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Geologic Timeline with Fossils

Teachers Involved
Peggy Lubchenco
Megan Cotich
Project Information
In this 3-part classroom community activity, students will be constructing a Geologic Timeline to show the Earth’s biologic and geologic history to gain perspective on the succession and age of Earth’s important events. Approximately 30 students, divided into groups covering 11 time periods, will construct a 4.6-billion year timeline. Each group will research one geologic period’s biologic and geologic events and artistically render them on the class timeline. This will allow them to experiment with different materials in 2-D and 3-D. In addition, students will create a fossil of an organism that lived during that time to display in the classroom. They will also make mock fossils out of a material of their choice that they feel will last long enough to become a true fossil. This final step will show them how different materials resist the ravages of time better than others, which explains why there are large gaps in the fossil record.
AttachmentSize
PDF icon Poster of Project1.22 MB
Microsoft Office document icon Lesson Plan85.5 KB
Microsoft Office document icon Worksheets159 KB