ardi!

How exciting is this?!!


Ok, number one, I'm psyched because human evolution is FASCINATING. Last year I learned about this hominid stuff for the first time while teaching my students. Then I learned it again when reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Which introduced me to the Mungo Man fossil discovery and theory of multiple origins and when did humans ACTUALLY begin to migrate or develop intelligent enough brains to build large boats? My trip to Australia yielded more fodder for this subject.

Number two is that for several weeks now, as we have been starting our first unit on Early Hominids and historical scientists, I have been telling my students that we can only ever be ninety-nine percent sure about prehistory, that since no one left writing and not many people even left bones, we are only making educated guesses at this point. Like, we think Lucy didn't make tools because we haven't found any, but for all we know they are all buried at the bottom of the ocean. And I kept stressing the point that scientists could find a bone or a tool or a piece of writing tomorrow, and all of our theories could be proven wrong, and we would have to get new history books.

AND THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

Number three is that students came to school today carrying the article to share during current events. It is so exciting to have real things happen in the world that relate to the ancient things that we study in our classrooms. Newspapers don't usually print segments about transitive verbs or ancient Egyptian diets. Relevance is the spice of education!*

Number four is that in our conversation about this finding, students were throwing around the words "hominid," "Australopithecus," and "biped." Nothing is as rewarding as when your educating sticks.


*Naked pictures of ape-humans can also spice up a lesson.