Essential Question: How do we know dinosaurs died off 65 million years ago?

Optional Science During School Closure

Below are home lessons to keep skills current during the Covid-19 School Closure. Notes and answers to questions below should be put in the Science Notebook or on paper that can be easily added to your science notebook. These lessons will not be graded. Feel free to email me with any questions you have: christopher.bright@albany.k12.or.us

3/16 - 3/18

How can Relative Dating concepts show how and when rock layers formed?

Use the concepts of superposition (youngest strata on top) and uncomformities (missing layers) to complete the relative dating interactive - Relative Rock Layers - sciencelearn.org.nz. Video answer.

Use the Relative Dating Article on the Principle of Superposition and Index Fossils to answer the following questions.

1. How is the Principle of Superposition shown by building a sandwich?

2. What are index fossils?

3. How can index fossils be used to match strata of rock?

From the animation Rocks and Ice Ages - sciencelearn.org.nz:

1. How can ice ages produce erosion in ocean formed strata?

2. How could this cause unconformities in rock strata?

More practice using the relative dating principles of superposition and crosscutting (anything that cuts across is younger) at:

• Earth Science Lab: Relative Dating #1 - profharwood.x10host.com

• Earth Science Lab: Relative Dating #2 - profharwood.x10host.com

3/19 - 3/20

What are different types of fossils?

List and describe 6 different kinds of fossils using:

• What are the different types of fossils? - socratic.org

• Types of Fossilization - ck12.org

Answer from NOVA: Dinosaur Plague (2009): Video (15:05 mins) at terrirandallproductions.com, Transcript - pbs.org

1. What is a Coprolite?

2. What can we learn from dinosaur dung?

3. How can amber have important fossils in it?

Make a copy or print out and then complete the Google Doc Is it a Fossil?

3/30 - 3/31

What can tree rings tell us?

From the video, TEDEd: The Oldest Living Things In The World - ed.ted.com list the three most interesting old living things on Earth.

Watch Lord of the Tree Rings - Science Nation - youtube.com as an introduction to tree rings.

Use About Tree Rings - arizona.edu - Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona.

1. What is Dendrochronology?

2. What can counting the number of rings tell you about a tree?

3. How can rings between different trees be crossdated to find the year a ring was produced?

4. Conifer trees are evergreen trees like pine that usually have needles. How is earlywood different than latewood in conifer tree rings?

5. Angiosperms usually have leaves that can fall in the fall. How is earlywood different than latewood in angiosperms tree rings?

Tree Rings Simulation - Dendrochronology - scied.ucar.edu - Work through Levels 1, 2, 3 of the interactive activity. What effects do the following have on the thickness of tree rings:

• 1. 1. More moisture than usual?

     2. Lower temperatures than usual?

     3. Higher temperatures than usual?

You can work through levels 4, 5 for more practice.

4/1

Why Social Distancing?

Answer the questions below while reading or listening to Why Outbreaks like the Corona Virus Spread Exponentially - washingtonpost.com

1. What has experts worried?

2. How is the fake disease simultitis similar to covid-19? How is it different?

3. What is special about a recovered person?

4. Run the simulation that starts with 1 sick person in a town of 200. What happened? What does the Change over time graph look like?

5. Run the forced quarantine simulation. What happened? How is the Change over time graph different than before? Did everybody get sick?

6. Run the "social distancing" simulation. What happened? How is the Change over time graph different than forced quarantine? Did everybody get sick?

7. Run the more social distancing simulation? How is the Change over time graph different?

4/2 - 4/10

Starting Monday 4/13, the district will be pivoting to online learning. As teachers we are still learning what this will entail. Middle School teachers have prepared common lessons for the major content areas for next week (4/6 to 4/10) that will be posted on the district website at the page: Distance Learning Resources / Recursos de educación a distancia .

Instead of starting something new, I'll have you work on lessons from Distance Learning Resources. For those wanting more challenge, you are free to work on any of the assignments I was intending to give you linked under Assignments below.

Assignments

3/6 - Earthquake, Volcanos, and Plate Tectonics Picture Review - Picture; Color example

Good Source: Annenberg Learner - Dynamic Earth Interactives

3/9 - Quiz: Earthquake, Volcanoes and Plate Tectonics and Elements 11-20

PowerPoint for unit: History of the Earth slides Bright 2019.pdf (must login to district email to view)

Originally due 3/13 - Telling Relative Time (gray paper)

- Relative Dating Practice

- Relative Dating Review

- Life Science: Dating the Fossil Record Activity

- Quiz: Relative Dating and the Geologic Column.

- Is it a Fossil?

- Tree Rings Simulation - scied.ucar.edu - Work through Levels 1, 2, 3 of the interactive dendrochronology activity.

- Geologic Timeline Review (must login to district email to view)

- Absolute Dating Article - sciencelearn.org.nz used with Absolute Dating Rock Layers WS

Video Notes: How the Grand Canyon was Made (2009)

- Radioactive Dating Game for Chromebook - archive.cnx.org/specials used with Radioactive Dating Game WS

- Quiz: Geologic Time Scale and Absolute Dating

Notes on The Day the Mesozoic Died (2012) 33:43 - hhmi.org

- The 25 Biggest Turning Points in Earth's History - BBC Earth for Big Event Infographic

Video Notes Questions from How the Earth was Made (1 hr 30 mins)

- Earth Timeline Group Project

• - steps 1-5

• - steps 6-7

• - steps 7-9, Info-graphic attached to timeline

• - Step 10: Present your Era to Mr. Bright and your group.

Objectives

MS-ESS1-4. (Chapter 3) - Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6 billion-year-old history.

MS-LS4-1. (Chapter 2) - Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.

• • • Explain how Earth materials, such as rock, fossils, and ice, show that Earth has changed over time.

    • Summarize how scientists measure the relative ages of rock layers.

    • Identify gaps in the rock record.

    • Describe how geologists use a geologic time scale to divide Earth's history.

*Non-Contact Forces

MS-PS2-3. (Chapter 7, 8)

MS-PS2-5. (Chapter 7, 8)

Sources of Natural History

• Video notes from How the Earth was Made (1 hr 30 mins)

• Notes from History of the Earth slides Bright 2019.pdf

• Websites below

• Geologic Timetable/Geologic History handout

• Encyclopedia of the Animal World

(^ Woolly Mamoth vs. Mastodon ^)