Chapter 21 Lecture Enrichment Ideas


  • Discuss why it is incorrect to say that humans descended from apes, since humans and apes are both descended from a common ancestor that was not a modern ape or human. Point out that if you go back far enough, we have a common ancestor with a dog, a lizard, a frog, a fish, an earthworm, a plant, or a bacterium.
  • Discuss how the development of language and culture makes the human so different from our closest relatives, the chimpanzees.
  • Query students for what makes humans unique. Tool use? Language? Hand grip? The ability to know what we know (compartmentalization)?


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