The Human Story - Stage 6 Syllabus Links

The Human Story Stage 6 activity has been specifically designed to enhance students' learning of the outcomes of the New South Wales Board of Studies Biology Syllabus.

‘Peking Man’ Homo erectus skull

‘Peking Man’ Homo erectus skull
Stuart Humphreys © Australian Museum

The NSW Board of Studies Stage 6 Biology topic, Option 9.8 The Human Story, outcomes, addressed by the educator led Human Story activity, are detailed below.  

  Students learn to: Students:

1. Humans have 
    characteristics
    that can be used
    to classify them
    with other
    organisms

 • describe primate
   characteristics,
   including:

   - hand/foot structure 
     and function ...
   - skull shape and 
     function
   - brain size relative to
      body size
   - arrangement of the
      vertebral column ...

• describe primate
   characteristics in:
   - apes
   - humans		 • process information to
  summarise and analyse
  the similarities and 
  differences between ...
  apes and humans
2. Fossil ... evidence
    assists in the
    clarification of the
    relationships
    between humans
    and other
    primates		 • discuss the difficulty
   of interpreting the
   past from the fossil
   record alone, 
   including: 
   - different interpretations
     of the same evidence		  
3. Debate continues
    on the 
    relationships
    between
    hominid
    species		 • examine at least two
   alternative views of
   human evolutionary
   relationships using the
   same fossil evidence,
   including:
   - Ardipithecus ramidus

   - Australopithecus   
     afarensis 
   - Paranthropus robustus
   - Paranthropus boisei
   - Australopithecus 
     africanus
   - Homo habilis
   - Homo ergaster
   - Homo erectus
   - Homo heidelbergensis
   - Homo neanderthalensis 
   - Homo sapiens

• compare the above
   species, including
   comparisons of:

   - body structure
   - cranial capacity
   - fossil ages and
     regional locations
   - inferred culture

• outline and examine
   the evidence for the
   pattern of human
   migration and evolution
   based on:

   - the ‘Out of Africa’
     model
   - the theory of regional
     continuity (multi-regional
     hypothesis)

• gather, process, present
   and analyse information
   to provide an overview
   of the similarities and 
   differences of any two
   species used in tracing
   human evolutionary 
   relationships
 

• process secondary
  information and use
  available evidence to
  assess the ... following
  to our increased
  understanding of human
  evolution:
   - Dart


• gather and process
  information from
  secondary sources to
  analyse and evaluate
  the evidence for two
  different models of
  human evolution
 

 

 


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