Quatenary Period Wins Out

"Pending an almost certain ratification by the ultimate authority--the International Commission on Stratigraphy --the Quaternary will officially take over the past 2.6 million years of the geologic time scale, when humans took up tools and the world began slipping in and out of the ice ages."

Click here to read details.

Giant Trilobites Discovered in Portugal

Click here to visit the National Geographic site for details of this amazing discovery. Includes theories for the demise of Trilobites.
35 inches long!

Movie Day

Need a break? If you're teaching Geo. History right now, you're in luck!

Show the movie, Jurassic Park!



Here's a Fun Worksheet that asks some good Earth-Science-type questions.

Have a good day!

Tree Cookies

A wonderful way to teach how scientists determine Absolute Time is to have some Tree Cookie Activities.

Here are a collection of great activities to choose from. I would usually do the PowerPoint first and then do a simple "count the rings" lab. If I had time, I would do a cross-dating activity, which shows how dendochronologists string rings from many trees together to determine the climate of an area. Exploring the Methuselah Grove is a really nice way to calm them down after a couple of active activities. Give them a homework worksheet and they will do both things at the same time!

What fun! And real learning, too!

These are in the order I would do them over one or two days, with extras at the end.

1. Tree Cookies PowerPoint - fun way to introduce the whole concept of using trees to do some Absolute Dating. NOTE: I'm having problems with some of these images! Email me if you are, too. Can probably work something out.
2. The Stump - show your students how to count tree rings.
3. Be a Dendochronologist - good practice reading two different tree cookies
4. The Tree Cookie Lab Activity - Great lab. You need your own Tree Cookies for this lab, at least a couple dozen, preferably from several different trees - and if you must make your own, use downed trees, please! Try to find trees with different ring thicknesses and/or wounds.
5. The original Tree Ring Science Lesson - FABULOUS crossdating lesson - I used this idea for many years.
6. My version of the Tree Ring Activity - I've got it simplified and organized with a page to run off multiples of the "straws"
   
7. Interactive Tree Ring Activity - from NOVA - requires Shockwave -project onto your SmartBoard
8. Explore the Methusalah Grove - from NOVA - uses a QuickTime plug-in - beautiful 360 degree panoramic view of very old bristlecone pines - project onto your SmartBoard
9. Tree Cookie Game - not really a game but good practice for "reading" tree cookies
10. Tree Cookie Worksheet - basic identification of terms - might be good followsheet for PPT
11. Label Tree Ring Anatomy - from Enchanted Learning - also might be good PPT followsheet
12. How to Make Tree Cookies - good basic info for teachers - has a great section on what the different Special Features mean, such as thin rings, wide rings, scars, narrowing of rings on one side, etc.
13. YouTube has several videos on Reading Tree Rings; such as this one, which includes a visit to the Methusalah Bristlecone Pines. Search for Dendoclimatology or Reading Tree Rings.
    

Teaching Fossils

I loved teaching Fossils!

Great fun with high interest for your students. They love to study fossils!

Here are three active-learning based activities all rolled into one package. Well, actually, three packages. It was too big to upload all in one package.

Activity One is a Fossil or NonFossil? Lab.
Good way to introduce fossils to your students. They get fossils mixed up with things like modern shells (just mother nature!) and pottery shards (artifacts). Can be done with a variety of materials. Really nice if you have a pottery shard. We had them in our department. Make some if you can. Break up something you painted at a pottery store and get it really dirty.

Activity Two is a real-deal Fossil Lab, simplified for middle school students. I don't think it's necessary for younger students to memorize anything about fossils. At the middle school level, your goal is to teach what a fossil is, what an index fossil is, and what type of time index fossils can indicate (relative).

Activity Three is a wonderful Mystery Bones Activity. It's been around for years. I have no idea where the original originated. I used it at least 15-20 years ago.

FUN BONUS: Fossil Word Search Puzzle.

Beyond that, make sure they have fun!

CONSIDER THIS: Add a few Fossil Activities to your Geologic History unit.