Why Does This Place Look the Way it Does?
Virtual fieldwork experiences (VFEs) allow you to explore a field site as a scientist, using photographs, maps, and other visualizations and data to figure out how a place came to be the way it is today. This website contains links to explore classic fossil-rich sites in an area of Central California known as Kettleman Hills.
Teachers can find an introduction to VFEs at the “For Educators” link.
- VFE modules can be completed in any order
- VFEs cover: Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts
NGSS performance expectations include:
- Two modules cover general principles of the study of fossils, and can be used for the Kettleman Hills VFE or any other study of fossils:
- What is a fossil? covers kinds of evidence for past life. (90 min.)
- 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.
- MS-LS4-2: Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships
- HS-LS4-5: Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in: (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species
- Field to museum explores how fossils are collected in the field and cared for in museums for scientific study. (45 min.)
- Emphasis on Science and Engineering Practices, in particular Practice 3 – Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
- What is a fossil? covers kinds of evidence for past life. (90 min.)
- Explore geology reviews the geographic and geologic context of fieldwork in the Kettleman Hills in central California. (45-90 min.)
- MS- ESS2-2: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial scales.
- HS-ESS2-2: Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.
- Explore sediments is a case study of an outcrop to show how we use sedimentary deposits to make sense of the environmental history of a place. (45-90 min.)
- ESS2-2. Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.
- Explore fossils explores selected fossils of aquatic organisms that once lived in the area of the Kettleman Hills. (90 min.)
- 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.
- MS-LS4-2: Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.
- HS-LS4-5: Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species.
To cover all the modules of the VFE will take one to two weeks of 45-minute classes.