A bioinformatics laboratory exercise based on inherited human morphological traits is presented. It teaches how morphological characters can be used to study the evolutionary history of humans using parsimony. The exercise can easily be used in a pen-and-paper laboratory, but if computers are available, a more versatile analysis can be carried out. The exercise introduces students to the basics of bioinformatics laboratory work, shows them possible problems associated in data acquisition, and most importantly, teaches them basic group working skills, such as the appropriate distribution of work. An open and student-oriented approach, in which group work is designed to support the learning of individual students, was adapted. The exercise is devised in two sessions that cover collection of data, analysis using parsimony, and a combined matrix analysis in a parsimony framework. The exercise, or parts of it, has successfully been applied in bioinformatics courses intended for second to third year biology majors and in adult education.