3 - LS4.A (A) - Plant and Animal Extinction - ASSIGNED (LH 1/30/2014)

Module: Plant and Animal Extinction

DCI: LS4.A (A) Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity – Some kinds of plants and animals that once lived on Earth are no longer found anywhere.

PE: 3-LS4-1 Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of data could include type, size, and distributions of fossil organisms. Examples of fossils and environments could include marine fossils found on dry land, tropical plant fossils found in Arctic areas, and fossils of extinct organisms.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include identification of specific fossils or present plants and animals. Assessment is limited to major fossil types and relative ages.]

The ideas in this standard are: 

- there are some plants and animals that lived on Earth long ago, but are no longer living on earth. 

- we can find evidence of these plants and animals in fossils

Ok, so the basic idea is that the fossil record provides evidence of extinct plants and animals.  We can also draw a connection to the fact that the environments they lived in might be very different than they are today. 

We can also get a general question about the use of fossils out of this. 

Possible Question Starters: 

"Fossils are best used to provide evidence of - 

correct answer - plants and animals that lived a very long time ago. 

incorrect answer - the processes that change the Earth over time. 

What evidence do scientists use to show that an animals went extinct in the past?
- Fossils of the animal are in the oldest rocks, but do not appear in younger rocks
- The fossils show that the animals were often killed and eaten by other animals

We can show rock layers with ages labeled and have fossil present then absent and ask kids when the thing went extinct.

We can have multiple fossils and ask which organisms lived at the same time.