Storyline: Geological Time (Teacher & Student Edition)

ZIP file containing 3 PDF files

(1 Teacher Edition, 1 Student Edition, 1 Science Outside Terms and Conditions)

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS):

MS-ESS1-4:
● Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6-billion-year-old history.
○ Connection: The text explains how scientists organize Earth's history using the geologic time scale, including eons, eras, and periods, supported by radiometric dating methods.

MS-ESS2-2:
● Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.
○ Connection: The timeline activity and references to geologic changes (e.g., the formation of life, changes in Earth's surface) connect to this standard.

MS-PS1-1:
● Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.
○ Connection: The explanation of radioactive decay, parent and daughter isotopes, and half-life provides a conceptual model of atomic transformations over time.

Crosscutting Concepts
● Scale, Proportion, and Quantity: Highlighted by the vast timescales of Earth’s history and the half-life calculations for radioactive decay.
● Stability and Change: Demonstrated through the slow yet steady process of radioactive decay and the transformation of Earth's surface and life forms over billions of years.