• Earth’s Dynamic Past!
    Syllabus

    We know an immense amount of information about our planet’s history through many fields of scientific study. Paleontology, stratigraphy, geomorphology, paleomagnetics, radiometric dating, mineralogy, cladistics, chemistry, and even DNA sequencing, are just a few disciplines that have given us a much clearer understanding of our Earth’s past. 

    Our main objective in this class is to delve into the past, learn about crazy crisis events in Earth’s history that have brought cataclysmic changes to life on our planet, and teach others what we learned! This class is ours; we will make these discoveries together and decide how best to teach others.

    We will collectively uncover data that provides us with evidence of past cataclysmic extinction events. We will then brainstorm different methods to educate others about our discoveries. Our overall goal is to model and develop these methods into educational materials to teach others what we have collectively learned. 

    To conquer these topics, we will need to share our responsibilities and talents. 
    We want to design educational materials and experiences that make the greatest educational impact. 

    All of your collective efforts are very important! We will need artists, poets, sculptors, fossil hunters, creative imaginations, technical skills, and many ideas! Please share your creative thoughts.

    Since the Earth’s history is so deep and complex, we will focus on the catastrophic events known as the Top 5! Of course, the top 5 major global extinction events include the extinction of the dinosaurs, but you may be surprised to hear that it is not the largest of the Earth’s major mass extinctions. By learning about the times in Earth’s history when life was nearly extinguished, we may more clearly understand the delicate balance between life on our planet and our environment. We will end our class by comparing what we have learned to the world in which we currently live. 

    Your educational projects will be self-assessed and assessed by your peers and your teacher using class-developed rubrics. We will also have short tests to ensure that you all have gleaned the sequence of events that led to each of these cataclysms. At the end of the school year, an open journal final exam will ask you to explain what you have learned about these Earth-shattering events.

    Let’s learn from the Earth’s past so we can make wise choices about what to do with our future!

    Sincerely,
    Mr. Robison