JiTT - Neanderthals and Modern Humans
Laura Guertin, Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
1) What are Neanderthals? How do they differ from modern humans? 2) Discuss some of the new ideas as to why early human ancestors dispersed from Africa. 3) What are DNA studies telling us about human migrations and ...

JiTT - The Big 5 Extinctions and Then Some
Laura Guertin, Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
1) What are the three leading ideas for the cause of the Permian mass extinction? What is the evidence for and against each? 2) Why are tropical forest species going extinct the quickest? 3) What are the ...

JiTT - The Legs of Snakes and Whales
Laura Guertin, Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
1) What are the adaptations needed to move from water to land (whether it be an arthropod or a "pioneering amphibian")? 2) Could snakes be linked to marine lizards? What your view and interpretations of ...

Driving Through Geologic Time
Eric Baer, Highline Community College
An analogy of the Earth's history to a cross-country drive.

Early Life Teaching Ideas
These teaching ideas were submitted during the April 2007 workshop on Teaching About the Early Earth. They represent collaborative brainstorming rather than finished products, but they are a useful starting point ...

Evolution of Whales
Mitchell Colgan, College of Charleston
The students read two articles on the evolution of whales and search the web. The students' writing assignment requires them to outline the evolution of whales using major fossil finds. Students start with ...

Timeline of the Early Earth
Selby Cull, Washington University in St. Louis
Students assemble timelines of the early evolution of Earth's atmosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere by examining data from Archean rocks and minerals.

The Four-Winged Dinosaur
Tasha Dunn, Illinois State University
This is assignment is completed in two parts: It begins in class with a showing of the Nova documentary "The Four-Winged Dinosaur." It continues as a homework assignment in which students write a short ...

Pollen and Climate Change
DATA: Pollen Viewer. TOOLS: Analyzing Digital Images, Spreadsheet. SUMMARY: Study the relationship between climate and the distribution of plants across North America, import data into spreadsheet and graph.

Field Exercise in Stratigraphy/Paleoecology
David Sunderlin, Lafayette College
This field activity for GEOL 320 "Paleobiology" is designed to turn what could have been a "look-and-see" fossil collecting trip into one where genuinely interesting hypotheses/questions are ...