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Houston Community College
Geology Extra Credit
Houston Museum of Natural Science
Student’s Name: _________________________________
Up to 15 points of extra credit can be earned by visiting the Museum and correctly filling out this
questionnaire. Attach your ticket to this handout. You may go to the Museum at your leisure,
but the last day to submit this extra credit is your last schedule class (exam week is too late).
To get directions to the Museum you may call the main phone number: (713) 639-4629
or access the Museum web site: http://www.hmns.org click on tab for Museum info.
The cost of admission is $7.00 with a valid student I.D. (otherwise general admission for
adult is $10). Admission to the Permanent Exhibits is free on Tuesdays after 2pm.
Typically* the Museum Hours are: 9am – 5pm on Monday – Saturday
11am – 5pm on Sunday
(*You need to double check these hours before going to the Museum…..they do change
hours and often extend the time or they may announce a closure .)
Plan on being at the Museum for at least 1.5 hours.
TOUR:

Downstairs – the first floor enter the Main Museum Hall (this is where you
show your ticket at the door), the Alfred C. Glassell Jr. Hall of Paleontology
- Life Through Time (left wall as enter the Main Hall) Wall display – What is
Paleontology?
1. What is a fossil?
2. What are the most common fossils?
3. What is the first step in the process of fossilization?
4. List the type of life form or type of fossilization exemplified in the display case:
a. Permineralization = __________________________________
b. ________________________________ = pyritized brachiopod
c. ________________________________ = fish

Follow the wall around. Trilobites
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5. When did trilobites first appear in the fossil record?
6. Where did trilobites live?
7. Why are trilobites popular with fossil collectors?
8. Besides hard parts, what other feature characterized early trilobites?
9. What are the three main parts of a trilobite?
10. What is the scientific name of your favorite trilobite displayed in the cabinet?
11. To which phylum do trilobites belong?
12. Cite a reason given for a possible cause of trilobite extinction.

Find the big dinosaur in the middle of the Main Hall that is called
Diplodocus.
13. How big did it get?
14. Was it a carnivore or herbivore?
15. Give the locality in which this particular skeleton was found and the year.

Walk to the opposite side of Diplodocus and you will find a display of
Archaeopteryx.
16. What is Archaeopteryx?
17. What is interesting about this animal?
18. In what kind of rock is Archaeopteryx found?
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19. What fact about Protoavis throws doubt on the “birds-are-dinosaurs” hypothesis?

Now, walk upstairs to the Second Level of the Museum on the way up the
stairs, you will encounter a number of photos of the “Giant Squid Relatives”.
20. List the four relatives:
1)
2)

3)
4)
At the top of the stairs is the entrance to the Cullen Hall of Gems and
Minerals stroll through this section of the Museum and find specimens of the
following minerals.
21. Which mineral looks like a big snowflake?
a. azurite b. gold c. cerrusite
d. beryl
22. What’s the mineral name for the gem variety of aquamarine?
a. quartz
b. mesolite
c. cuprite
d. beryl
23. Look for the mineral called “Rams Horn” Selenite. Where was this sample found?
a. Mexico
b. Spain
c. Canada d. India
e. Texas
24. Which mineral has a turquoise color?
a. chrysocolla b. smithsonite c. mimetite d. wulfenite e. rhodochrosite

Go into the Smith Gem Vault (this exhibit will make you “eat your heart out”
– magnificent samples)
25. There is a lovely specimen of Opal from the Opalville Mine, Queensland, Australia.
In what year was it discovered and what is its weight?
Year =
Weight =
26. Which mineral sample did you think was the most interesting? Explain why. (Feel
free to include any mineral in the Cullen Hall of Gems and Minerals or the Smith Gem Vault. If
you are attending the Museum with classmates, you each must pick a different mineral
sample).
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
Go back downstairs. Walk toward the Weiss Energy Hall and stroll through
this hall.
27. Write down five things that you learned about oil and gas exploration and production
and/or refining. (Again, if you are with classmates, you should each have different
items for your list of 5).
28. Find and enter the “Geovator”. List four things that you saw and heard while taking
the “ride”. (If you are attending with classmates, each of you should have different
lists of 4).