Unit Overview – Rocks and Fossils

The big picture stuff: Students have studied the three main types of rocks and the five main types of fossils in middle school. These are foundations from which students learn the position of fossils in the rock layers and the types of rock where fossils are most likely found. In examining fossils themselves, students will discover that some organisms look much like those alive today and some look very different.

Next Generation Science Standards – Middle School (NGSS-MS):

LS4-1. 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.

Emphasize: finding patterns of changes in the level of complexity of anatomical structures in organisms and the chronological order of fossil appearance in the rock layers.

Core ideas: The collection of fossils and their placement in chronological order (e.g., through the location of the sedimentary layers in which they are found or through radioactive dating) is known as the fossil record. It documents the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of many life forms throughout the history of life on Earth.

LS4-2. Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.

Emphasize: explanations of the evolutionary relationships among organisms in terms of similarity or differences of the gross appearance of anatomical structures.

Core ideas: Anatomical similarities and differences between various organisms living today and between them and organisms in the fossil record, enable the reconstruction of evolutionary history and the inference of lines of evolutionary descent.

LS4-3. Analyze displays of pictorial data to compare patterns of similarities in the embryological development across multiple species to identify relationships not evident in the fully formed anatomy.

Emphasize: inferring general patterns of relatedness among embryos of different organisms by comparing the macroscopic appearance of diagrams or pictures.

Core ideas: Comparison of the embryological development of different species also reveals similarities that show relationships not evident in the fully-formed anatomy.

LS4-6. Use mathematical representations to support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and decreases of specific traits in populations over time.

Emphasize: on using mathematical models, probability statements, and proportional reasoning to support explanations of trends in changes to populations over time

Core ideas: Adaptation by natural selection acting over generations is one important process by which species change over time in response to changes in environmental conditions. Traits that support successful survival and reproduction in the new environment become more common; those that do not become less common. Thus, the distribution of traits in a population changes.

ESS1-4. 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.

Emphasize: how analyses of rock formations and the fossils they contain are used to establish relative ages of major events in Earth’s history. Examples of Earth’s major events could range from being very recent (such as the last Ice Age or the earliest fossils of homo sapiens) to very old (such as the formation of Earth or the earliest evidence of life). Examples can include the formation of mountain chains and ocean basins, the evolution or extinction of particular living organisms, or significant volcanic eruptions.

Core ideas: The geologic time scale interpreted from rock strata provides a way to organize Earth’s history. Analyses of rock strata and the fossil record provide only relative dates, not an absolute scale.

ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

Core ideas: The more precisely a design task’s criteria and constraints can be defined, the more likely it is that the designed solution will be successful. Specification of constraints includes consideration of scientific principles and other relevant knowledge that are likely to limit possible solutions.

Science and Engineering:

• Analyze displays of data to identify linear and nonlinear relationships.
• Analyze and interpret data to determine similarities and differences in findings.
• Use mathematical representations to support scientific conclusions and design solutions.
• Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for real-world phenomena, examples, or events.
• Science knowledge is based upon logical and conceptual connections between evidence and explanations.
• Define a design problem that can be solved through the development of an object, tool, process or system and includes multiple criteria and constraints, including scientific knowledge that may limit possible solutions.

Crosscutting concepts:

• Patterns can be used to identify cause and effect relationships.
• Graphs, charts, and images can be used to identify patterns in data.
• Phenomena may have more than one cause, and some cause and effect relationships in systems can only be described using probability.
• Science assumes that objects and events in natural systems occur in consistent patterns that are understandable through measurement and observation.
• Time, space, and energy phenomena can be observed at various scales using models to study systems that are too large or too small.
• Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources (including the students’ own experiments) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
• All human activity draws on natural resources and has both short and long-term consequences, positive as well as negative, for the health of people and the natural environment.
• The uses of technologies and limitations on their use are driven by individual or societal needs, desires, and values; by the findings of scientific research; and by differences in such factors as climate, natural resources, and economic conditions.

California Science Standards: Earth Science

4c. Students know that the rock cycle includes the formation of new sediment and rocks and that rocks are often found in layers, with the oldest generally on the bottom.

4e. Students know fossils provide evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed.

4f. Students know how movements of Earth’s continental and oceanic plates through time, with associated changes in climate and geographic connections, have affected the past and present distribution of organisms. scale.

Investigation and Experimentation Standards:

7a. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and display data.

7b. Use a variety of print and electronic resources (including the World Wide Web) to collect information and evidence as part of a research project.

7c. Communicate the logical connection among hypotheses, science concepts, tests conducted, data collected, and conclusions drawn from the scientific evidence.

7d. Construct scale models, maps, and appropriately labeled diagrams to communicate scientific knowledge (e.g., motion of Earth’s plates and cell structure).

7 e. Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and oral presentations.