The Brains and Bones Project

When developing a human evolution module for any level, it’s important to present data in a range of formats to maximise your students’ engagement. While teaching Human Evolution and Diversity at Durham University, a free and incredibly useful tool I often used was the Smithsonian’s interactive Human Family Tree.

One of the first lessons I like to teach my students is that evolution isn’t a straight line or a march of progress. And the Smithsonian’s illustration beautifully demonstrates the complex, diverging paths our evolutionary history has taken thus far. Its groupings are intuitive—and intuitively represented. Its metaphorical roots in “Tree of Life” imagery are both accurate and effecting.

This is an excellent linchpin for any teacher developing their unit on human evolution. Return to it at the beginning or the end of each class, or use it to navigate each evolutionary group you cover. It’s free, easy to use, and academically sound.

It doesn’t get much better than that!