How much is a million? How big is a billion?
Danita Brandt, Michigan State University
We constructed a geologic timeline along a 5K road-race route across the MSU campus at a scale of 1 meter = 1 million years, using signage to mark important events in the history of life. In addition to over 1500 race participants, numerous casual observers were exposed to the timeline. This project works well in the classroom at a scale of 1 mm = 1 million years, and as a manageable one-day outdoor sidewalk chalk activity at a scale of 1" = 1 million years. Timelines drawn to scale lead the observer to the inescapable conclusions that "simple" life appeared early in Earth history; that it took the bulk of Earth history to achieve the next, multi-cellular stage of development; and that once the metazoan threshold was crossed, subsequent biological diversification-and the resulting fossil record-followed in rapid succession.

Black Smokers: Life Forms

The American Museum of Natural History
This educational web site features life forms of deep sea hydrothermal systems. Hosted by the American Museum of Natural History, this site offers a brief introduction of the community and then ...

BioMedia Associates: Learning Programs for Biology

BioMedia Associates
This site provides photographs, animations, essays, teaching resources, multimedia, and other information about biological systems and organisms. It features a monthly contest and quiz in which ...

'Black Smokers' WebQuest: An Internet WebQuest on Hydrothermal Vents

UniServe Science
This website contains a black smokers WebQuest where students in groups investigate one aspect of the science of black smokers. The WebQuest provides a separate list of links for each research role, ...

Bottle Biology
University of Wisconsin - Madison
This activity book explores science and the environment through soda bottles and other recyclable materials. Sections include bottle basics, decomposition column, kimchee (fermentation), soil ...