CAN YOU DIG IT?: K-12 INQUIRY ACTIVITIES FOCUSING ON INTERPRETATION OF PALEOENVIRONMENTS

A series of activities was developed for three different K-12 age groups (grades K-4, 5-8, 9-12 ) focusing on the concept of interpreting past environments through inquiry-based learning activities. Each activity was developed according to grade appropriate National Science Education Standards (NSES), specifically Content Standard A: Scientific Inquiry.

Several activities were developed for the K-4 classroom. These activities were field-tested through an outreach program at the College of Wooster (COW). These activities explore students' understanding of environments, and how they change over time, through the construction of stratigraphic columns and analysis of dinosaur track ways. All activities were developed using examples from the real world and allow students to explore Earth Science principles, as well as play a large part in constructing their own knowledge.

An interdisciplinary activity was developed for use in middle school classrooms as part of a laboratory lesson plan assignment for the Science Teaching Methods class required for students in the science teacher certification program at Eastern Illinois University (EIU). It has been tested at EIU. This inquiry-based learning activity simulates a dig to discover paleoenvironments and then to interpret those with the evidence students have found. Depending on the individual classroom and the preference of the teacher, the activity can be modified to be more of a guided inquiry activity, or a more open-ended inquiry activity.

Last, an inquiry-based laboratory investigation has been developed cooperatively between faculty at COW and EIU using data from the Antarctic Geological Drilling Project (ANDRILL) for use with grades 9-12. Using core imagery, lithologic and paleontologic data, students reconstruct changing conditions around Antarctica since the Miocene. The activity aims to put the students in the place of a research scientist down on the ice.