- Kalinowski, Steven
- Lab activity
Time: Two lab periods
In this two-part laboratory students analyze skull morphology and DNA sequences among primate species to answer one of the most meaningful questions in biology: How are humans related to other animals?
- [History of life: Grades 13-16] Present-day species evolved from earlier species; the relatedness of organisms is the result of common ancestry.
- [Evidence of evolution: Grades 13-16] There are similarities and differences among fossils and living organisms.
- [Evidence of evolution: Grades 13-16] Similarities among existing organisms (including morphological, developmental, and molecular similarities) reflect common ancestry and provide evidence for evolution.
- [Nature of science: Grades 13-16] The real process of science is complex, iterative, and can take many different paths.
There are no NGSS/DCI concepts currently linked to this resource.
The authors use this lab in a sophomore-level course on ecology and evolution that is part of a three-semester introductory biology sequence. This lab is broken into two parts, each designed for a 3-hr lab period and students work in groups of two to four under the guidance of a graduate student teaching assistant.
Author note: "Creativity is required to develop methods to infer phylogeny from skull morphology and DNA sequences. Critical thinking is required when students discover that the phylogeny they reconstruct from DNA sequences does not agree with the phylogeny they reconstruct from skull morphology. This twist to the lab requires students to think deeply about how evolution works. In our experience, most undergraduate students are not prepared to tackle this series of questions without preparation. Therefore, students are given a series of introductory problems in which they learn the skills needed to analyze skulls and DNA sequences."
This resource currently lacks an associated teaching background.