Homo erectus was an ancient human ancestor that lived between 2 million and 100,000 to 50,000 years ago. It had a larger body and bigger brain than most earlier human ancestors. Although recent debates revolve around how we classify these fossils, and whether they should be broken down into lots of smaller sub-groups, it is generally agreed that Australopithecines in Africa pre-dated the advent of the Homo lineage. Predecessors to Homo erectus, include Homo habilis (“handy man”), a much smaller specimen.
Compared with modern Homo sapiens, which have only been around for the last 200,000 years, Homo erectus, or “upright man,” was very “successful” in a biological sense and lived on the Earth for 10 – 20 times longer than modern humans have been around.
Fossils of H. erectus show that it was the first human ancestor to live outside of Africa – one of the first fossils found was unearthed in the 19th century in Indonesia – others have been found across Asia, including China, as well as Europe and Africa.
A recent interesting summary of information about Homo erectus can be read at http://www.livescience.com/41048-facts-about-homo-erectus.html. OpenSTEM also has a PDF resource on Homo erectus (part of our Archaeology Textbook for Senior Secondary).
Get Hands-On!
If you’re in the greater Brisbane area and would like to have your students touch, compare and otherwise explore human ancestor skulls – talk to us! OpenSTEM has a growing range of 3D printed fossil skulls and our resident archaeologist Dr Claire is available for workshops at primary and high school level (such as Introduction to Archaeology and Fossils).
OpenSTEM’s 
Student engagement is the primary aim of this curriculum implementation and a range of 
The material is designed so as to provide for flexibility in use. Teachers can choose to utilise the individual resources within their own teaching framework, or they can choose to use the detailed weekly lesson plans as laid out in the Teacher Handbook. A Student Workbook is also provided, with a continual assessment option, to complete the package.
The 
OpenSTEM’s History and Geography program provides a range of cross-curricular options. In particular Science extensions are provided to address the Science curriculum. Some aspects of the Mathematics curriculum also follow naturally from this material.
Homeschooling parents also have great flexibility in their use of this material. The program is designed to be easily adaptable for the homeschooling situation. Parents can choose to use the resources within their own program, or allow the student to explore the material as their interest leads them. Alternatively, the parent can use the Teacher Handbook and Student Workbook to provide a series of lessons, knowing they will thus match all the curriculum requirements.
Also used in OpenSTEM’s 
Open source has opened up huge opportunities for archaeologists. As well as high quality tools for research, we can use open source to engage kids with the past. Addressing the new National Curriculum, we use 3D printed fossil skulls and replicas of archaeological material to give kids a hands-on experience, making the past Funky and Fun!
Archaeologists are usually very good at sharing knowledge with each other and the wider world. Under Creative Commons licences many files are made available, including scans of fossil skulls, artefacts and other archaeological material. Using a suite of open source tools, including a 3D printer, a series of interactive experiences for school children has been developed allowing them hands-on involvement with this material.
History and Geography are no longer boring and dry, and the material provides a wide variety of topics.
Laura Davidson, Teacher