Digging Into the Past

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Digging Into the Past

• Earth and Life Science
• Fossil Evidence

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Earth ScienceGeology and Fossil Evidence

• S6E5 Students will investigate the scientific
  view of how the earths surface is formed.
• f. Describe how fossils show evidence of the
  changing surface and climate of the Earth.

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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 earths surface.

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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.

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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.
  Darwins finches and peppered moths of
  Manchester)
• Describe ways in which species on earth have
  evolved due to natural selection.

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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.

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Big Ideas

• Evidence
• Fossils
• Climate
• Changing Surface of the Earth
• History of the Earth

• Evidence
• Fossils
• Changing Life Forms
• History of the Earth

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Understandings

• Scientists use evidence to explain the history of
  the Earth.
• The Earths surface is constantly changing.
• Rock formations provide evidence.
• From Earths rocks we can learn about changes
  that have occurred in the Earths surface, we can
  find evidence of changes in the Earths 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 Earths history.
• The Law of Superposition is fundamental to the
  interpretation of Earths 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.

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Understandings

• Scientists use evidence to explain the history of
  life on the Earth.
• Some organisms have survived Earths changing
  surface and climate.
• Some organisms have not survived Earths changing
  surface and climate.
• Organisms have changed through time.
• Rock formations provide evidence.
• From Earths rocks we can learn about changes
  that have occurred in the Earths surface, we can
  find evidence of changes in the Earths 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 Earths 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.

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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.
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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?

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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 dont 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?

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Knowledge and Skills

• 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 earths surface

• Make simulated fossils
• Simulate/explain changes in earths history
• Research theoriesKT event, Ice Age evidence,
  Plate tectonics, superposition, uniformitarianism
• Simulate geologic dating
• Sketch evidence of rock layering and fossil
  evidence

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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Skills

• Make simulated fossilsprints, casts, molds, etc.
• Simulate/explain changes in organisms through
  earths history
• Research theoriesNatural Selection
• Explain geologic dating
• Explain how index fossils show evidence of ages
  of rocks
• Sketch evidence of rock layering and fossil
  evidence

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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.

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Other Evidence

• 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

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Other Evidence

• 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

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Language Marlees students will use in this unit
are not necessarily the same terms that would be
found on a standardized assessment.

• 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

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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 dont understand?
• What do you think is the most important thing you
  learned in science this week?

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Multiple Choice 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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

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• 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

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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
  dont fossils contain the animals 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.

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• 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.

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