Extinction Events
Driving Question: How do extinction events change the complexity of life on Earth?
Asteroid impacts, volcanic eruptions, and disease outbreaks can have dramatic consequences for life in the biosphere. Explore the causes and impacts of extinction events.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe how Earth’s processes can lead to extinction events.
- Evaluate how extinction events change life on Earth.
Vocab Terms:
- asteroid
- biosphere
- de-extinction
- extinction
- photosynthesis
History Mystery: Surviving an Extinction Event
- Students brainstorm what traits might allow a species to survive.
- Next, they ask AI whether a species with the traits they’ve identified would survive an extinction event.
- Finally, they debrief and assess the AI response.
What’s the rationale? Students learn how to frame scientific questions and test their hypotheses using AI as a reasoning and feedback partner.
Earth has survived five mass extinctions. Could you help it survive a sixth? Plan your strategy to save life on our planet!
As students watch the extinction events video, help them engage critically with the material by providing a note-taking strategy or a graphic organizer, or have them answer the guiding questions. Providing them with something to do while watching helps them to activate their thinking and make connections to prior knowledge. Want more video tips? Check out the OER Project Video Guide.
What led to the extinction of the dinosaurs? How did life survive when over 90% of all species died 250 million years ago? Explore the causes of extinction events in this video and activity.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Preview the questions below, and then review the transcript.
While you watch
Look for answers to these questions:
- What causes mass extinction events?
- What do many people think led to the extinction of the dinosaurs?
- How did the extinction of the dinosaurs help mammals thrive?
- What is causing the sixth mass extinction event?
After you watch
Respond to this question: What might be two ideas or innovations that could help curb the sixth mass extinction event?
Debates in middle school can be difficult. Prepare your students by practicing with a low-stakes question such as, “Are cats better than dogs?” Use this type of question to establish norms, and then set class goals for your students. For more tips on facilitating discussions, check out page 2 of the Discussion Guide.
An OER Project teacher selected the De-Extinction Debate as her Unit 3 must-do activity: “The scientific content is genuinely engaging, but the real value is the argument structure. Students practice the same claim-counterclaim framework they’ll use in writing throughout the course, but here the stakes feel lower because the content is approachable.”
You might think the movie Jurassic Park was pure fiction, but with modern technology, there’s some truth in the concept of de-extinction. The idea is a source of debate for scientists—and now you have to choose a side!
From the earliest life-forms deep in the ocean to the evolution—and sometimes extinction—of life on Earth, life has changed a great deal over the course of this unit. Take some time now to gather your thoughts.
There is still so much that we don’t know about life on Earth, but new scientific breakthroughs might just solve those mysteries.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you listen
Preview the questions below, and then review the transcript.
While you listen
Look for answers to these questions:
- What movie triggered Michael Archer’s interest in de-extinction as a possible way to bring animals back to life that humans made extinct?
- Why was Archer’s first attempt at bringing back the Tasmanian Tiger unsuccessful?
- Why was the medical world “going nuts” when knowledge about the gastric-brooding frog’s unique way of giving birth was discovered?
- What types of extinct species did Archer discover at the Riversleigh World Heritage site?
After you listen
Respond to this question: What types of paleontology mysteries would you like to see solved?