Digging Into the Past

1. Digging Into the Past Earth and Life Science Fossil Evidence

3. Earth ScienceGeology and Fossil Evidence S6E5 Students will investigate the scientific view of how the earth’s surface is formed. f. Describe how fossils show evidence of the changing surface and climate of the Earth.

4. Related Content Standards S6E5. b. Classify rocks by their process of formation. c. Describe processes that change rocks and the surface of the earth. d. Recognize that lithospheric plates constantly move and cause major geological events on the earth’s surface.

6. Life ScienceHistory of Life and Fossil Evidence S7L5. Students will understand evolution of living organisms through inherited characteristics that promote survival. c. Explain how the fossil record found in sedimentary rock provides evidence for the long history of changing life forms.

7. Related Content Standards S7L4. b. Explain in a food web that sunlight is the source of energy and that this energy moves from organism to organism. c. Recognize that changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of both individuals and entire species. S7L5. Students will examine the evolution of living organisms through inherited characteristics that promote survival of organisms and the survival of successive generations of their offspring. • Explain how physical characteristics of organisms have changed over successive generations (e.g. Darwin’s finches and peppered moths of Manchester) • Describe ways in which species on earth have evolved due to natural selection.

8. Characteristics of Science Standards S6CS1. Students will explore the importance of curiosity, honesty, openness, and skepticism in science and will exhibit these traits in their own efforts to understand how the world works. S6CS4. Students will use tools and instruments for observing, measuring, and manipulating equipment and materials in scientific activities. S6CS5. Students will use the ideas of system, model, change, and scale in exploring scientific and technological matters. S5CS6. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly. S6CS7. Students will question scientific claims and arguments effectively. S6CS8. Students will investigate the characteristics of scientific knowledge and how it is achieved. S6CS10. Student will enhance reading in all curriculum areas….

9. Evidence Fossils Climate Changing Surface of the Earth History of the Earth Evidence Fossils Changing Life Forms History of the Earth Big Ideas

10. Understandings • Scientists use evidence to explain the history of the Earth. • The Earth’s surface is constantly changing. • Rock formations provide evidence. • From Earth’s rocks we can learn about changes that have occurred in the Earth’s surface, we can find evidence of changes in the Earth’s climate, and we can find evidence of organisms of long ago. • Fossils are the most important source of information about life on Earth in the distant past. • The principle that geological forces seen in operation at present should be used to explain the past history of the Earth is known as uniformitarianism. • The order in which rocks are layered is an important clue to Earth’s history. • The Law of Superposition is fundamental to the interpretation of Earth’s history. • Layers are usually formed horizontally, with the oldest rock strata on the bottom and the youngest on top. • Sedimentary rocks are formed particle by particle and bed by bed, and the layers are piled one on top of the other. • Rock layers reveal data about the locations of earlier oceans, mountains, plains, and plateaus. • Dating rocks allows scientists to study the most ancient rocks and refer to the history as a geologic timetable.

11. Understandings • Scientists use evidence to explain the history of life on the Earth. • Some organisms have survived Earth’s changing surface and climate. • Some organisms have not survived Earth’s changing surface and climate. • Organisms have changed through time. • Rock formations provide evidence. • From Earth’s rocks we can learn about changes that have occurred in the Earth’s surface, we can find evidence of changes in the Earth’s climate, and we can find evidence of organisms of long ago. • Fossils are the most important source of information about life on Earth in the distant past. • The order in which rocks are layered is an important clue to Earth’s history. • Layers are usually formed horizontally, with the oldest rock strata on the bottom and the youngest on top. • Dating rocks allows scientists to study the most ancient rocks and refer to the history as a geologic timetable. • Scientists can learn many things about organisms of long ago, such as their development, body structure, habits, and the climate in which they lived. • Organisms have changed through time and older species are ancestors of younger ones. • Index fossils had a short, well-known time of existence and are used to determine the age of rocks precisely. • Many thousands of layers of sedimentary rock provide evidence for the long history of the earth and for the long history of changing life forms whose remains are found in the rocks. • More recently deposited rock layers are more likely to contain fossils resembling existing species. • Fossils are formed in many different ways.

12. Stubby Dino Find Blurs Image of Long-Neck Lumberers John RoachNational Geographic News June 1, 2005 Paleontologists today unveiled a sauropod dinosaur with a stubby neck. The discovery smudges the common picture of sauropods as unspecialized, lumbering dinosaurs that used very long necks to munch away at any greenery in sight, including treetops.

13. Questions to Consider • Can we stop the earth from changing? • Why was Nebraska the first state to require oceanography as a part of its science curriculum? • Why have fossilized sea life been found in rock at the top of Mt. Everest and the remains of a lush tropical rainforest been found buried under miles of ice and snow at the South Pole?

14. Questions to Consider • How can fossils tell us what ancient environments were like? • Evidence left by early people is called artifacts. Some examples are arrowheads, ancient beads, and animal skins used as clothing. Why do you think we don’t call them fossils? • Why was Nebraska the first state to require oceanography as a part of its science curriculum? • Why have fossilized sea life been found in rock at the top of Mt. Everest and the remains of a lush tropical rainforest been found buried under miles of ice and snow at the South Pole? • Can you find fossils where you live? Where do you think you would go to look for fossils? • Do all organisms adapt or die? • How do scientists accurately depict organisms from only a fragment of the organism found in a fossil? Or do they?

15. How to use scientific language correctly What a fossil is and how it is formed How we obtain evidence What is climate How fossils show climate change and changes in the earth’s surface Make simulated fossils Simulate/explain changes in earth’s history Research theories—KT event, Ice Age evidence, Plate tectonics, superposition, uniformitarianism Simulate geologic dating Sketch evidence of rock layering and fossil evidence Knowledge and Skills

16. Stage 2– Evidence of the Evidence Performance Task: Part One: You are a construction worker in charge of digging the foundation of a building in a downtown area of a large city. You find evidence of fossils. What do you do? What is the evidence? How do you know they are fossils? Write a newspaper article where you were interviewed about your job and the find.

17. Part Two: You contact the site manager who must talk to the city council and building owners about the evidence. Write a telephone skit telling about the resulting conference call and what will happen next. • Products: The class is divided into characters and groups for a debate over what will happen to the project. Suggested characters and groups include • Construction worker • Site Manager • City Council members • Building owners and their lawyers • Professor of geology from a local university • Curator of a natural history museum • Members of the public • News reporter from local media

18. After the debate, • Write a position paper or make a display about this scenario. • Choose a location in Georgia and explain what kind of fossil evidence would be found there. • What may have caused the fossil evidence? • What are some reasons for preserving or not preserving fossil evidence? • Could you find history of fossil evidence in that location? Site sources. • Use the following terms correctly: rock formation, superposition, uniformitarianism, fossil formation

20. Knowledge • How to use the scientific language correctly, • What is a fossil? • How do we obtain fossil evidence? • Biographies of paleontologists and geologists such as William Smith, Georges Cuvier, and Alexandre Brongniart, Alfred Wallace, and Charles Darwin • Geologic Timetable • The difference between threatened, endangered and extinct organisms

21. Skills • Make simulated fossils—prints, casts, molds, etc. • Simulate/explain changes in organisms through earth’s history • Research theories—Natural Selection • Explain geologic dating • Explain how index fossils show evidence of ages of rocks • Sketch evidence of rock layering and fossil evidence

23. Performance Task: • You are a paleontologist working on a new dig. You have found evidence of a new organism. Make a display to show your findings: • Classification based on the evidence you have located • Environment of the organism • How did the organism get its food? Give examples of evidence from fossil remains. • Where did the organism live? How do you know? • Why is the organism no longer alive? • What is the organism most like? Compare the fossil remains to a current organism.

24. Observation Sketches of rock layers and fossil evidence Demonstrate how a fossil can be formed using sand, water, and an object such as seashell Simulations of fossil production Simulations depicting rocks as they change: layering, folding, faulting, etc. Simulations of fossil digs Label and sequence pictures depicting fossil formations Tell or write what a fossil is and what information it can provide. Research geological events, principles of geology, and biographies Cartoons, comic strips, or Powerpoint presentations of major geologic events impacting climate changes Group reports (jigsaw) of biographies Other Evidence

25. Constructed response about extinct, threatened, and endangered organisms Examples of adaptation Selected response test about evidence (Examples included in samples) Matching evidence found in fossils to changes in food getting: beaks and feet Group reports (jigsaw reporting) of biographies Sketches of rock layers and fossil evidence Simulations of fossil production Simulations of fossil digs Research on geological events, fossil finds in Georgia, and biographies Cartoon or PowerPoint presentation of major geological events impacting climate changes Label and sequence pictures depicting fossil formation Geologic Timetable Other Evidence

26. Evidence Archeology Paleontology Sedimentary rock Extinction Fossil Mold Print Amber Tar Remains Cast Index fossil Layers Superposition Uniformitarianism Relative dating Plate tectonics Ice Age evidence KT event Adaptation Diversity Language Marlee’s students will use in this unitare not necessarily the same terms that would be found on a standardized assessment.

27. Self-Assessment Questions • What did you accomplish today? • What strengths do you think you showed in your work? • How did you feel about the topic we investigated today? • How well do you think you understood the activity we did today? • What questions do you have about what we did today? • Are there some things you don’t understand? • What do you think is the most important thing you learned in science this week?

28. MultipleChoice Tests • The next set of slides are questions from released state tests. • http://edinformatics.com/testing/testing.htm • Instruction can be written to guide the students in understanding the concept at a different level.

33. Fossils of the fern Glossopteris have been found in Africa, Australia, Antarctica, and South America. How do scientists explain this observation? • The wind blew the seeds across the oceans from continent to continent. • The fern developed independently on each continent. • The continents were at one time joined together and then moved apart. • The fern had adaptations to survive the different environments of the continents.

34. Scientists compare layers of rock to each other in order to determine the • Relative age of rocks. • Composition of rocks. • Amount of fossils in rocks. • Chemical composition of rocks.

35. The best evidence that two land areas were once connected is the discovery that both land masses • Have the same climate. • Are in the same stage of succession. • Exist along the same line of longitude. • Have similar types of rocks and fossils.

36. Fossil fuels were formed from? • Uranium • Sea water • Sand and gravel • Dead plants and animals

37. Which of the following would cause a long-term (lasting thousands of years) change to Earth? • Spring flooding along the Saint John River • A hurricane coming north from the banks of the Carolinas • A volcano erupting such as Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines • Tornadoes spawned from cold and warm air clashing

38. As a scientist was hiking up a mountain, she found fossils of seashells in some of the rocks. Which is a reasonable conclusion she can make? • The rocks were formed when molten lava was cooled. • Shelled sea organisms once inhabited forested mountains. • The rocks were formed in an ocean and later uplifted when the mountain was formed. • The fossil seashells were carried up from an ocean and embedded in the rocks by strong winds.

39. Which BEST describes the movement of the plates that make up Earth's surface over millions of years? • They moved for millions of years but now have stopped. • They stayed the same for millions of years but are now moving. • They have been continually moving. • They have never moved.

40. Fossils similar to marine life found in the oceans today have been found in rocks on top of mountains. How can this be explained? • The marine life can live on land or sea. • Marine organisms were once able to breathe air. • The rocks in which the fossils were found were formed under an ocean. • Marine organisms have evolved from land organisms.

41. Fossils are evidence of living things that were alive many, many years ago and often consist of the skeletons of creatures imbedded in rock. Why don’t fossils contain the animal’s soft tissues, as well? • Because the soft tissues decayed before the fossil could be formed • Because the rock breaks down soft tissues. • Because the soft tissues were always eaten by scavengers. • Because the rock always smashed the soft tissues flat.

42. Which BEST describes the surface of the Earth over billions of years? • A flat surface is gradually pushed up into higher and higher mountains until the Earth is covered with mountains. • High mountains gradually wear down until most of the Earth is at sea level. • High mountains gradually wear down as new mountains are continuously being formed over and over again. • High mountains and flat plains stay side by side for billions of years with little change.