A Brief History of Life on Earth
In this activity, you will create a card that describes one of the seminal events in the history of life on
Earth. You will then connect your card to a timeline of Earth history, attaching it in the appropriate
location.
Events:
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Formation of the Moon
End of the Heavy Bombardment
Snowball Earth
Possible Origin of Life
Origin of photosynthesis
Origin of Cellular Respiration
Eukaryotes first appear
Evolution of multicellularity
The Cambrian Explosion
Origin of animals
Origin of Fungi
Origin of plants
Origin of pines
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Origin of flowering plants
Origin of fish
Origin of insects
Origin of tetrapods
Origin of amphibians
Origin of reptiles
Origin of mammals
Origin of birds
Origin of Anatomically Modern Humans
The Permian Mass Extinction
The Cretaceous Mass Extinction
Card Directions:
Front:
● Name of event.
● Geological date of event (How long ago did it happen?)
● A picture that you think appropriately represents your event. If you use artwork from
somewhere else, include a source.
Back:
● A description of the event, and why it was important for life.
● A description of the
evidence
that supports scientific thinking about the event.
● Discussion of any ambiguous aspects of the event, or “missing” pieces of the picture.
You will attach your card to a clothespin, and secure your event to the timeline in the appropriate
location (if your event spans a region of time, indicate that on your card, but place it at the earliest
date in the timespan).
The timeline will be 46 meters in length, with present time being on the right of the timeline as you
face it. Determine where you will need to place your card PRIOR to coming to class on Monday to
place it.
Hint:
How old is planet earth? How could you compare that scale to our timeline length?