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To search for teaching materials that address particular concepts in our conceptual framework, visit the teaching guide for your grade level:
K-2, 3-5 , 6-8, 9-12, or College
Found 30 resources:
Scientists, collaborators, and friends dig into the fossil record
Grade Level(s):
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
This Science Short describes how two paleontologists collaborate as friends and mentor/mentee on a research project. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
Bill Berry and the construction of geologic time
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 5 minutes
Overview
This Science Short describes how index fossils can help us test hypotheses about long past events that we cannot directly observe. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
Discovering a strange new group of ancient sea creatures
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
This Science Short illustrates how fossils have reshaped our understanding of the diverse forms life can take. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
The importance of global museum communities and collections
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
In this Science Short paleontologist Ashley Dineen discusses her path to science and her interactions with the global scientific community. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
This is not the shrimp you’re looking for
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 5 minutes
Overview
This Science Short illustrates how paleontologists have reinterpreted fossil evidence to gain new understanding of life in the Cambrian seas. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
Piecing together fossil puzzles in a mysterious museum cabinet
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 5 minutes
Overview
This Science Short illustrates how paleontologists visualize, tabulate, and share raw data about fossils. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
Fair tests in the fossil record: Avoiding extinction
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 15 minutes
Overview
Teach about test design in the field of paleontology. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
The science checklist applied: CFCs and the destruction of the ozone layer
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Physical Sciences
Time: 15 minutes
Overview
Have your students read about the investigation of the hole in the ozone layer and compare it to the Science Checklist in order to explore the key traits that make science science. Get more tips on using Science Stories in class.
Benjamin Franklin: STEM Activity Toolkit
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- PBS and WETA
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Physical Sciences
Time: 1-6 hours
Overview
Ken Burns’s four-hour documentary, Benjamin Franklin, explores the revolutionary life of one of the 18th century’s most consequential figures. This STEM Activity Toolkit frames the context of the film series, and provides guidance for viewers to engage in discussions and activities around science, technology, engineering, and math.
Comparing rocks
Grade Level(s):
- K-2
Source:
- Janulaw, Sharon
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 30 minutes
Overview
Learners will observe and sort samples of rocks and minerals to compare and contrast their physical properties. They will record their observations in Science Notebooks.
Clouds, Models, and Climate Change
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- MIT Climate Portal
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: up to 2 hours
Overview
How do clouds form? How are clouds affected by (and how do they affect) climate change? Students create a cloud in the classroom, and then investigate climate models and real-time cloud observation data.
Climate Models and Uncertainty
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- MIT Climate Portal
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: up to 2 hours
Overview
Earth's climate system is enormously complex, and scientists develop climate models to understand how climate change will play out in different parts of the world. Students play a climate resilience game, and then explore the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 5th Assessment Report to learn more about how climate scientists handle uncertainty in models.
Discovering mass extinctions in the fossil record
Grade Level(s):
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 2 hours
Overview
This activity (suitable for distance learning) is designed to introduce students to the nature and process of science through the discovery of mass extinctions in the fossil record. Students will explore the fossil record of brachiopods and bivalves using the Paleobiological Database, identify patterns in their data, and generate and evaluate hypotheses. They will also document this process using the Understanding Science flowchart. Clicking the link below will download the Word file for this lesson.
Dino-Data
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 3-4 class periods
Overview
Students examine data about dinosaurs and hypothesize about what the data can tell them. Students modify their hypotheses as more information is revealed and review what they have learned about how science works.
Hydrogeology: Learning by discovery in an urban environment
Grade Level(s):
- College
Source:
- On the Cutting Edge
Resource type:
- field-based investigation
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: Quarter-long project
Overview
This is an example of a student-driven, instructor-guided field experiments on a budget. Schools that cater to under-represented students are often those with limited resources, however, student-driven discovery in the field is an effective tool for engaging students in the natural environment and in hydrogeology. Effective strategies for addressing the special needs of urban students are included.
Inventing Tomorrow: Water Module
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- WGBH
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 10-12 class periods
Overview
This module uses a film about student Sahithi Pingali, who investigates water quality in her hometown in Bangalore, as a jumping off point for students to expand their understanding of eutrophication and the process of science.
Inventing tomorrow: Air Module
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- WGBH
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 10-12 class periods
Overview
This module (on the right) uses a film about students José, Jesús, and Fernando, who investigate smog in their town in Mexico, as a jumping off point for students to expand their understanding of air pollution, global warming, and the process of science.
Introducing the Understanding Science Flowchart to middle school students
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 1-2 class periods
Overview
Students read a story about Walter Alvarez and then plot his scientific journey on the Understanding Science Flowchart. Students find that science is seldom a linear story.
Introducing the Understanding Science flowchart
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 90 minutes
Overview
Students participate in a quick activity and discuss whether they were doing science. They then read a story about Walter Alvarez, discuss the process of science, and trace his scientific journey using the Science Flowchart.
Weathering and erosion
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
Source:
- Whitfield, Lisé
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 4-6 Class periods
Overview
Students will conduct a series of experiments to explore the processes and effects of weathering and erosion.
Watching animals move
Grade Level(s):
- K-2
Source:
- Janulaw, Sharon
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 30 minutes
Overview
Learners will identify the way animals move and the body parts used to move by observing animals, their body parts and their movements.
The story behind the science
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- Iowa State University
Resource type:
- article
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
- Physical Sciences
- Space science
Time: Variable
Overview
Thirty stories spanning five disciplines help students explore key science concepts through the eyes of the scientists who were involved, while emphasizing the nature and process of science.
Ozone depletion: Uncovering the hidden hazard of hairspray
Grade Level(s):
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Physical Sciences
Time: 2 hours
Overview
Follow a group of scientists from around the world as they work together to understand - and then help fix - a problem that threatens the future of the planet: a hole in the ozone layer. Get tips for using science stories in class.
Scientific Process: The mysteries of life with Tim and Moby
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- BrainPOP
Resource type:
- Science Story
- video
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
How does science work? This animated video introduces key ideas using the story of the how science uncovered the link between the dinosaur extinction and a massive asteroid impact. (Note that this video inaccurately characterizes the difference between hypotheses and theories. See Understanding Science 101 for a correction.)
Asteroids and dinosaurs: Unexpected twists and an unfinished story
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 2 class periods
Overview
This story uses the Science Flowchart to map Walter Alvarez's scientific journey as he investigates an intriguing hypothesis about the extinction of the non-Avian dinosaurs. Get tips for using science stories in class.
How science works
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- OceanLeadership
Resource type:
- Science Story
- video
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
This video uses the Understanding Science flowchart to describe how a team of scientists investigates climate change throughout Earth's history with ocean sediment cores.
Sand is more than meets the eye
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 5 min
Overview
This Science Short illustrates how sedimentologists extend their powers of scientific observation with tools. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
Questions built on sand
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 5 min
Overview
This Science Short illustrates how sedimentologists investigate questions about the origin of sand on the seafloor and how answering one question leads to additional questions. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
From Caribbean girl to California geologist
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 5 min
Overview
This Science Short illustrates how sedimentologist Liselle Persad's science was shaped by the landscape of Trinidad and Tobago, where she grew up. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
What is it about Los Angeles?
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 5 min
Overview
This Science Short illustrates the idea that answering one scientific question leads to other scientific questions in the context of research about fossil insects. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
