Reply To: K-5 lesson plans–Santa Cruz, California

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#2352
Bruce MacFadden
Keymaster

I am uploading (with her permission) a message from Laura Arnow that she sent to me after the trip yesterday:

________________________________________
From: Arnow, Laura >
Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2015 1:22 PM
To: MacFadden,Bruce J
Subject: fossils and NGSS

Hi, Bruce,

Yesterday was super fun! I posted a few pics and got a reply from an old Peace Corps friend who’d seen one of your papers as he was reviewing literature relevant to the Baudo Pathway.

Anyway… not sure if you have messed around with the new national science standards at all but here are the relevant ones in grades 3 and 4:

Grade 3: largely focuses on the diversity and distribution of fossils, and is meant I think to shatter the common second grade T.Rex-groupie misconception that fossils are just remains of dinosaurs from swamps:
http://www.nextgenscience.org/3-ls4-1-biological-evolution-unity-and-diversity

Grade 4: moves from understanding that the fossil record represents the diversity of life long ago to beginning to organize a continuum of time using very basic concepts of stratigraphy (as in above is newer below is older—the assessment boundary stops at relative ages and major fossil types):
http://www.nextgenscience.org/4ess1-earth-place-universe

If the Next Gen is old hat to you, forgive me. If not let me know as I’ve tangled with it over the years and find it fascinating and well worth using in developing curriculum.