National Geographic The Story Of Earth Worksheet Answers

[Jennifer Leos]

WhenI returned to the zoo I showed my environmental club (made up of 25 middle and high school students) a picture of George and asked if anyone knew his name or story. When no one responded, I told them his name was Lonesome George and a few of the kids recognized the name and were able to figure out his plight. I then posed some questions:

The worksheet first asks them to list some endangered species that they care about. Since my students are already in an environmental club, they have a strong grasp of endangered animals. However, if students do not have such knowledge, there are many ways to teach them. If they are old enough, they can research animals on their own. I have included some helpful resources for online research in the extension list below. With younger students, providing a list of endangered animals can be beneficial so they can pick one that is interesting to them. For any age group, a zoo presentation on endangered species may be a fun way to start the assignment.

After my students picked their species, they had to figure out at least one way humans are contributing to their decline. Topics ranged from habitat loss, poaching, pollution, and climate change to invasive species, the illegal pet trade, and even disease. For younger students, I would recommend narrowing this list down to issues like ocean pollution, deforestation, or stealing wild animals to keep as pets.

When talking to any student about these issues, always make sure to provide age-appropriate solutions. It is vital that the students understand the issues but also realize that there is hope for saving many of these species. If students have not learned to write well yet, they could supplement their stories with drawings. For older students, it is important to be honest with them about some of the harsher issues like poaching, large-scale habitat loss, and climate change.

Once my students had their species and issue picked out, we then switched to talking about proper writing methods. We discussed how a good story can be written. First, a normal day is established and the characters are introduced. Next, the conflict, in the form of a conservation issue, must be added to give your story meaning. Finally, that conflict must end with a resolution. I reiterated that while many of the conservation issues are sad, the stories did not have to be. The students could resolve their conflict in any way that they wanted.

When the students finished their worksheets, they had to get their idea approved by me before they started writing. I checked their conservation issue as well as their outlines to make sure they had a grasp on the content. I then provided the students with four one-hour meetings to complete their stories.

After their stories were written, the students were engrossed in the idea of storytelling as a way to increase conservation awareness. Two 17-year-old boys pulled me aside to tell me this was the most impactful project we have ever done in our club. My heart was so full in that moment.

Words are powerful and can get people invested in conservation. By writing stories, students can use their voice to speak up for endangered animals around the world. As these voices grow louder, the hope is that there will be no more lonely animals like George, the Pinta Island tortoise.

Community Involvement: Make this a writing contest for your classroom, grade level, school, district, or community! You could get local conservation organizations like zoos, aquariums, and nature centers involved. Perhaps they would showcase your stories at a conservation event like Earth Day. Prizes could be awarded to contest winners. You could also have the winners read their stories at a local bookstore or a parent night at your school.

Curriculum Tie-In: This activity could be used in a variety of ways. You could tie it to state standards in English, writing, and science for elementary-aged children. You could have students write stories of human interference and sustainability for middle and high school science standards. You could even encourage conservation-related college classes to use this as an assignment for researching an endangered species.

Publish Results: Encourage students to take their stories to the next level by adding media. They could draw or take their own photos with a camera. Use online publication websites such as Student Treasures to publish these stories. You could make a whole class book out of them. You could even sell these books and donate the money to a conservation organization of your choice!

International Connection: This activity could transcend continents as well! You could use websites like iEARN to connect to teachers from around the globe. You could share your stories with students from other countries. Perhaps some of the animals your students write about actually live in those countries. It could be a great way to take your conservation storytelling to a new level.

I used this movie and accompanying viewing guide for the excellent Nat. Geo. video on The Story of the Earth: Historical look at the formation of the planet/solar system/moon through time to where life sparked on the planet, as well as several mass extinctions, and evolution of organisms. This worksheet is 2-sided and organized by time, mya, that matches up with the video as time moves from 4.6 bya to present.

Students will draw conclusions, determine how the Earth formed, as well as describe key points in the history of the Earth, and wrapping up Earth Science, and going into the beginning of life on Earth and evolution as an introduction to Life Science. This is the perfect bridge between Earth and Life science in the Middle school setting.

Students will fill in the blank, and write open-ended complete sentence answers throughout the 30 question video guide that accompanies the excellent Nat Geo documentary.

Volcanic eruptions have the power to destroy whole cities, alter global climate and devastate economies. They can produce rivers of molten lava, crushing mudflows, suffocating ash and toxic gases that wreak havoc across the globe for years after.

Similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, the size of a volcanic eruption is measured using the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI). The VEI ranks volcanic explosions from 1 to 8, with 1 being a gentle outpouring of lava and 8 being a mega-colossal explosion.

Volcanic eruptions can also be destructive for economies. While measuring the economic cost of ancient eruptions is largely theoretical, the costs of more recent eruptions are calculated by measuring the loss of infrastructure and the loss of income to people in the area. A United Nations study found that between 1995 and 2015, volcanic eruptions cost $152.6 billion in damages, roughly $7.6 billion a year.

Mt. Tambora is the deadliest eruption in recent human history, claiming the lives of up to 120,000 people. On 10 April 1815, Tambora erupted sending volcanic ash 40km into the sky. It was the most powerful eruption in 500 years. Upon entering the ocean, the force of the pyroclastic flow caused the creation of a series of towering tsunamis. Thanks to the enormous amount of SO2 emitted, the world experienced a severe temperature drop that led to global crop failures. Thousands starved to death in China while typhus spread across Europe. In the two years after the explosion, the price of grain in Switzerland more than quadrupled.

Until Mt Pelee produced the worst eruption of the 20th century, the volcano was thought to be dormant. On 8 May, Mt Pelee exploded hot gas and volcanic debris, destroying the entire city of St Pierre. Of the 28,000 people living in St. Pierre, only two survived. The cost of the eruption was estimated at $50 million.

The first known eruption of Ilopango in 450 AD is the second-largest volcanic eruption in the last 200,000 years. This eruption was so large that it is thought to have destroyed several Mayan cities. The skies were filled with ash and dust for more than a year. The eruption is estimated to have killed up to 100,000 people and displaced more than 400,000. It is thought to be the cause of the global cooling of AD 535-536, which led to crop failures from Rome to China.

Despite its relatively medium-size, the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz had devastating results. The most destructive part of the eruption was the resulting mudflow, which buried the town of Armero and took 20,000 lives. Listed by the International Disaster Database as the most expensive volcanic eruption, Nevado is said to have cost an estimated $1 billion.

The Mount Pinatubo eruption was the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. On 15 June, the volcano erupted, creating an ash cloud that rose 35km into the air. The eruption created massive avalanches of pyroclastic flows and ejected nearly 20 million tons of SO2 into the stratosphere, causing global temperatures to plummet. While only 722 were killed, the eruption left more than 200,000 people homeless. The eruption cost upwards of $200 million.

Mt Vesuvius has erupted several times in human history, however, the terrifying eruption of 79AD is the most well known. On 24 August, Vesuvius erupted ash, mud and toxic gases, completely burying the nearby cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The eruption killed 16,000 people. It took until 1595 for the cities to be excavated and rediscovered. If the same eruption occurred today it would cost in the billions.

For hundreds, maybe even thousands of years, the Santa Maria volcano remained inactive. That is, until 1902, when a series of earthquakes in the Central American region caused it to erupt violently. The eruption killed at least 5000 people, although many believe this number to be understated. The eruption produced a column 28km tall, producing 5.5km3 of pyroclastic debris over the course of 19 days. The ash from the eruption darkened the skies of Guatemala for days and spread all the way to San Francisco. It is thought to have cost well over $1 million in damages.

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