Science Projects About Early Humans
Three million years ago, early humans first appeared on Earth. Scientists learned about early humans from this period after the discovery of a hominid, or early human, skeleton in Africa in 1974. "Lucy" was about four feet tall and 50 pounds. She walked upright like modern humans, and her brain was roughly the size of an orange. Students can learn all about early humans with age-appropriate science projects.
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Kindergarten to Second Grade
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Young children may learn about early humans through studying cave paintings. Explain cave paintings to young students and show examples of cave art, such as the caves at Lascaux. Early paints or pigments were natural substances, such as charcoal or ochre. Give the children dry pigments to experiment with painting on a wall. The children will learn techniques for making paints and applying them. Another project for young children would be looking at different types of bones for identification. Different bones, such as skull and legs, should be compared.
Third to Sixth Grade
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Older elementary school children may learn about archeologists, who study fossils and artifacts or things made by early humans. Artifacts may be ceramic pots or stone tools. Older children may survey a landscape as a science project about early humans. Archeologists take surveys on areas to figure out where they should dig for fossils and artifacts. Select an outdoor area, such as a park, and map the area with a pencil and paper. Draw vegetation, hills and other landmarks. Look at the soil and describe its texture and color. Figure out where the sun rises and sets.
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Middle School
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Prehistoric man used tools to make life easier, such as cutting down branches and hunting game. Tools were made from natural items in early man's environment. A science project for middle school-aged students would be to create tools from native natural materials. Tools like flint stones and even bows and arrows may be created. Students will experiment with techniques for tool making and experiment with how successful their tools are.
High School
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A science project studying the growth of hominid skeletons and the relationship to using tools and eating meat would be a science project for high school students. Students would graph the diversity of tools alongside skeletal height and skull size. Another project for high school students would be measuring their radius bone, which is found in the forearm from the bottom of the wrist to below the elbow hinge. Students will multiply the radius by 3.3 and add 34 for males and 32 for females, to figure out total height.
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