This activity explores images of chalk formations and coccolithophores, which serve as phenomena for learning about the interactions between biological and geological processes.
This activity reinforces concepts presented in the short film The Making of a Theory. Using a map of the Malay Archipelago and information about the animals found on different islands, students discover the Wallace Line: a sharp boundary that separates distinct Asian and Australian fauna.
This activity supports concepts covered in the film The Day the Mesozoic Died. Students will analyze geological evidence from 10 different sites around the world to predict the location of the asteroid impact that caused the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period.
This activity allows students to calculate the mass, size, and kinetic energy of an asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago, based on the total abundance of iridium in a sediment layer. It supports concepts presented in the short film The Day the Mesozoic Died.
This activity allows students to analyze the chemical data that led researchers to conclude that a layer of clay at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene rock layers (the K-Pg boundary) contained an extraordinary concentration of iridium. It supports concepts presented in the short film The Day the Mesozoic Died.
This activity allows students to calculate how much iridium was released, and eventually deposited all over the Earth, by the impact of an asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago. It supports concepts presented in the short film The Day the Mesozoic Died.
In this activity, students read a passage about how planets in our solar system formed and why the element iridium is so rare in Earth’s crust. They then answer questions about the information presented, testing their non-fiction reading comprehension.
In this activity, students evaluate and discuss statements about the evolutionary relationship between milk consumption and lactose tolerance discussed in the short film Making of the Fittest: Got Lactase? The Co-evolution of Genes and Culture.
In this activity, students simulate a lactose tolerance test, similar to the one shown in the short film The Making of the Fittest: Got Lactase? The Co-evolution of Genes and Culture, to determine which samples contain the lactase enzyme.
This activity explores the content and research presented in the short film The Making of the Fittest: Got Lactase? The Co-evolution of Genes and Culture, which describes a case of recent human evolution influenced by cultural factors.