Introduction to Biological Anthropology

Alternative Evaluation
Hominin Cast Lab Report
The goal of this assignment is to evaluate student understanding of the seven
hominin species that we covered in class. The objectives are to 1) encourage
students to synthesize information from course lectures, readings, and in-class
activities and 2) practice writing skills.
Description:
Students will write a lab report composed of the following:
1) Introduction
a. Goals of the hominin cast exercise
b. A brief summary of each of the seven hominin species covered in class:
Pan troglodytes, Ardipithecus ramidus, Australopithecus afarensis,
Australopithecus (Paranthropous) boisei, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens
neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens sapiens.
2) Methods
a. How you went about measuring the casts
3) Results
a. What you found
i. Written description
ii. Graphic displays (with titles and x- and y- axis labels)
4) Discussion
a. An analysis of the morphological changes that you found. What trends
do you see? What might account for these trends? Revisit course
readings and lectures to help you.
5) Literature Cited
a. At least 3 sources, cited in APA format.
Rubric
Introduction

1 5 or more
spelling,
punctuation, or
grammatical
errors. Does not
follow directions

5 2-3 spelling,
punctuation, or
grammatical
errors. Summaries
do not contain
sufficient useful
information.

Methods

1 5 or more
spelling,
punctuation, or
grammatical
errors. Does not
follow directions

Results

1 5 or more
spelling,
punctuation, or

5 - 2-3 spelling,
punctuation, or
grammatical
errors. Does not
clearly describe
data-gathering
process.
5 - 2-3 spelling,
punctuation, or
grammatical

10 less than one

spelling,
punctuation, or
grammatical
errors. Clearly
states goals and
summaries of
hominins.
10 - less than one
spelling,
punctuation, or
grammatical
errors. Clearly
states the how of
the exercise.
10 - less than one
spelling,
punctuation, or

Discussion

Literature Cited

grammatical
errors. Does not
include either all
graphs or written
section. Graphs not
accurate.
1 5 or more
spelling,
punctuation, or
grammatical
errors. Repeats
results and does
not analyze.
1 No literature
included

errors. Has all parts

of results, but
graphs have 2-3
errors or labels are
missing.

grammatical
errors. Graphs are
labeled and
accurate.

5 - 2-3 spelling,
punctuation, or
grammatical
errors. Starts to
analyze but does
not bring in any
outside
information.
3 Less than 3
sources, not cited
correctly.

10 - less than one

spelling,
punctuation, or
grammatical
errors. Discussion
includes insight
from readings and
course lecture.
5 More than 3
sources, cited
correctly.