IOWA’S LOST WORLDS: USING LOCAL GEOLOGY TO ADDRESS MIDDLE SCHOOL NGSS IN A 5E LEARNING CYCLE

Region specific rock and fossil samples enhance classroom learning in K-12 earth science units by immersing students in the lost worlds of the geologic past. Here we describe a Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS) aligned 5E learning cycle developed for middle school classrooms in Iowa that uses rock and fossil specimen, paleogeographic maps, and paleoenvironmental reconstructions to illustrate Iowa’s geological past. This integrated application of stratigraphy, the fossil record, plate tectonics and paleogeography allows students to investigate more complex paleoclimate systems. The learning cycle utilizes modern-day analogs to past climates to encourage students to connect plate movements through different latitudes to changing climates. Throughout the learning cycle, students engage in hands-on investigations to analyze past worlds and later connect these observations to geologic history. By using Iowa specimens, paleoart, and paleogeographic maps, students explore the shallow seas of the Devonian, the coal swamps and deltas of the Carboniferous, and the periglacial lands of the Pleistocene. Students recreate the stratigraphic record while discussing the superposition, unconformities and missing time, and how stratigraphic studies reconstruct events that reveal Earth’s history. The learning cycle includes lesson plans, accommodation recommendations, and images to be easily implemented in middle school classrooms in Iowa. Although tailored to Iowa, this learning cycle can be adapted to the local geology of other regions. It is our hope that the inclusion of regional geology and paleoclimates will provide more personally engaging content that, depending on local curricular standards, may be useful in either middle school or high school classrooms.