Assignment – Taxonomy Exercise (from Chapter 7)

Taxonomies are classifications based on similarities and differences. In your text you learned about two different types of taxonomic classification systems. In this exercise your goal is to group the following objects into categories.

For each category have a title/description (i.e. why did you put the objects in the same category, what are their similar attributes?). Each category must have at least two objects. If you have more than two objects in a category divide the group into subgroups. Each of the objects below must be put into a category (you can’t double up on the items, they can only be used once).

Items to be categorized for the assignment:

key apple

leaf index card

ball penny

nail flower

knife bracelet

book padlock

tin can spool of thread

dice screwdriver

pencil piece of cloth

paper cup rubber band

paper clip spoon

bar of soap playing card

Your Assignment:

1. Categorize all of the objects above into categories which you assign a title/description. Each category needs a title/description (these are basically the same thing). Each category has to have two items in it, AND you cannot have more than two items in each category. You can subdivide categories, but ALL categories must have two items in them (no more and no less). Think about the nested categories that exist in the following; Kingdom, then Phylum, then Class, then Order, then Family, then Genus and lastly Species.

Hint: No category can have more or less than two items in it (but your categories can be

nested, in that you can have categories inside of categories). Have fun and be creative

with your categorization. There isn’t one correct way to categorize the items. Work to be

consistent. Keep in mind the goals of taxonomic classifications. Make sure you have read

Parks chapter 7 and the discussion on Linnaean and Cladistic taxonomies before you do

this assignment.

2. Turn in your assignment: Once you have completed your taxonomy and have clearly labeled each category with a title/description copy your work into the Submissions Box and turn in your work by the deadline date/time (not as a file attachment). The formatting might not paste as you wrote it, that’s okay.

3. Last Step for the Assignment: Once you have completed and turned in your exercise read my notes below to make sure you completed the assignment accurately

Notes and Review for Assignment 5 Taxonomy

I adopted this exercise from a physical anthropology lab book by Stein and Rowe.

There is no correct answer for categorizing the objects above. One of the key things I want you to learn from this exercise is that taxonomic classifications are not always easy or self-evident and there are not always clear cut divisions for categorization. Some students will be lumpers (with few categories) others will be splitters (with a lot of categories).

Another key aspect of this exercise is to see how difficult it is to be consistent in your categorizations. Did you follow the same criteria for each category (i.e. categorization based on the material of the object, the way the object is used, etc.)? I generally find that students do not stick with the same criteria for categorization throughout the exercise. Categorization is influenced by the student’s experiences and knowledge and is generally not based solely on objective criteria. Taxonomic classifications in the larger world are also based on subjective biases, including cultural, economic and political biases.

As human beings one of the key things that our brain does is categorize the world around us. In fact many scientists see that our brains have evolved to be categorization devices. Think about how you work to operate in the world and how you gain information, for the most part we are continually working to discern if someone or something goes in this category or that category. When you first meet someone you consciously and unconsciously work to categorize them; nice or mean, smart or slow, interesting or boring…

Lastly read the information in the text and my notes on which taxonomic system anthropologists use most commonly. Why do they use this means of classifying over the other the other method? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

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