The History of Geology and Life on Earth Name Date Use the “TIMELINE OF LIFE ON EARTH” in the Islands of Evolution exhibit to learn about the history of life on Earth. Then, continue to the Earthquake exhibit to answer questions on the geologic history of Earth and the Human Odyssey exhibit in African Hall to learn about the history of humans. 1 Early Earth History When did land plants first evolve? Describe what the first life to evolve 3.5 billion years ago was like. What structures allowed these early plants to survive on land? Explain your answer. Estimate This... The length of the Academy from the east to west Length of the Academy as a scaled timeline of Earth windows is about 450 feet or 137 meters. If this length represented the entire 4.6 billion year history of Earth and started by the Earthquake exhibit, how far to the other side would you have to walk before you were at a time when life first Islands of Evolution evolved (3.5 billion years)? Mark your guess with a Earthquake star along the dotted line on the map. African Hall How far would you have to walk to the point when simple marine organisms evolved, 650 million years ago? Mark this estimate with an x along the East Windows = Present day West Windows = Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago dotted line on the map. 2 Islands of Evolution 3 Earthquake For each date write what groups of species flourished Use the interactive Plate Movement screens to label on earth (mark with a star), recently evolved (mark the pictures. The first two are from the Southern with an up arrow), or went extinct (mark with an X). Hemisphere view; the rest are from the Atlantic Not all have all three categories. Ocean view. Possible dates are 200, 125, 66, 30, and 2 million years ago. Southern 250 million years ago African Hall: Hemisphere Human Odyssey 4 (Part 1) Fill in each box with the key event in human evolution that occurred at ___________200 that time. million years ago 10 million years ago Southern 125 million years ago Hemisphere 8-7 million years ago ___________ million years ago Atlantic 66 million years ago Ocean (11 million years before 50 million years ago) __ million years ago (For this box, fill in the timepoint as a range.) Genus Homo evolved. ___________ Imagine what the Earth looked like around this time. Hint: There is a million years ago picture of it on this page. Atlantic 30 million years ago Ocean 200,000 years ago ___________ million years ago Revisit the map on the first Examine the fossils next to Atlantic page showing the length of the timeline. What can these Ocean the Academy as a scaled fossils tell us about life on Earth timeline of the Earth. millions of years ago? What Mark your estimate of when information can’t fossils tell us modern humans evolved about ancient life? with a square. ___________ million years ago 4 African Hall: Human Odyssey (Part 2) The history of modern humans continues with their migration out of Africa. View the large migration map screen and use the interactive timelines below the screen to fill in the boxes with the areas of the world populated with modern humans at each timepoint. Notice how climate change affected migration patterns. Today 125,000 100,000 65,000 55,000 25,000 10,000 200,000 years ago (modern humans evolved) 5 Critical Thinking Discuss with a Friend » When one group of species goes extinct, like the dinosaurs, why do other groups of species soon thrive on Earth? » How have humans adapted to the variety of environments in which they live? Remember that adaptations include both physical and behavioral adaptations. » Reflecting on all of the time scales you experienced today, what was most surprising to you? The History of Geology and Life on Earth Name Date Use the “TIMELINE OF LIFE ON EARTH” in the Islands of Evolution exhibit to learn about the history of life on Earth. Then, continue to the Earthquake exhibit to answer questions on the geologic history of Earth and the Human Odyssey exhibit in African Hall to learn about the history of humans. 1 Early Earth History When did land plants first evolve? Describe what the first life to evolve 3.5 billion years ago was like. 450 million years ago Single celled, including bacteria that could use energy from the sun to make food and release oxygen into the atmosphere What structures allowed these early plants to survive on land? Explain your answer. waxy exterior keeps them from drying out and pores allow them to exchange gases with the air Estimate This... The length of the Academy from the east to west Length of the Academy as a scaled timeline of Earth windows is about 450 feet or 137 meters. If this length represented the entire 4.6 billion year history of Earth and started by the Earthquake exhibit, how far to the other side would you have to walk before you were at a time when life first Islands of Evolution evolved (3.5 billion years)? Mark your guess with a Earthquake star along the dotted line on the map. African Hall How far would you have to walk to the point when simple marine organisms evolved, 650 million years ago? Mark this estimate with an x along the East Windows = Present day West Windows = Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago dotted line on the map. 2 Islands of Evolution 3 Earthquake For each date write what groups of species flourished Use the interactive Plate Movement screens to label on earth (mark with a star), recently evolved (mark the pictures. The first two are from the Southern with an up arrow), or went extinct (mark with an X). Hemisphere view; the rest are from the Atlantic Not all have all three categories. Ocean view. Possible dates are 200, 125, 66, 30, and 2 million years ago. Southern 250 million years ago African Hall: Hemisphere 95% of all species Human Odyssey (or ) club mosses and reptiles on land; in 4 (Part 1) the oceans, snails and clams Oceans teem with fishes, squid, large Fill in each box with the key event swimming reptiles and ammonites (extinct in human evolution that occurred at ___________200 molluscs) that time. million years ago 10 million years ago Southern 125 million years ago Humans and chimpanzees Hemisphere diverged from gorillas. dinosaurs dominate the land flowering plants evolve in tandem with pollinating insects modern groups of insects, including 8-7 million years ago ants, butterflies, aphids, grasshoppers, and ___________66 termites Humans and chimpanzees million years ago modern forms of corals diverged from each other. 66 million years ago Atlantic (11 million years before 50 million years ago) 2.4______ - 1.4 million years ago Ocean Dinosaurs (For this box, fill in the timepoint as a range.) Students may also include that most modern groups of mammals – including Genus Homo evolved. early primates – as well as grasses evolved. Though, strictly speaking, this happened Imagine what the Earth looked like ___________30 around this time. Hint: There is a between 66 and 50 million years ago. million years ago picture of it on this page. Atlantic 30 million years ago Ocean grasslands mammals on the land 200,000 years ago monkeys and the early ancestors of apes most modern bird groups Modern humans (Homo sapiens) modern groups of marine animals evolved. (or) marine invertebrates diversify ___________125 million years ago Revisit the map on the first Examine the fossils next to Atlantic page showing the length of the timeline. What can these Ocean the Academy as a scaled fossils tell us about life on Earth timeline of the Earth. millions of years ago? What Mark your estimate of when information can’t fossils tell us modern humans evolved about ancient life? with a square. ___________2 million years ago 4 African Hall: Human Odyssey (Part 2) The history of modern humans continues with their migration out of Africa. View the large migration map screen and use the interactive timelines below the screen to fill in the boxes with the areas of the world populated with modern humans at each timepoint. Notice how climate change affected migration patterns. Africa Africa Africa Middle East or the Arabian Peninsula Today 125,000 100,000 65,000 55,000 25,000 10,000 200,000 years ago (modern humans evolved) Africa Africa Africa Middle East Middle East Middle East The tropics The tropics The tropics (for example, Southeast Asia Southeast Asia India) China China Australia Australia Europe Europe The Americas 5 Critical Thinking Discuss with a Friend » When one group of species goes extinct, like the dinosaurs, why do other groups of species soon thrive on Earth? » How have humans adapted to the variety of environments in which they live? Remember that adaptations include both physical and behavioral adaptations. » Reflecting on all of the time scales you experienced today, what was most surprising to you? The History of Geology and Life on Earth GRADE LEVELS 6th-12th; California Content Standards for 6th, 7th, and 9th-12th grades World History and Geography, Life Sciences, Earth Sciences, SUBJECTS Investigation and Experimentation DURATION Preparation: 5 minutes Academy: 60 minutes Islands of Evolution exhibit; Earthquake exhibit; African Hall: Human SETTING Odyssey exhibit Objectives In this scavenger hunt, students will 1. be introduced to different periods of Earth’s history. 2. relate the slow changes of plate movement to the slow processes of evolution. 3. estimate time scales using the length of the Academy as a model.