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Overview: This web-based module leads students through an exploration of the patterns in the diversity of life across planet Earth. Students are scaffolded as they practice data interpretation and scientific reasoning skills.Author/Source: UC Museum of Paleontology Grade level: 9-12 Time: 2 hours Teaching tips: To check their understanding, students complete multiple choice questions online. Free response essay items throughout the activity allow the module to be used as a graded assignment. A menu at the bottom of the first page of the module will allow you to assign sections to work on individually. Concepts: Correspondence to the Next Generation Science Standards is indicated in parentheses after each relevant concept. See our conceptual framework for details. - Biological evolution accounts for diversity over long periods of time. (LS4.A, LS4.D)
- Background extinctions are a normal occurrence.
- Rates of extinction vary.
- The fossil record documents the biodiversity of the past.
- The fossil record documents patterns of extinction and the appearance of new forms.
- A hallmark of science is exposing ideas to testing. (P3, P4, P6, P7)
- Scientists test their ideas using multiple lines of evidence. (P6, NOS2)
- Scientific knowledge is open to question and revision as we come up with new ideas and discover new evidence. (P4, P6, NOS3)
- Accepted scientific theories are not tenuous; they must survive rigorous testing and be supported by multiple lines of evidence to be accepted. (NOS2, NOS4)
- Scientists use fossils (including sequences of fossils showing gradual change over time) to learn about past life.
- Scientists use the geographic distribution of fossils and living things to learn about the history of life.
- Rates of speciation vary.
- Scientists may explore many different hypotheses to explain their observations. (P7)
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