PREFACE. Sample file. Acknowledgements & Thanks

Transcription

1 PREFACE This book which is aimed at kindergarten through 7 th grade covers geology, geography, palaeontology, science amidst other lessons in which there is a focus on critical thinking skills, vocabulary, writing skills, comprehension and more. The study of fossils entails at least five scientific disciplines: earth science, palaeontology, geography, biology, and geology. Each of these disciplines involves a unique content area as well as the development of particular intellectual skills. This unit helps teachers sort and organize the most important ideas in this rich scientific area. Detailed lesson plans serve as ways to pass these ideas on to very young students as well as older students. Comprehensive teacher/parent notes have been included which document in enormous detail the journey of the earth throughout the various Eras or Timelines. Comprehensive activities for learners have been included, and should be adapted to the age of the learner. Due to the vast amount of information available, we have provided extensive notes in an endeavour to assist the educator in creating lesson plans. While notepages, handouts and activity sheets are included we have not burdened this book with excessive notepages. We would recommend rather that multiple copies be made of the pages required. Lessons should be adjusted and adapted to suit the age of the learner. The contents of this book enable the educator to prepare lessons for learners from Kindergarden/Grade1 through Grade 7 even older children. We stress again that every child develops at his or her own pace and whilst some children may find the lessons fairly simple and straightforward other children may require a little more time and explanation. We encourage children developing at their own pace. If a lesson appears too complex for a child, it is very easily downgraded or simplified to the child s comfort level of understanding. The information contained in this book has been sourced via numerous websites, and credits and acknowledgements have been provided thru specific pages where relevant, and/or where information has been used from a particular source consistently, this source is generally acknowledged. Where images have been utilised, if not in the public domain, credits have been noted, with thanks. I do thank the compilers of various books and websites, the researchers, scientists and educators who spend many hours compiling and researching stats and documents, those to which we not have access. Acknowledgements & Thanks Credit: U.S. Geological Survey Department of the Interior/USGS U.S. Geological Survey/photo by Bruce Molnia Credit: U.S. Geological Survey Department of the Interior/USGS Donnette E Davis

2 Table of Contents Contents Page Introduction 4 Sedimentary rocks preparation notes 5 Learning About Fossils The Eras 9 Fossils & The Geological Timescale 10 Fossils & The Geological Timescale Dictionary 11 Index Fossils Diagram 27 Dinosaurs : Fossils 28 Did You Know? 31 Major Divisions of Geological Time 32 Putting Events in Order 33 Relative Time Scale 34 Rocks and Layers 35 Fossils and Rocks 37 Fossil Succession 39 The Numeric Time Scale 42 Further Reading 44 Lesson Plans 45 Fossilisation & Adaptation 48 Student Activity Sheets 58 Fossilisation Discussion (notes) 67 Activity Paleo Cookie Dig 68 Activity Fossil Observation 70 Fossils Q & A 71 Extension Activities 74 Student Activity : Fossil Lesson Plan 75 Student Activity : The Process of Fossilisation 82 Fossils Q & A 86 The Parts of a Crinoid : DIAGRAM & LABEL 83 Multimedia Resources 92 Writing Assignment 93 Activity Sheets : Early Learners 94 New Words Flash Cards 101 Acknowledgements & Terms of Use 113 Donnette E Davis

3 Introduction For parents and Educators: At the close of the 18th century, the haze of fantasy and mysticism that tended to obscure the true nature of the Earth was being swept away. Careful studies by scientists showed that rocks had diverse origins. Some rock layers, containing clearly identifiable fossil remains of fish and other forms of aquatic animal and plant life, originally formed in the ocean. Other layers, consisting of sand grains winnowed clean by the pounding surf, obviously formed as beach deposits that marked the shorelines of ancient seas. Certain layers of rock are in the form of sand bars and gravel banks - rock debris spread over the land by streams. Some rocks were once lava flows or beds of cinders and ash thrown out of ancient volcanoes; others are portions of large masses of once-molten rock that cooled very slowly far beneath the Earth's surface. Other rocks were so transformed by heat and pressure during the heaving and buckling of the Earth's crust in periods of mountain building that their original features were obliterated. From the results of studies on the origins of the various kinds of rocks (petrology), coupled with studies of rock layering (stratigraphy) and the evolution of life (palaeontology), today geologists reconstruct the sequence of events that has shaped the Earth's surface. Their studies show, for example, that during a particular episode the land surface was raised in one part of the world to form high plateaus and mountain ranges. After the uplift of the land, the forces of erosion attacked the highlands and the eroded rock debris was transported and redeposited in the lowlands. During the same interval of time in another part of the world, the land surface subsided and was covered by the seas. With the sinking of the land surface, sediments were deposited on the ocean floor. The evidence of the pre-existence of ancient mountain ranges lies in the nature of the eroded rock debris, and the evidence of the seas' former presence is, in part, the fossil forms of marine life that accumulated with the bottom sediments. Such recurring events as mountain building and sea encroachment, of which the rocks themselves are records, comprise units of geologic time even though the actual dates of the events are unknown. By comparison, the history of mankind is similarly organized into relative units of time. We speak of human events as occurring either B.C. or A.D. -broad divisions of time. Shorter spans are measured by the dynasties of ancient Egypt or by the reigns of kings and queens in Europe. Geologists have done the same thing to geologic time by dividing the Earth's history into Eras-broad spans based on the general character of life that existed during these times, and Periods-shorter spans based partly on evidence of major disturbances of the Earth's crust. The names used to designate the divisions of geologic time are a fascinating mixture of works that mark highlights in the historical development of geologic science over the past 200 years. Nearly every name signifies the acceptance of a new scientific concept-a new rung in the ladder of geologic knowledge. The major divisions, with brief explanations of each, are shown in the following scale of relative geologic time, which is arranged in chronological order with the oldest division at the bottom, the youngest at the top. Keyed to the relative time scale are examples of index fossils, the forms of life which existed during limited periods of geologic time and thus are used as guides to the age of the rocks in which they are preserved. Donnette E Davis

4 Key Concepts Sedimentary Rocks Preparation Notes Sedimentary rocks start out soft and squishy ("unconsolidated"). Fossils form when animals or plants die in the unconsolidated sediments and are covered by more layers. Sediments can become hard over time if exposed to higher temperatures and pressures or certain minerals that cement the grains together. Fossils are found in sedimentary rocks, but almost never in other rock types. (You need to start out with a soft material to make an imprint. Igneous rocks are very hot when they are soft/molten, so they burn up organic material. Metamorphic rocks are exposed to such intense heat and pressure that any fossils are destroyed). Our Research took us to the following Websites: University of California Museum of Palaeontology Mud Fossils University of California Museum of Paleontology Common Misconceptions Misconception: Fossils are pieces of dead animals and plants. Fact: Fossils are not actually pieces of dead animals and plants. They are only the impression or cast of the original living thing. The actual living parts decay away but their shape is permanently recorded in the rock as it hardens. Misconception: Fossils of tropical plants cannot be found in deserts. Fact: Fossils record ancient environments present at the time the rocks were deposited. The climate of a particular location can change because of a combination of 3 important factors: 1) Plate tectonics may cause land to move across much of the globe -- points that were once at the tropics may have moved to high latitude regions where the climate is dry. This motion can be tracked using magnetic signatures recorded in the rocks. Uplift from plate collisions can also raise areas from the bottom of the ocean up above beaches and to high mountains -- all different local climate zones; 2) The entire climate of the planet shifts. The planet has gone through wet and dry, hot and cold periods where the entire planet was different than it is now. Isotopic signatures in rocks record these changes; 3) Human accelerated climate change. Humans have impacted the local climatic conditions of small areas for several thousand years through agricultural practices. Deforestation and irrigation can cause dramatic local changes. Today, humans are causing changes through greenhouse gas emissions that may be big enough to change the entire global climate. Donnette E Davis

5 CREDIT: Copyright Bruce Molnia, Terra Photographics sults.html?imageid=h27hs1 About: A fossil fern in a natural sedimentary rock, with a coin to show you the size of the fossil. Millions of years ago, this fern fell in some mud. The mud was covered by more layers of mud causing it to eventually harden into a rock. The fern leaf decayed away, but this imprint of the leaf remained. Donnette E Davis

6 Sa mp le file Learning About Fossils K1-7 Image From: Matthew d'alessio, USGS Location: Near Emerson School, Berkeley, CA About: Here you can see the imprint of a leaf in concrete that fell onto the concrete just a few moments after it was poured. The concrete dried many years ago and has been very hard since then. Can you make an educated guess about what time of year (season) this concrete was originally poured? The ruler tells you the size of the leaf. Donnette E Davis

7 Credit & Copyright information: Location: El Parque Natural del Torcal, Andalucia, Spain About: A photo of a fossil sea creature (bottom of photo) in a dry desert environment. Unlike the schoolyard example of the tree and the leaf, real fossils sometimes come from environments very different than where you find them today. For example, this creature lived in a vast ocean, but do you see a vast ocean here today? What do you think happened? Not only does this place look pretty dry, but this photo was taken at an altitude of 1300 meters above sea-level (about 4000 feet). How did a sea creature get way up here? Geologists use fossils like this one to infer that two of the earth's plates crashed into one another and pushed up mountains. Donnette E Davis

8 Learning About Fossils : The Era s Learning About Fossils K1-7 A photographic collage depicting the diversity and evolution of life on Earth through the last 600 million years. The oldest fossils are at the bottom and youngest at the top. The size of each time interval is proportional to its duration. We study our Earth for many reasons: to find water to drink or oil to run our cars or coal to heat our homes, to know where to expect earthquakes or landslides or floods, and to try to understand our natural surroundings. Earth is constantly changing--nothing on its surface is truly permanent. Rocks that are now on top of a mountain may once have been at the bottom of the sea. Thus, to understand the world we live on, we must add the dimension of time. We must study Earth's history. When we talk about recorded history, time is measured in years, centuries, and tens of centuries. When we talk about Earth history, time is measured in millions and billions of years. Time is an everyday part of our lives. We keep track of time with a marvellous invention, the calendar, which is based on the movements of Earth in space. One spin of Earth on its axis is a day, and one trip around the Sun is a year. The modern calendar is a great achievement, developed over many thousands of years as theory and technology improved. People who study Earth's history also use a type of calendar, called the geologic time scale. It looks very different from the familiar calendar. In some ways, it is more like a book, and the rocks are its pages. Some of the pages are torn or missing, and the pages are not numbered, but geology gives us the tools to help us read this book. Donnette E Davis

9 Fossils and the Geological Timescale The following list gives the geologic timescale and its associated primary fossils. Precambrian (3.8 billion to 570 million years ago) o Bacteria and blue-green algae Cambrian (570 to 500 million years ago) o First invertebrates Ordovician (500 to 440 million years ago) Silurian (440 to 410 million years ago) o First land plants o First land invertebrates Devonian (410 to 365 years ago) o First ferns and seed plants o First insects o First amphibians Carboniferous (365 to 290 million years ago) o First flying insects o First reptiles Permian (290 to 245 million years ago) Triassic (245 to 210 million years ago) o Extinction of trilobites o First dinosaurs o First mammals Jurassic (210 to 140 million years ago) o First birds Cretaceous (140 to 65 million years ago) o First flowering plants o First primates o Extinction of dinosaurs o Extinction of ammonites Palaeocene (65 to 55 million years ago) o Diversification and spreading of mammals Eocene (55 to 38 million years ago) Oligocene (38 to 25 million years ago) o First grass Miocene (25 to 5 million years ago) Pliocene (5 to 2 million years ago) o First hominids Fossils & geological timescale dictionary on following pages Please note that the dictionary is NOT age- appropriate for early learners and is included for reference purposes for teachers/educators/purposes to more fully explain the terminology that may be used within the study of fossils Donnette E Davis