Tuesday, February 8

-Announcements: There will be a bio day on Thursday, February 10th

-Homework:

+Read 26.3 (notes are optional, but recommended)

+Finish Lab

+Review Quiz Tomorrow (won't count as a grade, just to help study)

+Unit 7: Evolution test FRIDAY (study!)

I. Notes

Today we took notes in our student handout To Be Or Not To Be notes packet. The notes were taken under roman numeral V. Human Evolution. The blue is what we added. They are as follows:

V.Human Evolution

First Humans...

-Ape-human split- (5-7 million years ago)

-Australopithecus "Lucy"- Found in Africa

Got name from beatles song

Oldest and first species of humans.

-Homo Habilis- "Handy Man"

Had the ability to use tools

2.5 MYA (million years ago)"

-Homo Erectus first to migrate- (1.8MYA)

Walked upright

Used Fire

-Homo Sapiens- 200,000 mya

-Homo Sapiens- Made excellent tools

Good hunters

Had burial rituals

Primates...

-Binocular Vision (3D)

-Flexible forelimbs and shoulders

-Problem Solving Ability

II. Next We Did A Lab

Brief Notes Taken Before Lab:

-Brow bridges less prominent

-Skull capacity went up

-Jaw shape went from "U" to "V"

-Sagittal crest decreased

Lab Explanation:

We worked on a short lab today. The lab can be found on UP pages 42-47. It is titled Evolutionary Changes In Primates.

-What you have to do:

Based on the diagram on p.43 (Figure 1) & p.46 (Figure 3+4) we recorded data onto a chart (p.45). Using the chart we answered questions on page 47. In order to fill in the chart you needed a protractor & a ruler (using CM side). The procedure part on p.42&44 explained how to measure & analyze the diagrams. Filling in the chart was a little difficult but the procedure explains it pretty well.

-Main Point of Lab:

The main point of the lab was to observe the evolutionary changes from gorilla to australopithecus to modern human. By observing the three skulls, jaws, and pelvic features it is easy to link the evolutionary similarities and note the differences.

+Similarities:

The biggest similarities between the two is the jaw structure. They have the same amount of teeth and the "U" and "V" shapes are quite related as well. Their skull structures, overall, resemble one another clearly

+Differences:

In contrast, the individual brain area is very different among the three. The human brain area is much larger and the skull is much smaller than that of the gorilla and australopithecus. The pelvis between the human & australopithecus are much smaller & wider (bipedalism) than a gorilla (walks on all fours).

-Lab Conclusion

So as you can see, the lab basically enforces Darwin's discoveries in that a species evolved from a common ancestor.

III. Scribe Post Conclusion

Thats pretty much all that we did today. Don't forget to go over the lab q's and studyyy!!

The next scriber will be...Danny. Ha! sorry. unless he has a game that night. then jordan.