Geologic Time

Geologic Time Project by Mackenzie Macdonald

Have you ever wondered what life was like in the past? Like how would it have felt to be your parents growing up when they did? But have you ever wondered as far back to roughly 4.6 billion years ago? Why 4.6 billion years ago you may ask? Well, that was when the world started. This was during the Precambrian. The precambrian lasted from 4.6 billion years ago till 544 million years ago. During the longest era, Earth was formed and single celled organisms evolved. Life on Earth started. Next is the Paleozoic era. This era lasted from 544 million years ago, till 245 million years ago. This period is split into seven periods, the most for each of the eras. During this era, the continents formed, reptiles and amphibians evolved and life on Earth became bigger and more complex. The first cone bearing plants evolved and life started to speed up. Next came the Mesozoic era. The age of the reptiles. This era is split into three period and lasted from 245 million years ago until 66 million years ago. This may be the most famous and well known era from before humans evolved. Many dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Flowering plants evolved as well as birds and even mammals. Pangea was formed and broke up, at the end of this era there was a mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs and many other organisms. The last era is the Cenozoic era. The Cenozoic era lasted from 66 million years ago until present day. There were ice ages, mammoths and saber toothed tigers. Plus Homo Sapiens evolved, which started the ruling of humans and ended the animals time alone, unbothered on Earth. Earth's history has lots of chapters, each of them at least as interesting as the last. I can't wait to see how this chapter unfolds itself.


Backward-Looking

In the past I have made posters and boards. I think I have improved upon making this work by making it neater and better planed out. I spent more time on this poster making sure my drawing and writing was neat and that everything was in the right place. I layed stuff out and moved it around till it fit and looked nice. I also took time on my writing and was more creative than usual.

Inward-Looking

What was especially satisfying to me about the end result of the project was that it looked really nice, neat and creative. You could tell that it took people a long time to make it. The poster looked about how I imagined it and I was proud about the work that I did. I put a lot of effect into it and it payed off.

Outward-Looking

If someone who didn't know me looked at the piece of work that I made, they would most likely learn that I am hard-working and that I put a lot of effort into what I do.They would probably see that it just have taken a lot of time to do and that it was hard. This would show that I worked hard and put a lot of effort into the work I produced. Also they would see that it looked neat and that it looked pretty good, which usually means that someone put y=time and effort into something.

Forward-Looking

When I look at my piece, one thing that I want to improve upon is making it look more cohesive. Well the parts of the project all look nice and neat and like they could go together. I wish that it would look more thorough and have a lot more in common. I feel that as a whole it was good, but that is one thing that could be better.

The Mesozoic Era

Geological Time Scale by Andrea Perez

Earth's history is split into many pieces. This is called the geologic time scale. The geologic time scale is divided into four main parts, the Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The Mesozoic Era lasted from 245 million years ago till 66 million years ago. The Mesozoic is divided into three parts. The Triassic age from 245 mya (million years ago) till 208 mya, Jurassic age from 208 mya till 144 mya and the Cretaceous age from 144 mya till 66 mya. During the Triassic age dinosaurs, turtles crocodiles and cycads first evolved, along with the rare early mammals. It also included the first bird who's name translates to "Ancient Winged Thing" . The Triassic age also included the breakup of pangea and the separation of the continents. In the Jurassic age giant dinosaurs roamed the land causing the Mesozoic to be nicknamed the age of the reptiles. During this time period the continents had now divided themselves in half to make Laurasia and Gondwanaland. The last and final part of the Mesozoic era was the Cretaceous. During this time period mammals became more common as well as flowering plants like the magnolia. This was also the time of the famous mass extinction that wiped out many species as well as the dinosaurs. The Mesozoic era is part of our Earth's history and a very important one at that.

S&EP: SP3: Planning and carrying out investigations

I planned and carried out an investigation of what life was like in the Mesozoic Era. I investigate what life had evolved and gone extinct during this era. I also investigated the weather and climate as well as major changes such as the mass extinction. There is a lot to learn about the Mesozoic Era and all that lived during it, and all that had happened. The Earth's History is interesting and full of surprises and puzzling events.

XCC: Cause and Effect

Cause and effect is a very important part of our lives and living itself. Many things have happened in our lives, and these were all caused by something. In the Mesozoic era, in the cretaceous time, there was a massive extinction. This is believed to be caused by a massive meteor that hit the earth millions of years ago. This massive extinction was thought to be the effect of the meteor that hit Earth and exploded just off the coast of current day Mexico. Thanks to a meteor, we no longer have to live with Tyrannosaurus Rex's and other dinosaurs. That must have impacted our lives as well.

Rock Cycle and Determining Relative and Absolute Age

A Sticky Cycle By Jane Partsch

The rock cycle is a very interesting cycle. It happens all around us and shapes some of the biggest landmarks in the world to day. From the eroded rocks of the grand canyon, to the sculpted beauty of Mt.Rushmore and the famous Mt. Everest. Rocks are all around us changing everyday. But even though they are changing. the help us to determine things that won't change, like our past and the past of planet earth. Rocks help scientists to figure out the relative and absolute age of different fossils and things that have happened on planet earth. But what is Relative and Absolute age. The relative age of something is how old it is compared to something else. Like how I am younger than my sister, but older than my brother. Absolute age is the age of something since it was first made. Like that painting is 126 years old. Rocks help scientists to figure out the relative and absolute age of things by showing use different layers that all represent different time periods. In sedimentary rocks, columns and groups of fossils help to show use the relative age of different organisms that lived on planet earth. This is because if the first layer of rock is the oldest and the top layer is the youngest, we can determine which fossils are younger than other one, and which are older depending on what layer they are found in. In other rocks, layers can represent what the earth was like at that time period. It also helps us to figure out relative ages of certain things like the San Andreas fault line. The San Andreas fault line is younger than the rock that it cuts across.This is because the rock had to be there to have the fault cutting across it. You can't rip a paper if you have no paper to rip. Overall, rocks all around the world help scientists figure out what happened in the past, and what could happen in the future.

SP3: Planning and carrying out investigations

I planned and carried out an investigation of how fossils and different rock layers help us to figure out what happened in the past and what could happen in the future. I was also able to organize different layers of rocks based on the fossils and the knowledge that I had about different species like ourselves, the homo sapiens. I figured out that scientists can learn things about our past and apply them to the future because what happens now, must have happened in the past and the other way around. 

XCC: Patterns

We see patterns all around us in life. From birthdays, to weekly events and different ways to count things. Patterns are all around us. One of the patterns that I see most in my life is going to school. This is something that repeats on the same basis and for a long period of time each year. Monday through Friday. The first day through last. Repeating and repeating and repeating itself. Seeing as I go to school, this pattern is a big part of my life and will soon upgrade itself to being work. Working Monday through Friday the first day till last. This is a pattern that I find to be like background noise. Basically, waking up every morning to go to school is routine for me. It is not a big deal for me that I go to school. It is just something that I do. School itself is big, but going is not. It, like many other patterns, is something that is not as noticed as other things, but they still are a big part of our life.