Grade Levels: 9-12

Time Allotment: Two to three 45-minute class periods

Overview:

In this lesson, students will use selected segments from the PBS series The Human Spark to explore how the capacity for language develops in the human brain, and about how that capacity distinguishes us from other animals.

The Introductory Activity first asks students to brainstorm what distinguishes humans from other primates, and then presents a video clip in which psycholinguist Stephen Pinker suggests that language is one of three unique human qualities. The Learning Activities further explores the development of language in children, the possible origins of words, the function and nature of grammar, and the interconnected anatomy of the brain’s “language loop.” For the Culminating Activity, students will write a short essay summarizing what they’ve learned and positing an unanswered question as a jumping-off point for further research.

This lesson is best used as an introduction to linguistics or psychology, or as a supplement to a biology unit on the anatomy of the brain

Subject Matter: Psychology, Biology, Linguistics, Evolution

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to:

• Describe several ways in which humans are unique among species
• Outline the sequence of language developmental in children
• Suggest theories for the origins of language
• Explain how tool use and language capacity may be linked in the brain
• Name the parts of the brain involved in language, describing their specific function and relative location in the brain’s anatomy

Standards:

From the National Science Education Standards

Content Standard: 9-12

SCIENCE AS INQUIRY

Content Standard A: As a result of activities in grades 9–12, all students should develop:

UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

• Scientists usually inquire about how physical, living, or designed systems function. Conceptual principles and knowledge guide scientific inquiries. Historical and current scientific knowledge influence the design and interpretation of investigations and the evaluation of proposed explanations made by other scientists.
• Scientists conduct investigations for a wide variety of reasons. For example, they may wish to discover new aspects of the natural world, explain recently observed phenomena, or test the conclusions of prior investigations or the predictions of current theories.
• Scientists rely on technology to enhance the gathering and manipulation of data. New techniques and tools provide new evidence to guide inquiry and new methods to gather data, thereby contributing to the advance of science. The accuracy and precision of the data, and therefore the quality of the exploration, depends on the technology used.
• Results of scientific inquiry—new knowledge and methods—emerge from different types of investigations and public communication among scientists. In communicating and defending the results of scientific inquiry, arguments must be logical and demonstrate connections between natural phenomena, investigations, and the historical body of scientific knowledge. In addition, the methods and procedures that scientists used to obtain evidence must be clearly reported to enhance opportunities for further investigation.

Media Resources:

Video:

Clip 1: “Dr. Steven Pinker: Language Makes Us Human”

In this outtake from The Human Spark, Psycholinguist Stephen Pinker discusses the three things he believes makes us distinctly, uniquely human: language, cooperation, and technological “know how.”

Clip 2:  “The Language Spark”

An excerpt from episode 3 of The Human Spark, Episode Three: “Brain Matters” exploring the human brain’s unique capacity for complex language.

Websites:

“Language on the Brain”

A video exploring how the brain processes language,  produced by the American Museum of Natural History for its exhibit “Brain: The Inside Story.”

“The Language Loop”

An educational website from McGill University in Montreal exploring how specific parts of the brain process different aspects on language comprehension and production.

Materials:

For the teacher:

• A computer with internet access connected to a projector and speakers for classroom use.
• “The Sound of Language” Student Organizer Answer Key (PDF) (RTF)
• “The Language Loop” Student Organizer Answer Key (PDF) (RTF)

For each of five group of students:

• A computer with internet access.

For each student:

• “The Sound of Language” Student Organizer (PDF) (RTF)
• “The Language Loop” Student Organizer (PDF) (RTF)

Prep for Teachers:

Prior to teaching this lesson, you will need to:

Preview all of the video segments and websites used in the lesson.

Download the video segments used in the lesson to your classroom computer, or prepare to watch them using your classroom’s internet connection.

Bookmark the website used in the lesson on each computer in your classroom. Using a social bookmarking tool such as delicious.com or diigo (or an online bookmarking utility such as portaportal) will allow you to organize all the links in a central location.

Proceed to Lesson Activities.

Grade Levels: 9-12

Time Allotment: Two to three 45-minute class periods

Overview: In this lesson, students will use selected segments from the PBS series The Human Spark to investigate the differences and similarities between the respective social dynamics of humans and our closest primate relatives and what they may tell us about what—if anything—may make us uniquely human.

In the Introductory Activity, students are asked to brainstorm what the basic building blocks of human society are, and asked to consider whether any of these are indeed unique to humans, or if they may also be found in the animal world. In the Learning Activity, they will watch a series of excerpted clips from The Human Spark comparing and contrasting the social and individual behavioral tendencies of humans and primates along three main themes: altruism/helping/cooperation, laws/rules/power/politics, and learning/teaching. In the Culminating Activity, students will divide into groups to compare the observations they have made throughout the lesson on their student organizers and make brief presentations to the rest of the class.

This lesson is best used as an introduction to (or supplement to) a unit on anthropology or sociology.

Subject Matter: Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, Evolutionary Biology

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to:

• Outline the essential elements of human society
• Describe the basic dynamics of chimpanzee society
• Define a relationship in anthropological terms
• Provide experimental examples of an innate human tendency to cooperate
• Compare and contrast the learning and teaching behavior of humans and primates
• Explain why the extent of our ability to cooperate may constitute a “human spark” distinguishing us from animals

Learning Standards

(From the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies available at www.socialstudies.org/standards/strands)

Chapter 2—The Themes of Social Studies

1. CULTURE

Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity.

Human beings create, learn, share, and adapt to culture. The study of culture examines the socially transmitted beliefs, values, institutions, behaviors, traditions and way of life of a group of people; it also encompasses other cultural attributes and products, such as language, literature, music, arts and artifacts, and foods. Students come to understand that human cultures exhibit both similarities and differences, and they learn to see themselves both as individuals and as members of a particular culture that shares similarities with other cultural groups, but is also distinctive. In a multicultural, democratic society and globally connected world, students need to understand the multiple perspectives that derive from different cultural vantage points.

4. INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT AND IDENTITY

Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of individual development and identity.

Personal identity is shaped by an individual’s culture, by groups, by institutional influences, and by lived experiences shared with people inside and outside the individual’s own culture throughout her or his development. Given the nature of individual development in a social and cultural context, students need to be aware of the processes of learning, growth, and interaction at every level of their own school experiences. The examination of various forms of human behavior enhances an understanding of the relationships between social norms and emerging personal identities, the social processes that influence identity formation, and the ethical principles underlying individual action.

5. INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, AND INSTITUTIONS

Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of interactions among individuals, groups, and institutions.

Institutions are the formal and informal political, economic, and social organizations that help us carry out, organize, and manage our daily affairs. Schools, religious institutions, families, government agencies, and the courts all play an integral role in our lives. They are organizational embodiments of the core social values of those who comprise them, and play a variety of important roles in socializing individuals and meeting their needs, as well as in the promotion of societal continuity, the mediation of conflict, and the consideration of public issues.

Media Components:

Video:

Selected segments of The Human Spark: So Human, So Chimp

Chimp Politics

Host Alan Alda and scientist Franz de Waal observe and compare two alpha-male chimpanzees’ different approaches to sharing at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta.

Social Networks and the Spark

Oxford University’s Alan Dunbar compares human social networks  to those of chimps;  at Yale University, host Alan Alda observes how babies as young as three months old favor cooperative puppets over those that won’t play.

How We Learn

Host Alan Alda observes experiments at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology which demonstrate how differently human children and orangutans learn how to complete tasks.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

At the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta. Vicki Horner explains the ways chimps “passively tolerate” learning as opposed the “active” engagement of human teaching.

Cooperation Over Competition

Scientists discuss what may be the uniquely “human spark” which separates us from animals: our ability to communicate, cooperate, and collaborate with others.

Materials:

For the teacher:

1 projected computer with internet access

Social Skills Student Organizer Answer Key (PDF) (RTF)

For each of three groups of students:

1 computer with internet access

For each student:

Social Skills  Student Organizer (PDF) (RTF)

Prep for Teachers:

Prior to teaching this lesson, you will need to:

Preview all of the video segments used in the lesson.

Download the video segments used in the lesson to your classroom computer, or prepare to watch them using your classroom’s internet connection.

Print/copy the Social Skills Student Organizer for each student.

Proceed to Lesson Activities.

The Human Spark, Brain Matters

“Dr. Steven Pinker: Language Makes Us Human” (Please note this link will open a new page or tab and take you to a separate location on the Human Spark website.  This clip is NOT downloadable.)

In this outtake from The Human Spark, Psycholinguist Stephen Pinker discusses the three things he believes makes us distinctly, uniquely human: language, cooperation, and technological “know how.”

The Language Spark

An excerpt from The Human Spark exploring the human brain’s unique capacity for language.

Downloadable QuickTime versions of the video segments:
(Note: To download a video, right click on the video title and click “Save Link As…’ or “Save Target As…”. On a Mac, press the CTRL key and simultaneously click the mouse, then save the link.)

The Language Spark

Chimp Politics

Host Alan Alda and scientist Franz de Waal observe and compare two alpha-male chimpanzees’ different approaches to sharing at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta

Social Networks and the Spark (Click on link to stream video– this clip is streaming only.)

Oxford University’s Alan Dunbar compares human social networks  to those of chimps;  at Yale University, host Alan Alda observes how babies as young as three months old favor cooperative puppets over those that won’t play

How We Learn

Host Alan Alda observes experiments at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology which demonstrate how differently human children orangutans learn how to complete tasks.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

At the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta. Vicki Horner explains the ways chimps “passively tolerate” learning as opposed the “active” engagement of human teaching.

Cooperation Over Competition

Scientists discuss what may be the uniquely “human spark” which separates us from animals: our ability to communicate, cooperate, and collaborate with others.

Downloadable QuickTime versions of the video segments:
(Note: To download a video, right click on the video title and click “Save Link As…’ or “Save Target As…”. On a Mac, press the CTRL key and simultaneously click the mouse, then save the link.)

Chimp Politics

Social Networks and the Spark (Click on link to stream video– this clip is streaming only.)

How We Learn

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Cooperation Over Competition

In this video Marean explains how that unique landscape and its natural resources would have been important to early humans – and allowed new cultural innovations.

What do you think of Marean’s hypothesis that South Africa was an important refugium in tough climatic times?

You can see also some behind-the-scenes footage and photos from our campfire shoot.

“So Human, So Chimp” premieres January 13 on PBS.

Can you think of examples of “we-ness” that you experience throughout a normal day?

Does Keith’s view of altruism and its vindictive flipside ring true to you?

When you see “evolution” and “religion” in the same headline, certain assumptions about the following article might jump to mind. But this recent study published in Science sets aside the religious critique of evolution and examines how religion itself may be a part of human evolution.

Remember that evolution’s driving force is each individual’s biological urge to pass on his or her own genes. Life is a competitive enterprise wherein everyone strives to be the most successful breeder around. So some scientists have wondered: why do we find altruism and cooperation in human populations? Looking at the question from a purely evolutionary standpoint, it makes sense to help those who share your genes, but what about others in society you have nothing in common with, let alone a family link? They’re the competition! Psychologists Ara Norenzayan and Azim Shariff suggest that religion might be one explanation for why altruism persists in large social groups.

In The Human Spark, we focus a lot on the sociality of human beings, especially in comparison to our predecessors. Take a look at these articles to learn a bit more about how a cultural process such as religion can interact with evolution.

• “Religion Makes People Helpful and Generous — Under Certain Conditions” – ScienceDaily
• “Opiate of the masses — and evolutionary aid” – The Toronto Star
• “Religious folks behave better — with a catch” – The Vancouver Sun