Earth's History: Events, Places and Impacts

Initial Publication Date: November 16, 2015

Time required to complete this unit:

This page is under development and may be edited at any time. Some resources have not been cataloged, pending project approval.
3 weeks, or 12.5 hours, or 750 minutes (estimated).

Earth Science Content:

Key Terms: Deep time, stratigraphy, relative time, absolute time, geologic time scale, impact event,

Unit Storyline

Earth is 4.6 billion years old. Geologic time is vast, and students sometimes have a hard time grasping the concept of deep time. The unit builds on the basic understanding that students have developed in middle school, allowing them to deepen their understanding of key stratigraphic principles, relative time, absolute time and its measurement, and interactions between life and the environment throughout the span of time over which our planet have changed from a molten sphere to a world teeming with life. Activities related to important sites that showcase key events in Earth history and their associated impacts are featured. Example sites are the Sudbury impact crater site (1.85 By), the Burgess Shale outcrop (Cambrian), the Chicxulub impact site (65 MY), the Yellowstone Caldera (1.3 My), the La Brea Tar Pits (40,000 - 11,000 years), and the Florida Keys (10,000 Years). The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Earth Viewer website and/or app is used throughout the unit to engage students in interactive investigations of Earth's history. It is important that this tool serve as a thread weaving throughout the unit, drawing students back to deepen their understanding.

Developed by Carla McAuliffe, Kathy Ellins, Kelli Albertson, and Elaine Bohls-Graham

Students will be able to (do)

  • Produce a geologic time scale.
  • Differentiate and describe the difference between relative and absolute dating techniques.
  • Utilize relative and absolute methods in order to determine ages of rocks and sediments.
  • Determine chronological order of rock layers using stratigraphic and cross-cutting principles.
  • Examine the fossil record, determine how it relates to biological evolution and to extinction events.

Students will know

  • How geologic time is measured.
  • The process of radioactive decay.
  • How to apply the laws of stratigraphy and the Principle of Faunal Succession.

Activities

The activities we have selected are congruent with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and are arranged to build upon one another. Therefore, to follow the storyline we recommend that teachers complete the activities in the order provided. To open an activity in a new tab or window, right click the activity link and select the preferred option.

Formation of the Solar System: Birth of Worlds

View Activity
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/YOSS_Formation_of_Solar_System/#.VaZ6uEthPwJ

When the solar system was young, planets were built as huge numbers of smaller bodies like asteroids collided with each other. In this lab, students model how over millions of years of collisions, planets like Earth grew to their present sizes.

Instructional Strategies: Modeling

Resource Type: Laboratory investigation, experiment or demonstration

Time Required: 50 minutes

Big Idea 2: Earth is 4.6 Billion Years Old

View Activity
http://www.earthscienceliteracy.org/videodirectory/ESLP_Ch002_700Kbit_640x360.wmv

This video describes how Earth's rocks and other materials provide a record of its history, decay rates of radioactive elements are the primary means of obtaining numerical ages of rocks, and how the fossil record helps scientists to understand the history of change over time. It is Big Idea 2 (of nine) in a series entitled "Big Ideas in Geoscience," created by the American Geosciences Institute to accompany the Earth Science Literacy Initiative's "Big Ideas." Instructional Strategy: Lecture

Instructional Strategies: Lecture

Resource Type: Video

Time Required: 5 minutes

SUDBURY IMPACT activity (possibilities)

Minnesota's Evidence of an Ancient Meteor Impact

http://www.mngs.umn.edu/meteoriteimpact.pdf

A reading from the Minnesota Geological Society

Instructional Strategies: Jig Saw, Reading

Resource Type: Scholarly article

Time Required: 50 minutes

Dynamic Earth, Sudbury

[https://discoversudbury.ca/explore/featured/science-north1/] (homepage)

This illustrated reading is from the Canadian geologic center, Dynamic Earth. It is a description of the geology and the formation of the Sudbury impact crater.

Instructional Strategies: Jig Saw, Reading

Resource Type: Scholarly article

Time Required: 50 minutes

Discover Sudbury: Meteor Impact

This narrated animation from Science North (an agency of the Government of Ontario) takes the viewer through the formation of the Sudbury basin, from before impact until just after impact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XhoOe_5pcY

Instructional Strategies: Lecture

Resource Type: Video

Time Required: 50 minutes

Life evolves on a dynamic Earth and continuously modifies Earth

View Activity
http://www.earthscienceliteracy.org/videodirectory/ESLP_Ch006_700Kbit_640x360.wmv

The Big Idea 6 video discusses evolution and the ideas that support the theory. The fossil record helps scientists to understand the history of change over time. Due to the Earth's dynamic processes life has adapted to fit available niches. Coevolution occurs between the physical and chemical interactions of Earth's geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere.

Instructional Strategies: Lecture

Resource Type: Video

Time Required: 5 minutes

The Methane Circus


View Activity
http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/edu/lessonplans/media/09methanecircus.pdf

In this activity from NOAA's Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection, learners investigate how methane hydrates might have been involved with the Cambrian explosion.

Instructional Strategies: Inquiry

Resource Type: Laboratory investigation, experiment or demonstration

Time Required: 90 minutes

Stratigraphy and Evolution: Using Fossils to Tell Deep Time

View Activity
http://www.txessrevolution.org/FaunalSuccession

This hands-on activity developed by Hilary Clement Olson is part of the TXESS Revolution collection. Students learn about the earliest concepts of telling time in rocks using fossils: relative age dating using the various flora and fauna present.

Instructional Strategies: Inquiry

Resource Type: Classroom learning activity

Time Required: 60 minutes

Who's on First: A Relative Dating Activity

View Activity
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/BarBar.html

In this activity developed by Marsha Barber and Diana Scheidle Bartos, students are introduced to sequencing and geologic time through relative dating techniques. Students hone their use of stratrigraphic principles to understand geologic time by creating a geologic time scale.

Instructional Strategies: Inquiry, Jigsaw, Challenge or problem-solving

Resource Type: Classroom learning activity , Laboratory investigation, experiment or demonstration

Time Required: 100 minutes

An exercise on radiometric dating

Radioactive Decay and Absolute Ages (3752)

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/time/visualizations/RadioDec.html

Instructional Strategies:

Resource Type:

Time Required: 50 minutes ?

Climate Detectives

View Activity
https://serc.carleton.edu/earthlabs/climatedetectives/index.html

In this module of six lessons from the EarthLabs series, learners assume the role of participants on the International Ocean Discovery Program's drillship, the JOIDES Resolution. Using data collected from Expedition 341, students will explore how climatic changes are recorded in the rock record, learn about careers associated with the IODP, and gain an appreciation for the ocean drilling process, and data collection methods.

Instructional Strategies: Inquiry

Resource Type: Laboratory investigation, experiment or demonstration

Time Required: 750 minutes

For this unit we have selected Part A of (Geologic) Timing is Everything! In Part A, students develop a timeline of Earth's geologic history.

Greatest Discoveries, The KT Boundary Discovery

View Activity
http://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/greatest-discoveries/videos/100-greatest-discoveries-kt-boundary-discovery.htm

This short video gives an overview of the KT Boundary

Instructional Strategies: Lecture

Resource Type: Video

Time Required: 3 minutes

Determining the Size and Energy of K-T Asteroid (

https://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/determining-size-and-energy-k-t-asteroid

This lesson from the HHMI Biointeractive site is a lesson in which students calculate the mass, size, and kinetic energy of the K-T asteroid based on the total abundance of iridium in the K-T boundary layer. These are the same types of calculations that were done by researchers who first discovered the high amount of iridium in the K-T boundary and provided key evidence for the asteroid-impact hypothesis.

Instructional Strategies:

Resource Type:

Time Required: 50 minutes ?

Yellowstone Caldera

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/

The USGS Volcano Hazards Program Yellowstone Volcano Observatory explains how many of the features of Yellowstone National Park result from great explosive volcanic eruptions and the profound collapse of the ground, enormously thick lava flows, uplift and extensive faulting, and the erosive power of flowing water and ice.

Instructional Strategies:

Resource Type:

Time Required: 150 minutes

Localities of the Pleistocene: La Brea Tar Pits

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/quaternary/labrea.htmlLa Brea Tar Pits

http://www.tarpits.org main site

Instructional Strategies:

Resource Type:

Time Required:

Florida Keys

http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/

Designated on November 16, 1990, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is one of 14 marine protected areas that make up the National Marine Sanctuary System. Administered by NOAA, a federal agency, and jointly managed with the State of Florida, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary protects 2,900 square nautical miles of waters surrounding the Florida Keys, from south of Miami westward to encompass the Dry Tortugas, excluding Dry Tortugas National Park. Within the boundaries of the sanctuary lie spectacular, unique, and nationally significant marine resources, from the world's third largest barrier reef, extensive seagrass beds, mangrove-fringed islands, and more than 6,000 species of marine life. The sanctuary also protects pieces of our nation's history such as shipwrecks and other archeological treasures.

Instructional Strategies:

Resource Type:

Time Required:

Corals

View Activity
https://serc.carleton.edu/earthlabs/corals/index.html

A series of six lessons presented in this EarthLabs module on Corals expose students to current scientific research, data, and visualizations in a way that allows them to become active participants in both learning about and conserving coral reefs.

Instructional Strategies: Inquiry

Resource Type: Classroom learning activity , Laboratory investigation, experiment or demonstration

Time Required: 750 minutes for all 6 labs in the module.

For this unit, we have selected two labs: Trouble in Paradise: Factors that Impact Coral Health (Lab 5) and Using Data to Identify Hotspots and Predict Bleaching Events (Lab 6).

Factors that Impact Coral Health (Lab 5)

  • Using Data to Identify Hotspots and Predict Bleaching Events (Corals Lab 6)
http://serc.carleton.edu/eslabs/corals/6.html
Students will explore some of the tools used by scientists to identify areas around the world where corals are at risk for bleaching and they will also learn about what bleaching means for the long-term health of coral reefs and invent a way to model what happens in coral polyps during the process of coral bleaching.

Time Required: 90 minutes

Assessment

Rocks of Cayuga Basin (3377)

http://stevekluge.com/geoscience/regentses/labs/esrbedrockcorrelation.pdf

Created by Nancy Spaulding and adapted by Larry Wood and Steve Kluge, this guided inquiry activity in which students apply stratigraphic principles and faunal succession to interpret fossil data and use this data to put different rock layers in chronological order.

Instructional Strategies: Inquiry

Resource Type: Classroom learning activity

Time Required: 60 minutes

Poster

http://serc.carleton.edu/details/images/60817.html

NGSS Table

http://serc.carleton.edu/details/files/72325.html

Field Trips

Studies that examine how geologists think and learn about the Earth point to the value of field experiences in helping students develop practices that constitute geologic reasoning. We encourage teachers to take students into the field as much as possible. To this end, we include ideas for virtual and actual field trips. The former recognizes the limitations of the K-12 classroom setting. Field learning provides a chance to encourage the ability to see features that are important to professional practice. Indeed, many geoscientists report that fieldwork was a key factor influencing their choice of geoscience as a career.

Virtual Field Trips

Cornell University - Paleological Research Institute

At this website one can read arguments for virtual field trips (VFEs) in science, as well as read guidelines for creating valuable experiences. There is also access to a database of existing VFEs and a link to the Mother of all Field Experiences, the Mars rover program.

Scaffolding Notes

Teachers must develop their own individual plan for how they will teach the unit. The learning activities and educational resources in this unit are intended to complement other instructional activities led by the teacher. Many of the selected learning experiences provide links to excellent background preparatory materials, additional hands-on resources, teaching tips, and cross-curricular connections.

Teachers will need to create their own multimedia presentations, deliver lectures and assign ancillary work to their students in order to set the stage for effective use of the learning activities contained herein. Therefore, it is imperative to allocate time to review the activities and background material prior to using the learning experiences in this unit and to probe students for their prior knowledge before starting an activity.

In addition, although some activities may incorporate assessments, teachers may need to create their own assessments to ensure that are appropriate for the students they teach.

Asterisks (*) indicate teacher resource and background information recommendations for activity support.

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NASA Formation of the Solar System: Birth of Worlds (2.1: How to Build a Planet)

Big Idea 2: Earth is 4.6 Billion Years Old

An exercise on radiometric dating

Our Earth has been around for approximately 4.6 billion years. For the first billion years or so there was no life on Earth. Around 3.6 billion years ago the fossil record shows evidence of single-celled organisms. Since that time life has emerged in a myriad of forms. Along with large changes in the planet itself, these forms of life have evolved or become extinct leading to the great diversity we see on our planet today. The Earth's fossil record takes us on this 3.6 billion year journey.

Stratigraphy and Evolution: Using Fossils to Tell "Deep Time" is direct teaching using lecture in combination with guided inquiry using hands on activities.

Using Data to Identify Hotspots and Predict Bleaching Events requires computer access to animations and data tools for analysis. Teachers should be familiar with all sites linked and how to interpret the data prior to the lesson(s). Part A requires collection of craft materials for students to use to model coral bleaching.

Rocks of Cayuga Basin

Next Generation Science Standards

We anticipate that students should be able to achieve the NGSS Performance Expectation(s) listed after completing the activities in this unit. However, we have not carried out educational research to verify this.

MS-ESS2-2. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.

HS-ESS1-6. Apply scientific reasoning and evidence from ancient Earth materials, meteorites, and other planetary surfaces to construct an account of Earth's formation and early history.

HS-ESS2-7. Construct an argument based on evidence about the simultaneous coevolution of Earth's systems and life on Earth.

These Performance Expectations integrate the Disciplinary Core Ideas, Cross Cutting Concepts and Science and Engineering Practices of the NGSS as shown in the unit table (coming soon).

Additional Resources

The recommended additional resources may be used to extend or augment the storyline.

Live units may have permissions pending and are subject to revision.