Excellence NatureAT THE SUMMIT, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO
EXCELLENCE NATURE
Dinosaurs and Fossils
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Rocks, bones and deep time, with drawn figures you tap and pins you stick in a globe: body and trace fossils, bone turned to stone, a cliff read from the bottom up, ash beds that date a thigh bone, the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous with their dates, upright legs and lizard or bird hips, Stegosaurus, T. rex and Coelophysis in their own worlds, why a sparrow is a dinosaur, the Chicxulub impact and the iridium clay it left, five mass extinctions, how paleontologists dig, and what you may take home from public land.
3h 16m5 constellations
01Tell body fossils from trace fossils and explain how bone turns to stone
02Date rocks by superposition, index fossils and volcanic ash beds
03Say what makes a dinosaur, and why birds are dinosaurs
04Explain the Chicxulub impact and the five mass extinctions
05Know what you may collect in national parks and on BLM land
Every lesson of Dinosaurs and Fossils
15 lessons in 5 levels, about 3 hours. Level 1 is free.
Level 1How Fossils FormFree · 3 lessons
- What Counts as a FossilTell a body fossil from a trace fossil, and know why so few living things ever become one.12 min
- Bone to StoneExplain permineralization, replacement, molds and casts, and the rare fossils that keep skin or hair.13 min
- Checkpoint: Read a Bone BedRead what a bone bed says about how its animals died and were buried.12 min
Level 2Reading the RocksMembership · 3 lessons
- Older Below, Younger AbovePut rock layers and their fossils in order, and match layers by their fossils.12 min
- Clocks in the RocksExplain half-lives, why carbon-14 can't date a dinosaur, and how volcanic ash brackets a bone's age.14 min
- Checkpoint: The Geologic Time ScalePlace the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous on the geologic time scale, with their dates.14 min
Level 3Meet the DinosaursMembership · 3 lessons
- What Makes a DinosaurDefine a dinosaur by its upright legs and its hips, and tell a lizard hip from a bird hip.13 min
- Famous Dinosaurs and Where They LivedPlace famous dinosaurs in their period, and find where their fossils turn up.13 min
- Checkpoint: Birds Are DinosaursExplain why birds are dinosaurs, and which dinosaurs they come from.13 min
Level 4The End of an EraMembership · 3 lessons
- The Day the Asteroid HitExplain what struck the Yucatán 66 million years ago, how it killed, and how the crater was found.13 min
- Five Mass ExtinctionsName the five mass extinctions in order, and say what made each one.13 min
- Checkpoint: Read the BoundaryFind the boundary layer in the rocks, and read the evidence it holds for an impact.13 min
Level 5In the FieldMembership · 3 lessons
- How Paleontologists DigFollow a dig from choosing where to look to the lab, with Earl Douglass's quarry as the guide.13 min
- Finders Aren't KeepersKnow what you may collect in national parks and on BLM land, and what to do with a find.14 min
- Final Test: Dinosaurs and FossilsUse the whole path: fossils, dating, dinosaurs, birds, the extinction and the rules on public land.14 min
AFTER THE CORE