stone Tools of the Great Rift Valley

• Hand Ax• Chopper• Scrappe

r• Baller

The Leakeys

Hand Axe

Hammer Stone/Baller

Scraper

Hammers and Choppers

Chopper

Stone Tool Activity

• Find the stone best suited to your task

• Be ready to explain why you chose this stone and how you might modify it to improve its effectiveness

Why do homo sapiens sapiens come in different colors?

The answer has to do with…

• The sun…and the intensity of the sun’s rays…

• And, Vitamin D…

Vitamin D.

Humans need Vitamin D to help with the absorption of

calcium.

Too little Vitamin D will result in rickets – a bone disease.

Vitamin D and survival Vitamin D not common in most foods.(Some modern foods are “fortified” with Vitamin D, meaning it

is added.”

Vitamin D and survival Early humans did not have fortified foods,

but, the human body can make Vitamin D with the help of the sun. We need ultraviolet radiation to help us make Vitamin D.

Humans originated in Africa’s Great Rift Valley. This is near the equator, in the tropical zone. It receives plenty of sunlight all year.

Notice how in the far north, the intensity of the sunlight is less. This is true also in the far south.

Here is another view. Notice how the arrows point directly at Africa, all year.

So, Africa was a good place for humans. There was plenty of sunlight to help us

make Vitamin D.

In fact, early humans in Africa likely had high levels of melanin in their skin. Melanin blocks some of the sun’s energy. This protects the

human body from too much radiation.

Early humans living in Africa had a high level of melanin. The more melanin you have, the

darker your skin is.

Who has a higher level of melanin?

As early humans migrated out of Africa, some headed north…

They moved to areas that had less intense levels of UVA rays from the sun.

People with high levels of melanin could not get enough of the sun’s rays in these areas. Their skin blocked out the sun. They could not make enough Vitamin D….this

affected calcium absorption.

Gradually, people with higher levels of melanin died off in the northern areas.

Why? Because their bodies were not able to make enough Vitamin D.

People with lower levels of melanin survived. They had lighter skin. Their skin did not block out as much of the sun’s energy, so their bodies were able to make the Vitamin D the needed.

So, the farther north humans moved, the lighter their skin became. They needed light skin because the sun’s rays were less intense in the north. They needed to soak up a lot of the sun’s energy to make enough Vitamin D to survive.

This happened very slowly over thousands of years and hundreds of generations.

By the time of Columbus, groups of homo sapiens sapiens with similar skin colors were living in specific parts of the planet. All because of the sun’s rays and Vitamin D.

As humans learned to travel faster…they met people with different skin colors….

Humans moved– or were forced to move- to far off places.

Light skinned people are maladapted for tropical areas. This means that if they live in the tropical areas, they might have health problems…

Dark skinned people are maladapted to northern areas. This means that when people with high levels of melanin live too far from the tropics, they will not get enough sunlight. Their skin blocks it out.

Not enough Vitamin D.

Vitamin D deficiency can contribute to:

• Bone disease, heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers…among other problems

What can be done?

• Light skinned people who live in the tropics can wear sunscreen.

• Darker skinned people who live in the north can take a Vitamin D supplement.

All of this shows that “race” is only skin deep.

• Below the skin, we are all very much the same.

Some Anthropologists believe that the idea of “race” is not important, because we are all part of the “human race.”

What do you think?

What race is this homo sapien sapien?

Paternal Grandparents

1 White1 Native American

2 Black

Maternal Grandparents

2 Chinese2 Thai

Father Mother

What is Racism?

Discrimination against someone of with a different amount of melanin.

Martin Luther King:“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they are not judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

“I have a Dream”Anthropologist:‘I hope that in the future judgements about a person will be made based on the person’s actions and not on how much melanin he/she has.”