Science Homework Help

Goal

Use the modules and review resources to complete the chart on this handout comparing skull features of the chimp, human, Australopithecus afarensis, and Paranthropus boisei. Refer to the module page for images of skulls of the four species.

Instructions

Refer to the module page Week 6 – Skull Images for the Assignments for images and 3-D rotations of the four skulls you need to describe and compare.

Open the worksheet An111 Comparing Early Hominin Skulls.docx

Actions

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1. Present or absent: When a feature is either there or not, you can use a + for present and – for absent. For example, “presence of sagittal crest” can be answered + or –.
2. Describe: When you are asked to describe a feature, do so with a few words or short phrase. For example, “shape of dental arcade” can be answered “U-shaped.”
3. Compare: When you are asked to compare, you need to ask “compare to what?” If there are three skulls being compared, you might say X and Y are smaller than Z. Or X is smaller than Y and Y is larger than Z.
4. Measure: Use the measurements you collected in the Early Hominin Skull Measurements Assignment to complete this row and compare the index across species.

Alternately, you may use these measurements gathered from teaching materials at LAVC. All measurements are in millimeters

	Chimpanzee (male)	Human (euro male)	A. afarensis	P. boisei
basion to opisthicranion	58	92	71	75
basion to prosthion	150	94	129	135
nasion to prosthion	78	70	84	110
basion to bregma	85	132	91	92

Grading

Learning and growth take practice and reflection and I am here to support your efforts. All assignments will receive an initial grade based on the provided rubric. If you aren’t happy with the points you receive or need to improve your submission, everyone will have the option to review my feedback, revise your work, and resubmit your assignment by the “available until” date 1 week after the original due date. If you have questions about how to improve a submission or about my feedback, please ask me.