Unit 7: History of Earth

Students will know how to:

-Analyze how Earth formed and changed over time using evidence from rocks, fossils, and geologic processes

-Interpret the geologic time scale to explain major changes in Earth’s history, including shifts in climate and biodiversity

-Use fossil evidence to reconstruct past environments and explain how species have changed over time

-Explain how fossil formation occurs and evaluate how different conditions affect preservation

-Analyze patterns of mass extinction and explain their impact on biodiversity and evolutionary change

-Use radiometric dating and relative dating methods to determine the age of rocks and fossils

-Construct evidence-based explanations of Earth’s history using multiple data sources

Core Topics

-Earth’s formation and early geologic history

-Geologic time scale (eons, eras, periods, epochs)

-Fossil formation and fossil types

-Fossil record as evidence of evolution and environmental change

-Mass extinction events and biodiversity shifts

-Radiometric dating and half-life concepts

-Relative dating using rock strata and index fossils

NGSS Performance Expectations

HS-ESS1-4 – Use evidence from rock strata and fossil records to explain Earth’s history and changes over time

HS-LS4-1 – Construct explanations based on fossil evidence that species evolve over time

HS-LS4-5 – Analyze fossil data to identify patterns in the history of life and evolutionary relationships

Essential Questions students will be able to answer:

-How did Earth form, and how has it changed over geologic time?

-How do scientists use the geologic time scale to organize Earth’s history?

-What does the fossil record reveal about past life and environments?

-How do fossils form, and why are some organisms more likely to be preserved than others?

-How do mass extinction events reshape life on Earth?

-How do radiometric and relative dating methods allow scientists to determine the age of Earth materials?

-How can multiple lines of evidence be combined to reconstruct Earth’s history?

Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs):

-Analyzing and Interpreting Data

-Constructing Explanations

-Developing and Using Models

-Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs):

-Patterns

-Cause and Effect

-Stability and Change

-Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

-Unit test with fossil, rock, and geologic time analysis

-Fossil identification and interpretation lab

-Geologic time scale construction and sequencing activity

-Radiometric dating and half-life calculations

-Data analysis of extinction events and biodiversity changes

-CER writing explaining Earth’s history using fossil and rock evidence