If the Geologic Time Scale had an Instagram..

The Payne Paleobiology Lab at Stanford University focuses on extinction risks in marine animals. In amassing a more complete dataset of the fossil remains of all marine genera, the lab is working to provide better answers to the question “Are humans at risk for causing a sixth mass extinction?”  This whole-class activity challenges middle school students to use claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) to organize the geologic timeline from the beginning of life 4.6 billion years ago to modern time.  To start, students will work in groups based on time intervals, or “geologic era” (e.g., Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic). (Note: To split groups evenly for an average class size, there will be two different groups working on each era for a total of 8 groups.)  These groups will receive specific “Era Event Envelopes” containing evidence cards in the form of Instagram posts that are sorted randomly.  These posts contain information on various events that occurred within their designated geologic era. Students will need to unscramble the cards and determine the correct chronology by analyzing the pictures and captions included in each post and discussing with their group members.  Once groups have organized their timelines in chronological order, students will jigsaw into the other groups who are working on the same era to compare results.  Then, those groups will use CER to come to a consensus on the correct order of events pertaining to their assigned era. Finally, these groups will use a GSA Geologic Time Scale handout as a reference to combine their era timelines in correct chronological order with those of other era groups to create one whole-class Geologic Instagram Time Scale displayed in the classroom. To wrap up, as an individual summative assessment, students will watch a video about the current state of the Earth and use design thinking to individually create timelines for a foreseeable future based on what they learned using the Instagram template handout.