Introduction to the Trilobites: Morphology, Macroevolution and More part of Activities
The learning goals for this lab are the following: 1) to familiarize students with the anatomy and terminology relating to trilobites; 2) to give students experience identifying morphologic structures on real ...

Fossil Identification part of Activities
This activity asks students to identify examples of types of fossils amongst the exhibits at the Museum of the Earth at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, New York. Students will build on their ...

Lab Exercise for California Academy of Sciences part of Activities
This is an exercise developed for use at the California Academy of Sciences by an undergraduate-level class which explores paleontology or the history of life. Students are asked to explore the California Academy ...

Relative Geologic Time and the Geologic Time Scale part of Activities
Group simulation of the development of the geologic time scale illustrating concepts of correlation and relative time. Extremely effective for teaching the significance of the geologic time scale.

Measuring Dinosaur Speed from Trackways part of Activities
This activity demonstrates how measurements taken from fossil trackways can be used to estimate the speed at which extinct animals were moving when they made the trackways, providing students the opportunity to ...

Layer Cake Geology part of Activities
This activity visually introduces students to the idea of geologic time and the correlation between time, rock layers and fossils. It uses the familiar, relevant example of cake but teaches important concepts such ...

The Paleobiology Database: Diversity and Extinction in the Phanerozoic (as viewed through the eyes of a bivalve) part of Activities
A key question in paleobiology is how diversity, origination, and extinction have changed over time. Given that species are missing from the fossil record this is hard to determine directly. However, we can measure ...

"It's Alive!" Fossil Activity part of Activities
This activity is the first lab exercise students do. Each student selects a fossil, describes and sketches it, and then must write out a "proof" that this object represents a once-living animal, rather ...

Activity for the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, New York part of Activities
This is an in-depth assignment to explore and write about the history of life as represented at the Museum of the Earth at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, New York. Students will examine several ...

Osteology of Dinosaurs at The Field Museum part of Activities
This activity explores vertebrate paleontology/paleobiology of the Mesozoic. It focuses on dinosaur osteology using skeletons and models at The Field Museum in Chicago. Students will compare the morphology of ...

A basic trilobite morphometric exercise part of Activities
A lab exercise and follow-up classroom activity in which students measure some trilobite specimens, evaluate the statistical significance of differences documented in data acquired for two different populations, ...

Forensic Paleontology part of Activities
Students examine and sketch a dead animal, discovering as much as possible about it.

Deep time - what is your metaphor? part of Activities
Construct your own metaphor, appropriately scaled, for communicating deep time.

Paleoecology: An Evolutionary Arms Race part of Activities
In this activity, students divide into groups of 4-5, fine-tune a hypothesis relating to escalation, collect data to test this hypothesis using mollusks from local Yorktown deposits (Pliocene), analyze these data, ...

Taxonomy & Phylogeny: Building and Comparing a Taxonomy and Phylogeny of Bivalve Mollusks part of Activities
This is a two-part exercise that introduces the principles and methods behind taxonomy and phylogenetics. In part I, students, by describing the morphology of various species of modern and fossil bivalve mollusks, ...

Silurian Biostratigraphy and Paleoecology Lab part of Activities
Explores paleoecologic and biostratigraphic uses of graptolites and brachiopods. Exercise is based on Silurian Great Britain data/interpretations published by Ziegler et al., 1968. It illustrates litho- and ...

Evolution in Your "Pet" Group part of Activities
This writing exercise asks students to use library resources to locate a peer-reviewed journal article that describes research on the evolution of their individual "pet" taxonomic group. After reading the ...

Paleoecological exercise: Testing competition among Paleozoic brachiopods part of Activities
This lab activity tests the hypothesis that competition has resulted in niche partitioning among four species of brachiopods.

Using Range Through Charts: Constructing a Diversity Curve part of Activities
This is a hands-on jigsaw-style assignment for a non-majors geology class that illustrates when different groups of organisms originate, persist and go extinct in geological time. Students will be able to construct ...

Caminalcule Phylogenetic Exercise part of Activities
Imaginary creatures (caminalcues) are used as an introduction to the methods, assumptions, and conclusions of phylogenetic analysis.