Using Footprint Data to Make Inferences about Historical Societies

Audience

Course module will be deployed Fall ‘22.

The expected class size is around 150 students. 

Students are expected to have basic skills in taking measurements, recording data, applying simple formulas to data, and reading graphs. 

Other applicable courses that may benefit from this module: The model that this module presents, in which students input data to a Google form, which is then graphed in a Google sheet can be applied to any other modules/courses that require data recording and aggregating.

Project Summary

Primary Objective

The primary objective of this module is for students to learn and apply the systematic steps that anthropologists might take to make deductible inferences about historical societies given the observations of fossil (foot print) records.

Goals

• Calculate the relationship between step length, cadence, and speed of walking in a population of undergraduate students. 

• Compare them to that of G1 (hominin) to see if they are significantly different.

• Explore the relationship between kinematics, fossil evidence, and behavior.

Content Outline

Student Module Flow

• read introduction on assignment pdf

• acquire individual data measurements using the sandbox built by DIFUSE

• submit individual data

  • Google form – name, stature, foot length, stride length, and lateral rotation

• view, copy, and analyze class data

• critically think and summarize inferences

  • Canvas submission

For more information email: difuse-pi-group@dartmouth.edu