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The ChronoZoom Time Atlas of Earth History and Big History

Grade Level(s):

  • 13-16
  • Advanced
  • General

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Article

Time: 1 hour

Overview

This resource presents Big History in a sequence of time scales through graphic panels. Each panel is accompanied by a page of text, discussing the historical features shown in the panel.

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Chronozoom
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] Biological evolution accounts for diversity over long periods of time.
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] Through billions of years of evolution, life forms have continued to diversify in a branching pattern, from single-celled ancestors to the diversity of life on Earth today.
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] Life on Earth 3.8 billion years ago consisted of one-celled organisms similar to present-day bacteria.
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] There is evidence of eukaryotes in the fossil record from about one billion years ago; some were the precursors of multicellular organisms.
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] Geological change and biological evolution are linked.
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] Tectonic plate movement has affected the evolution and distribution of living things.
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] Living things have had a major influence on the composition of the atmosphere and on the surface of the planet.
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] During the course of evolution, only a small percentage of species have survived until today.
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] Mass extinctions occur.
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] Extinction can result from environmental change.

There are no NGSS/DCI concepts currently linked to this resource.

This resource is designed to help students comprehend vast timescales in courses about Earth history or "Big History," the currently active effort to bring together in a unified way all of the information about the past, both humanistic and scientific.