Higher:
Explain what fossils can tell us
Middle:
Decribe the conditions needed to form a fossil
Lower:
Describe how old fossils are
Higher:
Compare your model to the process of fossiliation
Middle:
Take a cast to represent a fossil
Lower:
Can children name any extinct animals? Discuss what it means to be 'extinct.'
Presentation - starter slide
Answer questions and take part in activities during the presentation.
Presentation
Mike Linley talks about fossilised dinosaur poo and what we can tell from the fossils of extinct animals.
Presentation - expert film slide.
Fossil Making
Watch the Mission Assignment film for help with this task. Process:
1. Use some small plastic animals, preferably dinosaurs, as a mould to make the fossils. These objects should be small enough to fit in a cup or tray.
2. Flatten some clay and use it as a mould to make your model fossils - this will leave an impression in the clay. Remove the model.
3. Mix up some Plaster of Paris then pour it into the cup or tray, leaving the impression left by the model object.
4. Leave it for at least one hour, but preferably overnight.
5. Carefully open the cup/tray to get to the fossil which should remain inside.
Mission to Write - Extinct Fact File.
Children to use information gained in the lesson as well as research on books / internet to create a fact-file for one of six extinct animals. This could be a good home learning task.
Encourage children to use today's rocket words and check for spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Fossil Making
Plaster of Paris
Something to cast (dinosaur shaped)
Water
Modelling clay
Small paper cups or trays
Lollipop sticks
Permanent markers
Mission to Write Handout - Extinct Fact-File
Books
Internet
Use the Handout to plot the child's own height together with that of a T-Rex on a grid, to see the difference in scale.
Use the height measurements taken in a previous lesson, or start anew and get the children to measure themselves with their talk partners.
While they are drawing their own picture on the grid ask them to discuss what they can learn from studying a fossil.
Ask them to explain what we can learn from our past when studying fossils? The film with Mike Linley will help them answer this question.
Quiz
With their talk partners, the children are to go through the quiz at the end of the presentation and answer the questions.
Handout
Quiz in presentation
What can we learn from looking at fossils?
Why it is important to learn from our past when studying fossils?
Living things that no longer exist are called...
...extinct!
The Science Behind the Science
So, what is extinction?
Extinction is where a species of animal is no longer alive. There are different levels of extinction. For example, a species can be extinct in the wild but living in captivity, either in a zoo or a conservation area, or a species can be extinct to a certain area.
It is a common misconception that a species is classified as extinct after a period of 50 years without a sighting, however the actual process for declaring a species as extinct is much more complex.
There have been six mass extinctions over the course of the Earth's history. The most well-known extinction is that of the dinosaurs, which happened 65 million years ago. Not many know, however, that we are now also living in a period of mass extinction.
Endangered animals
Like extinction, there are many different levels of endangerment. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List is the most comprehensive list of endangered species. All of the known species of plant and animal in the world are recorded in the list and are categorised depending on their level of endangerment. There are six categories and these are: Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild, and Extinct.
Human intervention
Humans are the dominant cause for the extinctions and endangerments seen today. Land use change, deforestation, desertification, and anthropogenic climate change have all contributed to this. There are, however, numerous conservation sites around the world that protect animals from extinction, and breeding programmes which aim to re-establish populations in the wild.
Explore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been alive.
Planet Earth - Biodiversity and interdependence - I can identify and classify examples of living things, past and present, to help me appreciate their diversity. I can relate physical and behavioural characteristics to their survival or extinction. SCN 2-01a
The study of the characteristics, systems, and behaviours of humans and other animals, and of plants; the interactions and relationships between and among them, and with the environment.
Grouping and classifying.
Using observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions.
Grade 3 - Animals.