Walking Trilobite © 2000 by S. M. Gon III

AN EARTH SCIENCE PATHFINDER

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INTRODUCTION Are you an Indiana 6th to 8th Grader studying Science? This pathfinder will help you and your friends learn more about Earth Science, Paleontology and even Life Science. If you and your teachers and anyone else who is interested in exploring the history of Planet Earth are looking for resources on these topics, this is a good place to start. The sources listed here are ones we all know like National Geographic, NOVA and the Smithsonian, along with resources that have been chosen by librarians and teachers. There are also a bunch of websites that are especially for kids who are interested in Science! This pathfinder, or list of resources, contains lots of electronic resources like DVDs, CD-ROMS and websites and also videos, books and articles. There are lots of electronic resources in this pathfinder because DVDs, websites and computer programs can make you feel like you are out on a dig, or in a museum or even back in time -- if you can't go there in person! The resources are not listed by topic because so many of them overlap -- like a video on geologic time is also about paleontologists -- so they are arranged by media type. The idea is to mix and match from all these pages and to explore the sources that spark your interests. Some of the topics covered are the Ice Ages, the La Brea Tar Pits, trilobites, Indiana fossils, fossil sharks, geologic time and careers in Paleontology and other sciences. There is not a big focus on dinosaurs in this pathfinder because there are so many resources about dinosaurs already -- some of those are linked from here. Instead this pathfinder is meant to be used with the great dinosaur resources that have already been created by other paleontology lovers. This pathfinder also does not cover Early Man -- that would take a pathfinder of its own! Some of the topics and ideas that this pathfinder may help you with are: geology, geologic time, the scientific method, biology, plate tectonics, natural cycles of the Earth, diversity of plant and animal life, observing and collecting data and reporting on it, the biomes of extinct animals and plants, scientists and how they work and how climate and environment impact life on Earth. But don't worry -- there is a lot of fun stuff included here, too and very interesting SCIENCE! Some good reference places to start exploring fossils are: Encyclopedia.com where you can learn a lot by searching on paleontology, fossil, trilobite, geologic timescale and more! And ZoomDinosaurs Dinosaur and Paleontology Dictionary where you can click on the letters of the alphabet to navigate through this fun online dictionary which covers Aachenosaurus to Zigorhiza. The definitions contain links which will take you to more in-depth reports on trace fossils like coprolites (fossilized poop!) or cephalopods (including the Giant Squid!), for example! For a great beginning look at Indiana geology and fossils watch the short movie "Fossil Museum" on this PBS site about the Falls of the Ohio in southern Indiana!

 

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