Learning from the Fossil Record
Grade 8 Science
Name: Tyler B
Date: 3-30-11
Stories from the Fossil Record Web Quest
1. Click on link http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/stories/index.html
2. Click on STUDENTS
3. Click on PAST LIVES
4. Go through this section of the web quest. As you go through the section or when you complete
the section answer the following questions.
a. How can fossils tell us how long individual organisms live?
Some organisms have indicators on their bodies (such as the rings on trees and the
layers on oyster shells) that tell approximately how long the organism lived before it
died.
b. How can fossils tell us how individual organisms protected themselves?
By comparing the animals of the past to the animals of the present, we can see which
defense mechanisms were used, such as shelled sea creatures rolling up to protect
them, like certain pill bugs do today.
c. How can fossils tell us about the behaviors of individual organisms?
If animal fossils are found in large groups, it can be inferred that they were a social animal and
travelled in packs and stuck together. If they are found alone and interspersed, it is possible to
infer that the animals were not social and stayed n their own.
d. How can fossils tell us how features of organisms evolved over time?
Fossils like that of the whale can tell us how the bodies of the animals changed and
evolved over time to be more effective.
5. Click on GEOLOGIC TIME
6. Go through this section of the web quest. As you go through the section or when your complete
the section answer the following questions.
a. How can we tell the age of rocks?
We can tell the age of rocks because of the rocks position relative to others in the
scheme of superposition.
b. How can we tell the age of fossils?
By what layer of sediment in the ground they are in, because the deeper they are, the older they
are
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Learning from the Fossil Record
Grade 8 Science
Name: Tyler B
Date: 3-30-11
c. How can we learn about past geologic events?
If we find organisms in places that are dry now that were water creatures, it can be
assumed that there was once water in that region, but the water went away
d. How do we know that the continents moved?
If fossils of animals are found to be on one continent and another but seem to just
appear on the other continents, it can be assumed that the continents were once
connected and that species lived on one big landmass that separated
7. Click on PALEOECOLOGY
8. Go through this section of the web quest. As you go through the section or when your complete
the section answer the following questions.
a. How can we tell what the climate was like in the past?
If the fossils of water creatures are found in areas like deserts, it becomes evident that
the area used to be covered with water and an ocean.
b. How can we tell that environments drastically changed in the past?
If there were jagged-toothed leaves as fossils in the past, which only exist in cool environments,
and the leaves switched to having smooth, which grow in warmer climates, then it becomes
evident that the temperature in that environment has changed over the years.
c. How can we tell how organisms interacted with each other in the past?
Creatures had physical features that allowed them to be carried around and move
around to different locations, and when a creature died and got killed the kill marks
were evident in the fossils
d. What causes ecosystems to change over time?
During the ice age, large changed happened and allowed more species more room to move
around, so they were able to move all over the place
9. Click on BIODIVERSITY
10. Go through this section of the web quest. As you go through the section or when your complete
the section answer the following questions.
a. How can we tell that life has changed over time?
Through looking at fossils and seeing how they change related to the animals more
recent than they, because it shows which animals shared traits.
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Learning from the Fossil Record
Grade 8 Science
Name: Tyler B
Date: 3-30-11
b. How can we tell how organisms are related?
We can tell how organisms are related because of how their traits are similar, much like wings
on ancient dinosaurs related to birds today.
c. How can we tell that extinctions have occurred in the past?
Because we found fossils to simply stop existing anymore, and past a certain point in
history fossils of an animal would simply cease to appear anywhere
d. What can we learn from past extinctions?
That extinctions happen with a near regularity, and that there are many factors related in the
extinction of a species, and often times it is hard to determine why, so we can’t much predict
when our own as a species will happen.
11. Our FOCUS QUESTION for this portion of the unit is: How can we learn about past environments
and living things by studying fossils? Make a list of key concepts you learned from this web
quest that will help you to revise your pre-assessment answer to this question.
-We can learn about the make-up of the past by studying the animals that lived in it
-We can learn about the origins of present-day features of animals by looking at animals that existed
in the past
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