Educator Guide: Ant Teamwork and Hair in Knots

The ancient Incas used a system of knotted strings — called khipus — for recordkeeping. Learn how carbon chemistry can offer clues about the diet and social status of an ancient Incan individual. You can also carry out calculations to determine average annual growth rates based on information from the story.

In a research study about group coordination and cooperation, researchers tasked both humans and ants to solve the same sort of puzzle individually and in groups. Students will describe what they learn about the study’s experimental design, first after watching videos of the ant trials, then after watching videos of the human trials, and finally after reading a comic that summarizes the research study.