Evolution
Every living thing on earth is the product of a complex process of evolution that goes back millions of years. What can we learn by exploring our origins? Find everything you need to teach evolution from a “big history” perspective that links human history with a deeper understanding of our place on this planet and within the cosmos.
Featured Materials
Crash Course: Human Evolution
Video
Crash Course: Human Evolution
What connects you to other species? DNA, for one thing. Hank and John Greene will tell you about a whole lot more.
Lucy and the Leakeys
Article
Lucy and the Leakeys
Fossil discoveries in Africa produce new evidence of human origins.
Crash Course Big History: Why Human Evolution Matters
Video
Crash Course Big History: Why Human Evolution Matters
Human brains are pretty enormous compared to other species, but please don’t get big head about it.
Human Communities Populate the Earth
Article
Human Communities Populate the Earth
Humans are the only species that use language to share and store knowledge. This skill has driven human growth for over 100,000 years, allowing us to populate Earth.
Crash Course Big History: Why Human Ancestry Matters
Video
Crash Course Big History: Why Human Ancestry Matters
Humans around the world seem all too aware of our differences. But our ancestry shows we all started in the same place and, at least genetically, we’re remarkably alike.
Claim Testing – Authority
Activity
Claim Testing – Authority
How do we decide who to believe? Who can we consider “authority?” And what does Taylor Swift have to do with understanding human migration?
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Lesson 6.0
How Our Ancestors Evolved
Our complex, large-brained, culturally rich species evolved from a single-celled organism and the road to that transformation has some twists and turns. How did Homo sapiens come to be?
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