How much is a million? How big is a billion? part of Rates and Time:GSA Activity Posters
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.

Using Data to Teach Earth ProcessesAn Illustrated Community Discussion at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America part of Data, Simulations and Models:Workshop 03:Activities
Kara Salazar, Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis
Kara Salazar Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Center for Earth and Environmental Science - The Lilly ARBOR Project is an urban riparian restoration project designed for use as an outdoor ...