History of Life Exploration

This lesson uses a historical context to provide a foundational, scientific basis of Earth’s history for high school students. Students will conduct individual internet research to learn when and under what circumstances events in Earth’s history took place. After their independent work is completed, they will work in small groups to create a scaled down timeline of the the last 4.6 billion years. Once completed, all groups will evaluate the information and determine which events should be transferred onto a class timeline that will remain up and be used as a reference point for the entire school year. Through this exercise, students will follow the reasoning of paleobiologists as they piece together the biotic and abiotic factors that have contributed to life on Earth as we know it today.

In parallel to their classroom work, students will evaluate themselves according to the 21st Century Learning Goals and apply them to their project and group work.