CURRICULA
Smithsonian Teaching Evolution through Human Examples
Evolution of Human Skin Color: Students examine evidence for the relationship between UV and melanin in other animals; investigate the genetic basis for constitutive skin color humans; learn to test for natural selection in mouse fur color; investigate how interactions between UV and skin color in humans can affect fitness; design an investigation using a simulation based on the Hardy-Weinberg principle to explore mechanisms of evolution; and explore data on migrations and gene frequency to show convergent evolution of skin color.
Finding Your Roots fyrclassroom.org
Our research-based curriculum can be customized and implemented by cross-content teachers over a time period of your choosing. Content has also been organized to accompany Finding Your Roots – The Seedlings video episodes! (materials available: full curriculum, list of materials, teacher guides, genealogy tutorials)
Videos
TED Ed (2021) – Why do we have hair in such random places?
The Leakey Foundation (2020) – The Evolution and Meaning of Human Skin Color
Bill Nye (2020) – The Science of Skin Color
2020 CARTA Symposium Lectures – Comparative Anthropogeny: Exploring the Human-Ape Paradox
Charles M. and Martha Hitchcock Lectures at UC Berkeley (2017)
The Real ‘Skin in the Game’: The History of Naked, Sweaty, and Colorful Skin in the Human Lineage
The Cost of Color: The Health and Social Consequences of Skin Color for People Today
2015 CARTA Symposium – The Unique Features of Human Skin
HHMI Biointeractive (2015) – The Biology of Skin Color (materials available: film, film guide, interactive video, classroom activity, and short animation)
Penn Humanities Forum (2014) – The Colors of Human Skin
TED Talk (2009) – Nina Jablonski Breaks the Illusion of Skin Color
UCLA Darwin Evolving Lecture (2009) – Darwin’s Birthday Suit: The Evolution of Human Skin Pigmentation
Articles
The Colours of Humanity: The Evolution of Skin Pigmentation in the Human Lineage – Jablonski.2017.PTRSB.1ff
Scientific American articles
The Naked Truth (2010) – Jablonski.2010.Sci.Am.28ff
Skin Deep (2002) – Jablonski.2002.Sci.Am.1ff
Images
(high resolution images for educational purposes only, please credit appropriately)
(for more detailed information, see George Chaplin’s original publication, Chaplin, G. (2004). Geographic distribution of environmental factors influencing human skin coloration. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 125(3), 292-302. doi:10.1002/ajpa.10263)
(for more detailed information, see George Chaplin’s original publication, Chaplin, G. (2004). Geographic distribution of environmental factors influencing human skin coloration. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 125(3), 292-302. doi:10.1002/ajpa.10263)
