For this geologic time activity, students create a TO SCALE 1-meter long geologic time poster of Earth’s History of Life! Then, using their project as a reference, they complete a worksheet with analysis questions.
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Most classroom teachers agree that students rarely can wrap their heads around the magnitude of Earth’s history, and the relative amount of time that each era existed. This activity has students recreate the geologic time scale TO SCALE so that they can visually see how long and diverse the history of life on Earth is, as well as understand the relative amount of time for each era.
In this activity, students will:
- Follow SPECIFIC, STEP-BY-STEP, student-friendly instructions to create a poster. (Included: how many centimeters each era takes up, specific drawings and labels to add, and important events in each era.) The directions are presented in a very easy-to-digest format that makes it simple for kids to follow along.
- Use their completed posters to answer 15 analysis questions.
Each student or group of students will need:
- Poster paper (OR a few blank pages taped together) to create a paper that is 100 centimeters long.
- A textbook or the internet to look up organisms to draw into each era.
This project takes 2 class periods to complete. It is easy to differentiate because the “fast finish” students can always add more detail and more drawings. The teacher can get struggling students started quickly by making lines for each era so they don’t have to measure them out themselves.
Teacher Notes:
- Answer key and example poster is provided.
- Please note that this geologic time activity is not editable.
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- Check out my complete Geologic Time & Fossils Unit!
Related 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.
- NGSS MS-LS4-1: Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.
