300 MILLION YEARS AGO IN ILLINOIS Grade Level: 3rd-5th Grade LESSON DESCRIPTION Students will visit Specimens: Unlocking the Secrets of Life in order to observe, analyze, and interpret fossils found in Mazon Creek, Illinois from the Carboniferous period. Students will use their observations of the fossils to make a EDUCATOR claim as to what they think the Chicago-area looked like 300 million years ago. COMPELLING QUESTIONS • How do The Field Museum scientists use collections to explain our past? Page 1 • What did Illinois look like 300 million years ago? How do we know? OBJECTIVES Students will • Compare and contrast specimens to accurately identify the Tully monster • Make observations of the diverse plant and animal fossils found in Mazon Creek, Illinois • Use observations of fossils as evidence to predict what the Mazon Creek area looked like 300 million years ago KEY WORDS FOSSIL – Preserved remains, or traces of organisms that lived in the past SPECIMEN – an individual animal, plant, or piece of mineral used for scientific study INVERTEBRATE – an animal that lacks a backbone (arthropod, mollusk, annelid, etc.) VERTEBRATE – an animal that has a backbone (mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, etc.) Presented by The Field Museum Learning Center 300 Million Years Ago in Illinois SPECIMENS THE FIELD MUSEUM CONNECTIONS TO STANDARDS Next Generation Science Standards DISCIPLINARY CORE IDEA • LS4.A: Fossils provide evidence about the types of organisms that lived long ago and also about the nature of their environments SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING PRACTICE • Analyzing and Interpreting Data: Analyze and interpret data to make sense of phenomena and logical reasoning CROSSCUTTING CONCEPT • Scale, Proportion, and Quantity: Observable phenomena exist from very short to very long time periods APPROXIMATE TIME Three 30-minute class periods PREPARATION NOTES This is a three-part lesson (pre-field trip, during the field trip, and post-field trip). Plan out the timing of the lesson to EDUCATOR best fit your teaching schedule and your students’ learning styles, being mindful of how this may fit into an existing unit of study. MATERIALS • Student Resource A (per class) • Butcher Paper Page 2 • Student Resource B and D (per group) • Writing Utensils • Student Resource C (per student) • Assorted Art Materials • Clipboards (optional) VIDEO RESOURCES The Field Revealed: “The Tully Monster” The Brain Scoop: “Tully Monster Mystery Solved!” EXHIBIT AREA OF FOCUS Mazon Creek Fossil Collection Presented by The Field Museum Learning Center 300 Million Years Ago in Illinois SPECIMENS THE FIELD MUSEUM PROCEDURES ENGAGE (IN THE CLASSROOM) 1. Show students the picture on Student Resource A: What Is This Animal?. Ask students: Have you ever seen something like this before? Does it remind you of any other animals you’ve seen? Encourage students to cite evidence for their guesses. 2. Explain that this animal is known as the Tully monster and that it lived 300 million years ago in Illinois. If possible, show students The Field Revealed: “The Tully Monster” video and/or use Teacher Resource A: Tully Monster Fact Sheet to share information with students. 3. Ask students: How do the scientists at The Field Museum know about the Tully monster? What has informed their understanding of this extinct animal? 4. Listen for students to say fossils. Work with students to define the term “fossil.” Inform students that The Field Museum has 2,000 Tully monster fossils in its collection, and that scientists have spent the past 50 years trying to figure out what it is. 5. Encourage students to think about why The Field Museum would have so many fossils of one particular specimen. Inform students that because of the Museum’s large collection of Tully monster fossils, scientists were able to collect enough evidence to confidently identify the Tully monster and figure out what living animal it is most like. 6. Explain that one of the key mysteries scientists have spent the last fifty years trying to figure out is if the Tully monster was an invertebrate or a vertebrate. Ask students: Have you ever heard those terms before? What do they mean and can you give an example of an invertebrate and a vertebrate? EDUCATOR 7. Guide students to the idea that an invertebrate is an animal that does not have a backbone or spine, examples can include: insects, crabs, lobsters, snails, octopuses, and worms. A vertebrate is an animal that does have a backbone or spine, examples can include: fish, mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. 8. Tell students that scientists were able to use something called a synchrotron X-ray machine, which showed them the Tully monster’s physical features in a new way. Ask students: Have you ever had an X-ray? What do X-ray machines help us do? Explain that X-ray machines allow people, like scientists and doctors, to look inside something, like inside an arm to see if a bone is broken. Page 3 9. Tell students that the high-powered X-ray machine helped scientists look very closely to determine if the Tully monster was an invertebrate or a vertebrate. After comparing and contrasting thousands of specimens, the mystery of the Tully monster was finally solved! 10. Explain to students that they are going to analyze the Tully monster features and, much like Field Museum scientists, use their observations to solve the mystery of the Tully monster. Remind students to pay careful attention to whether or not scientists have determined whether or not the Tully monster is a vertebrate or invertebrate. 11. Place students into small groups of three to four. Distribute Student Resource B: Mystery of the Tully Monster to each group. 12. After students have completed the activity, encourage groups to share their identification and reasoning for their selection. Listen for students to identify the Tully monster as a relative to the modern-day lamprey, a vertebrate. 13. If possible, show students The Brain Scoop: “Tully Monster Mystery Solved!” 14. Ask students: What other plants and animals lived with the Tully monster 300 million years ago? Do you think we would recognize any of them? How could we find out what the Chicago-area looked like when Tully monsters were still alive? 15. Elicit student responses. Inform students that one way to answer this question is to visit The Field Museum in order to observe fossils of other specimens found with the Tully monster. Presented by The Field Museum Learning Center 300 Million Years Ago in Illinois SPECIMENS THE FIELD MUSEUM PROCEDURES (continued) EXPLORE (AT THE FIELD MUSEUM) 1. Upon arrival, distribute Student Resource C: Specimens Exhibit Activity and a writing utensil to each student. Explain to students that they will visit the Specimens: Unlocking the Secrets of Life exhibit. 2. Tell students that they will look for the Tully monster fossils from Mazon Creek, Illinois. In that exhibit area students should select two other fossils from this area and time period. 3. Explain that students will observe the fossils and then draw their observations in the box labeled “Scientific Drawing” on Student Resource C. If possible, encourage students to select different fossils to draw so the class has a wide variety of fossils documented. 4. Remind students to include additional information to support their observations (i.e. size, detailed notes, etc.). Tell students they will analyze the fossil drawings back in the classroom in order to put together a more complete picture of what the Chicago-area looked like when Tully monsters existed. 5. Allow students time to explore the exhibit and complete their drawings. 6. Collect all student drawings and save for the next lesson. EXPLAIN & EVALUATE (IN THE CLASSROOM) 1. Encourage students to recall the field trip to The Field Museum, specifically the visit to the Specimens: Unlocking the Secrets of Life exhibit. 2. Remind students that they visited the exhibit to answer the question: What did Illinois look like 300 million EDUCATOR years ago when Tully monsters were alive? 3. Pass out each student’s Student Resource C from the field trip. Tell students to share their fossil drawings with a partner. 4. After sharing, have students work together to use the fossil drawings to predict what the animal/plant specimen would have looked like when alive. Encourage students to draw their predictions next to the fossil drawings on Student Resource C. Page 4 *Teaching Tip: Not all of the Mazon Creek fossils in the Specimens exhibit have an equivalent modern day example, and in fact some of the fossils are classified as unknown. You may want to provide an additional research opportunity for students to learn more about the particular fossils they selected. 5. When students have finished their predications, pass out Student Resource D: Comparable Species Cards to each pair of students. Explain to students that some of the cards depict modern day examples of the organisms and others show drawings of what scientists believe the organisms looked like. Encourage students to find their animal/plant specimen and compare their predications to the picture cards. 6. Ask students to reflect on the following questions: • What clues did you find in the fossil that led to your prediction? • How close was your prediction to the picture? • Do you think these pictures are completely accurate? Or are scientists still learning by collecting more specimens? 7. Tape a large piece of butcher paper on the wall. Tell students that they will use the information collected from the fossils to predict what Illinois looked like 300 million years ago. 8. Encourage students to discuss what the area looked like based on their fossil observations. Use Teacher Resource B: Carboniferous Forest as a visual guide if necessary. 9. Using the butcher paper and art supplies, create a class representation of Mazon Creek 300 million years ago.