Scientific Reasoning Kiyana Decuir

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Trinity Valley Community College *

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Anthropology

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Dec 6, 2023

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Kiyana Decuir 11/7/23 Khe Fittest: USING THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS TO STUDY HUMAN EVOLUTION This worksheet complements the Click and Learn Using the Scientific Process to Study Human Evolution . INSTRUCTIONS As you proceed through the slides, watch the embedded video clips, and answer the questions below in the space provided. QUESTIONS Slides 1-4: 1. Why is context important when studying fossils? Contexts are important when studying fossils because scientists rely on ancient stays to make inferences about events and processes that happened in the past. When digging up fossils it is essential to know where they were discovered, how old they are and what other objects were found around the same area so accurate conclusions can be made. 2. Briefly explain what the Principle of Superposition and Principle of Association tell us about fossils. Principle of Superposition : In an undisturbed sequence of deposits, older deposits are more deeply buried and younger deposits are more shallowly buried, younger towards the top. Principle of Association: Things found in the same sediment are of the same age (deposited at the same time.) 3. What do geologists mean when they say fossils were deposited “at the same time”? When geologists mean that were deposited at the same time means they were deposited by the same geological event, same depositional event. Some of those individuals could have died days, months, years, decades, even centuries apart. STUDENT WORKSHEET

www.BioInteractive.org Page 2 of 4 STUDENT WORKSHEET Bones, Stones, and Genes: The Origin of Modern Humans 4. Why might this create problems for a geologist? This might go to create problems for geologists by making it difficult to determine how much time is represented in each deposit. 5. Briefly explain how radiocarbon dating works. Radiocarbon dating works measures the rates of unstable Carbon 14 to the stable Carbon 12. Carbon 14 is absorbed by living beings and stops when they die, which means the ratio of Carbon 12 to Carbon 14 increases as time passes. Using the Scientific Process to Study Human Evolution Published May 2014 www.BioInteractive.org Page 1 of 4 6. How far back can radiocarbon dating be used to determine the age of fossils? Radiocarbon dating goes as far as forty thousand years . 7. What kind of dating do geologists use for older fossils? Radio potassium dating 8. This method for dating older fossils works best on volcanic rock, but very few fossils are preserved in volcanic rock. Discuss how scientists are still able to use this method to determine the approximate age of fossils found in other layers. Scientists created an estimated age based on the fossils that are found in deposits above and below it. For example, to find the age of a fossil that is around 1.7 million years old, scientists would use the ages of the fossils in the deposits above and below it. Slide 5: Watch the video with Dr. White describing what he refers to as the “Paleo Pipeline.” 9. The “Paleo Pipeline” is an example of the scientific process used to study fossil evidence. Describe the key steps in each phase of the Paleo Pipeline.

www.BioInteractive.org Page 2 of 4 STUDENT WORKSHEET Bones, Stones, and Genes: The Origin of Modern Humans Search: Locations are found from satellite images. These places are travelled to in order to be surveyed and searched. Surface is carefully examined, and exact locations are monitored by gps and geologists. When a fossil is found, scientists must also make sure that all pieces are collected. As a result, the sediment is then taken and put through a sieve. Recovery: Preservatives are placed of the fossils to harden them so they can be transported to be catalogued, curated, cleaned if needed, and then put together. Preparation: Fossils must be catalogued, curated, cleaned if needed, and then put together with materials such as duct tape and glue by trained professionals. Analysis: Fossils are photographed and molded in silicone rubber. Also, it is digitally molded using a CT scan to look inside the bone as well. The bone is then measured and compared. When results are correct, interpretations are made and written down . Publication: Interpretations are made and written down based on data collected and then gave for peer review. The research then goes to colleagues (often anatomists) where they offer suggestions/opinions. The author receives their comments, and this continues in cycles. Eventually, the research was published . Slide 6: 10. What does all science begin with? Being curious and asking questions. Slide 7: Watch the video with Dr. White and answer the questions on the slide. 11. a. What was his question? Were humans created at the same time as dinosaurs?

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www.BioInteractive.org Page 2 of 4 STUDENT WORKSHEET Bones, Stones, and Genes: The Origin of Modern Humans b. What was the evidence? There have never been any human remains discovered with dinosaurs according to fossil records. c. What was his conclusion? Humans were not created at the same time as dinosaurs since humans have never been found with dinosaurs. Slides 8-10: 12. What evidence suggests that humans and dinosaurs never coexisted? Human and dinosaur fossils have never been found in the same geological strata. Also, there has never been any overlap in the estimated ages of bones that have been found. (Dinosaur fossils date around 60 million years prior to the earliest human-like fossils found. Slides 11-15: 13. Identify the key elements of the scientific process and the skills scientists use as they engage in the scientific process. Becoming curious, asking testable questions, collecting and analyzing data, and making logical conclusions are the key elements. Additional skills and processes are years of training they have acquired and knowing the literature, applying what they already have learned to discover more about what they are researching, and collecting and analyzing evidence in an effort to answer their questions. 14. Did humans make stone tools that were 2.6 million years old? If not, who may have made them? Humans did not make stone tools. No fossils belonging to humans have ever been found originating from that long ago. A hominid known as Australopithecus might have made these tools due to the fact that fossils belonging to them have been found originating from up to 2.5 million years ago. Fossils have also been discovered with evidence of these stone tools used on them from around the same time

www.BioInteractive.org Page 2 of 4 STUDENT WORKSHEET Bones, Stones, and Genes: The Origin of Modern Humans Slide 16: 15. Does the scientific process have an end? Explain your answer. Humans did not make the stone tools. There is no end to the scientific process because every new discovery that is made only creates more questions. Science is a continuous cycle that builds on previous works where new curiosities are constantly created. Slides 17-18: 16. What were the two questions Dr. White and his colleagues asked about human evolutionary history? Were there no humans before 6,000 years ago? Have humans not changed? 17. How did Dr. White and his colleagues test the first question? They drilled down in layers of sediment that each represented different spans of time to see if human remains could be found throughout the years. According to the hypothesis, human crania should have been found all the way through time. Slides 19-21: 18. What evidence suggests that modern humans have existed for at least 80,000 years? Fossils belonging to Homo sapiens that date back to being 80,000 years old have been discovered. 19. What evidence suggests that the human lineage has changed? Skulls not belonging to Homo sapiens have been discovered with human-like characteristics. The characteristics these human-like skulls possess suggest they still belong to the lineage. Therefore, it suggests that the human lineage has changed.

www.BioInteractive.org Page 2 of 4 STUDENT WORKSHEET Bones, Stones, and Genes: The Origin of Modern Humans Summary: 20. Summarize what you have learned about using the scientific process to study human evolution. About how scientists use a scientific process to test ideas with evidence, how inferences about events/processes of the distant past are studied through the remnants of the past, how science is built on curiosity, questions, and observations made, and how the scientific process is iterative, collaborative, and continuously inspires new questions. AUTHOR Nikki Chambers, West High School, Torrance, California, and Mark Eberhard, St. Clair High School, St. Clair, Michigan Edited by Sandra H. Blumenrath, PhD, HHMI; copyedited by Linda Felaco

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