Ancestor's Tale for Kids, pt 2 of 2 - interactive program based on book by Richard Dawkins

Final part of 90-minute kids program recorded live with a mixed-age group (4 to 12) of kids at a Unitarian Universalist weekend camp in Georgia USA. Science writer Connie Barlow becomes a child again herself as she leads the kids through a journey back through time. They stop to learn about each special ancestor that humans share in common with other species alive today. (Richard Dawkins called these special ancestors "concestors" in his 2004 book, "Ancestor's Tale: Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution.")

On this journey the group pauses at 40 "confluences" where humans meet an ancestor that we share with other species alive today. Part 2 resumes with Confluence #11, which happens 85 million years ago on our journey back through time. There we greet the great-g-g-g grandparent we share with a whole lot of big mammals, including all the cats, dogs, bears, hoofed mammals, walruses, whales, bats, and many more.

Learn more about how to teach this program yourself -- and download free slides (in jpg, ppt, or keynote), scripts in PDF, and teacher's guide at this webpage:
http://TheGreatStory.org/ancestors-ta...

Click blue timestops below to instantly move the video cursor to each topic:

00:01 #11 - common ancestor of all Laurasiatheres 85 mya (cats, dogs, horses, whales, etc.)

02:06 Q by child: "Was my great-great ancestor a human like us or was it actually an animal with 4 legs?"

03:47 Discussion begins of why some people don't accept evolution as our history.

04:00 Q by child as to why people don't accept evolution.

04:33 "Who is proud to be related to a lemur?"

05:14 SONG for #11 (Laurasiatheres)

05:58 #12 Xenarthrans (mammals who evolved in South America)

09:07 kinesthetic - walk on sides of feet like a ground sloth

12:22 plate tectonics - Isthmus of Panama connects to South America

15:44 Q by child: "When did dragons live?"

17:10 Connie tells story of her touching the mummified poop of a giant ground sloth

20:48 SONG for #12 Xenarthrans

22:03 children say what their favorite dinosaur is

23:33 #13 Afrotheres (elephants etc. who evolved in Africa)

26:20 SONG for #13

26:52 #14 Marsupial Mammals

30:13 SONG for #14

30:44 #15 Monotremes (Duckbilled Platypus)

32:28 SONG for #15

32:56 kinesthetic - Connie teaches DANCE for song

Note: This is a very flexible program. It entails a total of 40 ancestor points, but you can never get through them all in one session. So watch as the kids leave individually as their parents show up. After they all sing the song for Ancestor confluence #17 (Amphibians), Connie tries to end the whole session, but the few remaining children ask her to keep going until their parents arrive.

35:38 #16 Reptiles and Birds

37:25 SONG for #16

37:55 "How many of you are proud to be related to a turtle?"

39:13 #17 Amphibians

45:48 SONG for #17 (Amphibians)

47:36 "How many of you are proud to be related to a salamander?"

47:42 "Were there any cavemen living with the dinosaurs?"

47:51 "Do you think our great-g-g-g-grandparents ever looked like bacteria?"

48:03 Connie explains that we've run out of time, but if we kept going, we'd have to visit a total of 40 confluence points to get back to when our ancestors were still just bacteria. The children ask her to keep going, so . . .

48:17 #18 lungfish, #19 coelacanth, #20 fish

48:54 SONG for #18, #19, #20

49:23 #21 sharks and rays

50:07 SONG for #21 (sharks and rays)

50:34 #22 lampreys and hagfish

52:58 #23 lancelets

53:45 SLIDES, SCRIPTS, TEACHERS GUIDE freely available for download at:
http://thegreatstory.org/ancestors-ta...

Visit more free evolutionary children's curricula on Connie's website at this page:
http://thegreatstory.org/kids.html

Part 1 of "Ancestor's Tale for Kids" on video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueWvjU...

• Category

  Science & Technology

[GowanBray]

3.30, It's important not to give the idea to kids that evolution has foresight. It's not that they "looked around and said I can become anything I want", it's that they could adapt to ways of life vacated by the dinosaurs. Explain by saying there was a "vacant seat" (niche) or that now noone else was living in a way that some of the mammalian ancestors were prevented from living before by the dinosaurs out competing them. Every generation faces choices, no dinosaurs, more choices. Not foresight.