Forays with Forams
Patricia Miller, Ph.D., Earth & Environmental Science Educator
MathScience Innovation Center
Developed with funding from the MathScience Innovation Center
Major
Understanding
Foraminifera, nicknamed "forams," are single-celled organisms that have
inhabited Earth's marine and brackish waters for at least 550 million years,
with thousands of species in both the fossil record and modern waters.
Although forams are small, their importance to science is enormous! Because
of their diversity, abundance, and sensitivity to environmental conditions,
forams are used in petroleum exploration, stratigraphy, archaeology, coastal
and estuarine ecology, and palaeooceanography. They are especially important
indicators of changing conditions in oceans and estuaries, and of local and
global climate change. Using hands-on activities and 21st century technology,
students will explore how forams help scientists reconstruct ancient ocean
conditions and track human impacts on the Chesapeake Bay.
Grade/Subject
ES, BIO, Ecology, Oceanography, Environmental Science, AP Environmental
Science, AP Biology
Objectives
Introduce basic background information about forams as modern and
fossil living organisms. (ES.11; BIO.5)
Examine forams’ distinctive role as “proxies” for palaeoecology,
palaeoclimatology, and water quality reconstructions. (ES.10, ES.11;
BIO.8, BIO.9; AP ES I.A, II.A, II.D, VII.B; AP BIO LO 4.20, Sci Prac
1, 2, 5, 6, 7)
Reconstruct ocean evidence of changing climate using planktonic foram
assemblages from an ocean sediment core. (ES.1, ES.2, ES.10, ES.11;
BIO.1, BIO.8, BIO.9; AP ES I.A, II.A, II.D, VII.B; AP BIO LO 4.20,
Sci Prac 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 )
Track trends in environmental conditions in the Chesapeake Bay
watershed from the 18th through 20th centuries using indicator species of
benthic forams. (ES.2, ES.10, ES.11; BIO.8, BIO.9; AP ES I.A, II.A,
II.D, VI.C; AP BIO LO 4.20, Sci Prac 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 )
;
Time
Forays with Forams
Anticipatory Set: Forams – What & Why?
Activity: Using planktonic forams to determine ocean
climate history
Activity: Chesapeake Bay – benthic forams as
environmental indicators
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20 min
35 min
25 min
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Discussion & closure
Practice
Assessments
Materials
10 min
Variable
Variable
For each team of three students:
 Student worksheet – one per team or per student. A simple way to place all
of the worksheet on one piece of paper and to display each activity’s
questions next to the data tables for the activity is to print the worksheets
on tabloid sized paper, duplexed and flipped on the short edge. This
orientation displays Pages 1 & 2 (first activity) on one side of the sheet and
Pages 3 & 4 (second activity) on the other side. If printing on 8½ x 11”
paper, print in portrait orientation and single-sided, so that students can
separate the pages and place each activity’s data table page next to the
questions page for the activity.
 One set of Deep Sea Core Samples sheets (laminated for re-use)
 Three copies of the Foram Provinces Key (printed double sided and
laminated)
 One set of Patuxent Core Samples 1, 2, and 3 (laminated for re-use)
 Three copies of the identification key Major Benthic Foraminifera –
Chesapeake Bay & Tidal Portions of Tributaries
 Set of 11 colored pencils, matched to the colors for the species in the
Foram Provinces Key (many inexpensive sets of 10 or 12 colored pencils
contain 10 of these colors; grey pencils can be purchased from Michael’s
or A.C. Moore stores, or from online suppliers)
 Three Pink Pearl or similar erasers
 Small pencil sharpener (preferably one that will hold the shavings)
 Three dry erase or overhead projection markers. (Teachers will need to test
to see which type of marker is compatible with the laminating film used for
the Deep Sea and Patuxent Core Samples. Some combinations of dry erase
markers and laminating film are extremely difficult to erase; in this case,
overhead projection markers should be used.)
 Folder to hold the team’s laminated sheets
 Pencil pouch to hold colored pencils, erasers, pencil sharpener, and
markers
For the teacher:
 PowerPoint Presentation
 Student Worksheet Key
 Video: A Foram’s Tale
 “Molcer” software – 3-D viewer software, downloadable free from White
Rabbit Corporation at http://www.white-rabbit.jp/molcerE.html
 Folder of selected foram species – files for 3-D and cat-scan views.
Individual files should be hyperlinked to pictures in PowerPoint slide #6,
as described in the Instructional Strategies section of the lesson plan.
State and National
Correlations
Forays with Forams
Virginia Standards of Learning: 2010 Earth Science (ES.1, ES.2, ES.10,
ES.11); 2010 Biology (BIO.1, BIO.5, BIO.8, BIO.9)
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AP Concepts and Science Practices: AP ES I.A, II.A, II.D, VI.C , VII.B; AP
BIO LO 4.20, Sci Prac 1, 2, 5, 6, 7
National Science Education Standards: Science in Regional & Social
Perspectives; Environmental Quality; Natural & Human Induced Hazards;
Science as Inquiry
Instructional
Strategies
1. Please note that in addition to the strategies outlined here, script and
additional hints are included in the “Notes” portion of individual slides
in the PowerPoint for this lesson.
2. Anticipatory Set: Forams – What and Why?
This section of the lesson introduces basic background information about
foraminifera (forams) and examines why forams are an important part of
modern research in palaeoecology, palaeoclimatology and water quality
reconstructions. For Slide 2, which introduces the lesson objective, use the
slide’s notes to explain proxies and disciplines in which proxies are commonly
used. Slides 3-6 cover basic information about modern and fossil forams;
detailed notes accompany these slides; consult the notes for each slide. Slide 7
allows students to visualize several species of forams in 3-D, X-ray and cutaway views. Slide 8 contains a fascinating photo of a foram sculpture park and
is hyperlinked to open the video “A Foram’s Tale,” featuring cutting edge
research by internationally recognized scientists who are using modern forams
and fossils of their species as proxies.
3. 3-D forams in Microscope View
The lesson Forays with Forams is structured so that it can be taught in any
classroom, regardless of whether microscopes or actual foram samples are
available. In addition, the notes for this slide mention the time constraints
involved with having students sort through numerous tiny foram specimens.
The “samples” used in the two lesson activities are two-dimensional
representations of forams viewed through a microscope.
To supplement these views and to give students an idea of what they would see
in three dimensions if they were actually manipulating forams shells on a
microscope, Slide 7 contains nine 2-D illustrations of foram species from the
identification chart Foram Provinces Key. Each of these illustrations in the slide
should be hyperlinked to a file from the folder of files for 3-D and cat-scan
views, as follows:
ILLUSTRATION IN SLIDE 7
G. menardii
P. obliquiloculata
N. dutertrei
G. siphonifera
G. ruber
Forays with Forams
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HYPERLINK TO :
000053_080423 menard.mol
000065_080423 p obliq.mol
000024_080423 neo duter.mol
000031_080423 g siph.mol
000027_080423 g ruber.mol
© MathScience Innovation Center, 2014
G. sacculifer
G. inflata
N. pachyderma
G. bulloides
000039_080423 g sacc.mol
000030_080514 g infl.mol
000028_080423 neo pachy.mol
000073_081208 g bull.mol
The 3-D/cat-scan files are from the series e-Foram Stock, electronic files
constructed by scientists at Tohoku Unversity Museum in Japan, from cat scan
tomography of actual foram tests and 3-D computer graphics reconstructions.
Instructions for Using the 3-D Files: To display these files, you will need to
download and install White Rabbit Corporation’s Molcer 3-D Image Viewer
software, which can be downloaded free from their website http://www.whiterabbit.jp/molcerE.html.
Project Slide 7 and explain that the students will be seeing the illustrations in
their first activity (you may want to have the students view the illustrations on
the laminated Foram Provinces Key while you do this). Click in turn on
individual illustrations on the slide to open the associated hyperlinked e-Foram
files. When each file opens, maximize it to full screen. The selected foram will
appear in X-ray view inside a square made of thin white lines. (Note: The genus
and species names displayed on the screen for the e-Foram may differ
somewhat from those on Slide 7 and the Foram Provinces Key. The scientific
names of particular species may have been changed since they were first
described, and some references may contain either the older or the newer
name; also, some researchers may use one of the names versus another. In the
activities that follow the Anticipatory Set, we will use the genus and species
names listed on the lesson’s laminated identification keys.)
By dragging a side or a corner of the square, you will see that the image is
actually a 3-D X-ray contained inside a square box. You can drag a side or
corner of the box to rotate the 3-D X-ray image in a variety of directions and
positions. You can also rotate the figures by using the rotate icons in the toolbar
at the bottom of the screen, although this option is somewhat less versatile.
[By clicking the “double rabbit” icon at the far right of the toolbar, the foram
will display as a highly magnified view of the solid exterior of the foram, such
as a student might observe under a binocular microscope or in a scanning
electron microscope (SEM). This view may also be rotated by dragging or by
using the rotation tools in the software’s toolbar. Rotating the solid view in this
way gives the students a feel for what they might see if they were manipulating
actual foram specimens on a microscope. (Clicking the “double rabbit” icon
again will return the foram to its X-ray view.)
With the foram in either the solid or X-ray view, clicking the carrot icon in the
toolbar will produce a cut-away view of the interior of the foram’s test. Note
that the carrot icon changes to a “sliced” half-carrot when this view is
displayed, and also note that the icon of the “rabbit sticking its head through a
square” becomes highlighted and active. Clicking this latter icon will display a
Forays with Forams
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green square on the main image, representing the plane of the cut-away “slice,”
inside the frame box that contains the foram (note that the rabbit head will
disappear from the toolbar icon, leaving only a green-outline square icon). You
can then drag a side or a corner of the green square on the main image to
change the plane of the cut-away. If you then click the green square icon, the
rabbit head will re-appear, and you can then rotate the box containing the foram
to view the new cut-away image in various orientations.
Clicking the carrot toolbar icon again will return the foram to its original full Xray or solid view and will de-activate the “rabbit sticking its head through a
square” icon.
If your course schedule allows, you may like to have your students experience
3-D and microscope examination of forams as detailed in the Extension section
of this lesson plan.
4. Sculptural Forams:
Slide 8 has a photo of a foram sculpture park in China. Students viewing forams
through a microscope or in the e-Foram files are frequently captivated by the
beauty and complexity of the tiny tests of these single-celled organisms. Many
of the tests resemble microscopic sculptures, so it’s not surprising that even
non-scientists have noticed forams’ beauty and variety! A sculptor and a
scientist who works with forams collaborated to create a group of very large
sculptures of forams, which are situated in a foram sculpture park in China.
Visitors can stroll the path, examine the sculptures and read the information on
the plaques for each sculpture.
Slide 9 shows the work of a very creative baker, who decorated an apple pie
with marzipan forams!
The photo in Slide 9 should be hyperlinked to the video “A Foram’s Tale.”
Alert the students about what to watch for: (1) cutting edge scientific research
using modern forams and fossils of their species as proxies for palaeoclimate;
(2) scientists handling ocean sediment cores, diving to collect living forams,
working with living forams in various water conditions in the lab and
examining fossils foram tests under the microscope; (3) footage of living
forams moving and feeding. In projection mode, click on the photo to open the
video.
ACTIVITY: Using Planktonic Forams to Determine Ocean Climate
History – New Zealand
It is recommended that students work in teams of three for this activity and
share their data. If more time is available for this lesson and materials are
sufficient, you may have each individual student complete the entire activity.
PowerPoint slides 10-18 provide introduction to the activity. Detailed notes
accompany these slides. Slide 11 presents the objectives of the activity: identify
foram species indicative of foraminiferal provinces (ocean climate regions); use
Forays with Forams
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pie chart graphs of species percentages to determine foraminiferal provinces for
several samples from a single ocean core; determine how ocean climate
changed during the time period represented by the samples, and examine
possible causes.
Slide 12 illustrates the concept of Foraminiferal Provinces, or “ocean climate
zones,” and how fossil foram assemblages (many of which we understand as
proxies from work with modern, living forams, as in the video “A Foram’s
Tale”) from ocean sediment cores can be used to trace changes in these zones
through earlier times in Earth’s history.
Slide 13 shows the location of the ocean sediment core on which this activity is
based. Because of time constraints of sorting actual formaninfera from
sediment, the activity utilizes representations of forams found in three sediment
layers, representing three time periods ranging from 20,000 to 10,000 years
ago. Slide 14 illustrates the layers and their ages. Remind the students that the
oldest layer (the one deposited first) is on the bottom of the sequence – if using
this lesson for an earth science class, ask them for the stratigraphic principle
that states this relationship (Principle of Superposition). If you have access to
actual core material, you may want to show it (and typical core layering) to the
class. Alternatively, you can construct a simple model of a core using a 1½ or
2½ inch clear snap-top pill vial, filling it with three separate materials (e.g.,
sand, fine vermiculite, fine aquarium gravel) to represent the three layers,
replacing the top, and using small adhesive labels on the outside of the vial to
number the layers. Cutting small circles of overhead transparency film and
inserting them between layers as you add each material will help keep the three
layers separate.
Instructions for the activity are on Page 1 of the Student Worksheet. Slides 1518 illustrate these instructions and provide additional hints. Slide 15 shows one
of the three sheets representing microscope views of forams cleaned and
separated from their respective sediment layers; this slide indicates the location
of layer number and age on each of the sheets. The slide illustrates the use of
the Foram Province Key to identify foram species. Students may use dry erase
or overhead markers to keep track of forams identified. The number of each
species in the sample should be recorded in the appropriate column in the data
table on Page 2.
Slide 16 illustrates one particular species that is recorded somewhat differently.
This species, Neogloboquadrina pachyderma, which still inhabits modern
oceans, is unusual in that it builds it shell coiling in one direction if it is living
in warm water (so-called “right coiling”) and coiling in the opposite (mirror
image – so-called “left coiling”) direction if it is living in cold water. (For
many years, scientists have used relative percentages of right and left coiling N.
pachyderma from ocean sediments to estimate ancient ocean temperatures; for
an activity involving this kind of analysis, see MSiC’s lesson Climate
Detectives. Caution the students that if they find this species in their sample,
they will need to examine each individual carefully to match it exactly to the
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correct coiling direction on the Foram Province Key. If more than half of the
forams of this species in a sample coil to the right, record the total number of N.
pachyderma in the corresponding space (8th from top) in the data column. If
more than half of the forams of this species in a sample coil to the left, record
the total number of N. pachyderma in the corresponding space (2nd from
bottom) in the data column. Students should not enter any numbers in the last
space in the column unless a sample is composed almost entirely of left-coiling
N. pachyderma.
Some researchers, particularly if they are analyzing a large number of samples
from a core, use a pie-chart “shorthand” to identify, at a glance, a particular
sample’s Foraminiferal Province or to track changes and trends in ocean
climate during the time interval represented by the core. Note on the Foram
Province Key that certain groupings of colors associated with individual foram
species are associated with specific Foram Provinces (e.g., reds and oranges
with tropical provinces). By plotting on a pie chart the percentage of each
species in a sample, using the color associated with the species in the ID chart,
one can visually estimate the Foram Province for the sample by the grouping of
the dominant colors in the completed pie chart. Slides 17 and 18 use a
hypothetical example to illustrate how this is done. Remind students that this
is only an example, and their results will probably be different from the
illustration.
Each team member converts the number of each species in their sample to
percent of the total forams in the sample. To simplify this exercise in the
interest of time, each sample on the laminated sheets contains 25 forams (with
species proportional to the percentages in the actual core). Students can check
their data by adding the numbers of indicator species recorded for each sample,
making sure the total equals 25, and they can check their conversions to
percents by adding all percentages in a sample, making sure the total equals
100%.
Slide 17: The blank pie charts are divided into 20 segments, each representing
5%. Starting at the top of the pie (“12 o’clock” position) and proceeding
clockwise, the students should plot the species from their sample in the order
they are listed in the Data Sheet, coloring in the percentage of each indicator
species using the colored pencils corresponding to the colors in the
identification key.
Slide 18: Use the dominant colors in the pie chart and the Identification Key to
determine the Foraminiferal Province for each of the three samples. In this
example, greens and yellow dominate the pie chart - on the Identification Key
these are the colors (and foram assemblage) indicative of the Subtropical
Province.
NOTE: In this lesson plan, students color the pie charts by hand with
colored pencils. If your students have access to spreadsheets or graphing
calculators in which they can specify the 11 colors used in the identification
Forays with Forams
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key, they may create their pie charts using one of these tools.
Based on their shared data and their resulting pie charts, the teams should
discuss and complete Questions 5 and 6 on page 1 of the worksheet. The entire
class then reviews and discusses the activity and the questions.
Cleanup: If dry erase markers have been used, students should use a Kimwipe
or facial tissue to erase them from the laminated sheets for the three core
samples. If overhead markers have been used, students should erase them with
a damp paper towel. Core sample sheets and Foram Provinces Keys should be
returned to the team’s folder, and colored pencils, pencil sharpener and erasers
returned to the team’s pencil pouch.
ACTIVITY: Chesapeake Bay – Benthic Forams As Environmental
Indicators
Students continue to work in teams of 3. PowerPoint slides 19-28 provide
introduction to the activity. Detailed notes accompany these slides. Slide 20
presents the objectives of the activity: identify key benthic foram species in
several simulated samples from a core of Chesapeake Bay sediment; calculate
species percentages in each sample; determine trends in environmental
conditions in the Bay’s watershed during the time period represented by the
samples and examine possible causes.
Slides 21 and 22 review the major problem affecting the Bay: excess nutrient
input causing eutrophication. Slide 22 illustrates sources of nutrient pollution
and the process and effects of eutrophication within the Bay’s waters. Be sure
to point out a major source that many people often forget – atmospheric
deposition of nitrogen, which originates from vehicle exhausts and power plant
emissions.
Slide 23 explains how benthic forams can be useful indicators in studies of
water pollution and other environmental stressors (salinity, climate or
hydrological conditions) in coastal and estuarine environments. Although
scientists understand the major problems affecting the Bay today and in the past
few decades, when did these problems begin? Have other stressors affected the
Bay’s water quality during recent centuries, and if so, can these stressors
possibly affect the Bay again? How can we approach these questions for parts
of the Bay’s history prior to modern intensive scientific studies?
In this activity, students will use 3 laminated sheets with representations of
microscope views of benthic forams from seven samples from a sediment core
retrieved from the tidal Patuxent River (Maryland) where it joins the Bay (the
field of view in these representations is the same as that for the New Zealand
core, approximately 6 mm. The representations are based on actual research
data. The Bay watershed and location of the core are shown in Slide 24.
Slide 25 lists calendar year dates for the foram samples.
Slide 26 shows one of the core sample sheets. The calendar year of each sample
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is indicated directly above the sample’s microscope view. The slide also
illustrates the use of the identification key for determining species. Slide 27
illustrates recording of foram numbers and species percentages.
The instructions for this activity are at the top of Page 3 of the Student
Worksheet and are similar to the first part of the planktonic forams activity.
Each team member will work with one of the sheets, using the identification
key for Major Benthic Foraminifera to identify and record the number of each
indicator species present in each of their samples and recording numbers of
each species present in the data table on Page 4. Students may use dry erase or
overhead markers to keep track of forams identified in a sample.
To simplify this exercise in the interest of time, each sample contains 20
forams (with species proportional to the percentages in the actual core).
Students can check their data by adding the numbers of indicator species
recorded for each sample year, making sure the total equals 20.
For each species identified in a sample, students calculate and record that
species’ percentage of the total forams in the sample. Because each sample
contains 20 forams, 100% of the sample is 20 * 5, so students can use the same
proportion to determine each individual species’ percentage. They can check
their calculations by adding all percentages in a sample year, making sure the
total equals 100.
Team members will share their results. Using the results in the data table and
the descriptions of the benthic foram species in the identification key
(illustrated on Slide 28), student should answer Questions 4-9 on Page 3 of the
worksheet. (Note that salinity numbers in the key are in per mil.)
Slide 29 illustrates some tree rings related to Question 10 – this slide can be
projected while the students work on the questions and during the discussion
afterward. Question 10 cannot be answered directly from the data in this
activity, but students should use what they have learned to predict what they
might expect to see in a Chesapeake Bay sediment core sample from the time
period indicated in this question.
The class should discuss their responses to the questions.
Cleanup: Depending on the kind of markers used, use Kimwipes or damp paper
towels to clean markers from the laminated core sample sheets. Replace the
sheets and identification keys in the folder and return the markers to the pencil
pouch.
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Practice
1. “Finding Neo” Activity in MSiC’s Lesson Climate Detectives (search
“Climate Detectives” on http://MathInScience.info)
In an activity based on actual ocean core data, students analyze 2-D
simulated microscope views of Neogloboquadrina pachyderma samples to
determine proportions of “right coiling” vs. “left coiling” tests and thus
relative ocean temperatures during the time interval represented by the
samples.
2. Tracking Global Climate Change: Microfossil Record of the Planetary
Heat Pump – Paul Loubere
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Loubere.html
Part of the University of California Museum of Palaeontology series
“Learning from the Fossil Record,” this classroom lesson contains two
exercises that may be useful for further practice: (1) Exercise: Interpreting
Foraminiferal Percentages, and (2) Exercise: The Atlantic During the Last
Glacial Epoch. Both exercises apply the use of forams as climate proxies.
Closure
As part of lesson closure, some questions to discuss might include: How can
forams be used as proxies to determine climate trends and water quality trends
for ocean and estuarine waters in times past (prior to reliable scientific
investigations)? Why is it important to be able to do this? Why are forams
unusually effective proxies for these kinds of information?
Cleanup of the materials is listed in the lesson plan instructions for each of the
two activities.
Extensions
Forays with Forams
University of California Museum of Palaeontology’s (Berkeley) website
Learning from the Fossil Record
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Learning.html contains a wealth of
information about foraminifera, along with some excellent extension activities:

Microfossils by Jere Lipps provides an overview of the use of various
microfossils, including forams, for teaching science at a variety of levels.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Lipps1.html

Foram Facts – An Introduction to Foraminifera by Karen Wetmore
provides extensive background information about forams.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Wetmore.html

Preparation Techniques for Use of Foraminifera in the Classroom by Scott
Snyder and Brian Huber discusses collection, processing, concentrating,
and examination of forams in the science classroom.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Snyder&Huber.html

Using Microfossils in Petroleum Exploration by Brian J. O’Neill discusses
the use of microfossils for biostratigraphy and palaeonvironmental analysis
in exploration for oil and gas.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/ONeill.html
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


Assessment
Foraminifera in the Middle School Classroom
(http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Olson1.html)
Climate Analysis Using Planktonic Foraminifera
(http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Olson2.html)
Inferring Ancient Environments from Fossil Foraminifera
(http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Olson3.html)
all by Hilary Clement Olson discuss the benefits to students of using
forams in middle school life science and earth science and include two
middle school classroom exercises.
Sample items are provided for use in checking students’ understanding.
For the student product’s resources, please provide the students with a list OF
links including those listed in the Extensions and Resources sections of this
lesson plan.
Student Paper-Pencil Quiz and Answer Key
Student Product and Grading Rubric
The following table shows how the assessment items are related to specific
objectives.
Objective
Introduce basic background information
about forams as modern and fossil living
organisms. (ES.11; BIO.5)
Forays with Forams
PaperPencil
Quiz
4, 7, 8
Examine forams’ distinctive role as “proxies”
for palaeoecology, palaeoclimatology and
water quality reconstructions. (ES.10, ES.11;
BIO.8, BIO.9; AP ES I.A, II.A, II.D, VII.B;
AP BIO LO 4.20; Sci Prac 1, 2, 5, 6, 7)
2, 3
Reconstruct ocean evidence of changing
climate, using planktonic foram assemblages
from an ocean sediment core. (ES.1, ES.2,
ES.10, ES.11; BIO.1, BIO.8, BIO.9; AP ES
I.A, II.A, II.D, VII.B; AP BIO LO 4.20, Sci
Prac 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 )
5, 6
Track trends in environmental conditions in
the Chesapeake Bay watershed from the 18th
through 20th centuries, using indicator species
1, 5
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Product/
Performance
Student
Product
© MathScience Innovation Center, 2014
of benthic forams. (ES.2, ES.10, ES.11;
BIO.8, BIO.9; AP ES I.A, II.A, II.D, VI.C;
AP BIO LO 4.20, Sci Prac 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 )
Teaching Tips
Discussion and instructions for using the Molcer 3-D Image Viewer to display
three dimensional images of forams are provided in Section 3 of Instructional
Strategies.
References
Foraminifera EU Project
This project was established to foster the interest in foraminifera and provide
valuable information for everyone from amateurs to senior scientists. The
project, which has a long list of contributing scientists from around the globe,
maintains a website with an extensive image database, articles and
publications, technical hints, localities, a newsletter, a Facebook page and
other resources
http://www.foraminifera.eu/ and https://www.facebook.com/foraminifera.eu
Kane Scientific Company http://www.kaneforam.com/ is a supplier of models
of fossil forams.
Manighetti & Northcote, Fabulous Foraminifera: examining past climates
using microscopic marine organisms, v. 8 no. 3, September 2000, Water &
Atmosphere Online, National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd.,
New Zealand.
Microfossil Image Recovery And Circulation for Learning and Education
("MIRACLE") website
Postgraduate Unit of Micropalaeontology at University College London
Foraminifera are one of seven groups of microfossils features on this website.
Forams are given a brief introduction, followed by a very simplified, illustrated
evolutionary history and a series of images. Useful reference site.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/GeolSci/micropal/foram.html
Murray, John, 2006, Ecology and applications of benthic foraminifera. New
York, Cambridge University Press. Reference text.
Poster: Foraminifera—Earth's Microscopic Recordkeepers
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, BioInteractive Resources for Science
Teachers & Studentsconcerning water.
This poster illustrates forams many shapes and sizes and details the importance
of foraminifera in discovering significant changes in Earth's past: as
timekeepers of geologic age, as indicators of mass extinction and climate
changes and as pollution monitors.
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/poster-foraminifera-earths-microscopicrecordkeepers
Scott, D.B., F.S. Medioli, and C.T. Schafer, 2001. Monitoring Coastal
Forays with Forams
http://MathInScience.info
© MathScience Innovation Center, 2014
Environments Using Foraminifera and Thecamoebian Indicators. New York,
Cambridge University Press. Reference text.
MathScience Innovation Center
Information on educational programs and resources available to students,
teachers and school divisions, along with procedures for registering for
programs.
www.MyMSiC.org
MathScience Innovation Center: Online Resources
Learn through online virtual classrooms, web-based lessons and online
courses. Access proven lesson plans and instructional modules.
www.mathinscience.info
Forays with Forams
http://MathInScience.info
© MathScience Innovation Center, 2014