Reconstructing Past Life

Dinoling — Reconstructing Past Life Thunderfoot Canyon

Hello, explorer. Dinoling here, at Thunderfoot Canyon.

The Grumblies mixed observations with guesses. Will you help separate them?

Let's inspect the evidence before imagining the whole ancient scene.

Scientists use fossils and other clues to investigate past life.

Tooth shapes can suggest how an organism processed food.

Scientists compare those structures with other fossils and living organisms.

One tooth alone doesn't reveal every detail of an animal's diet.

Limb structures can offer clues about movement.

Other body parts and surrounding evidence help strengthen the explanation.

Tracks can preserve evidence of where an organism stepped.

Several tracks together can suggest a direction of movement.

One footprint can't tell us every plant that grew nearby.

I like imagining ancient places, but evidence must guide the picture.

Our case includes many shell fossils in a rock layer.

It also includes ripple marks identified as water-made in this record.

Together, those clues support a past watery environment.

Different clues can strengthen the same explanation.

The record identifies these ripples as water-made; context matters.

An observation describes evidence we can examine.

An explanation uses that evidence to suggest what happened.

We should explain how each clue supports our claim.

Shells and water-made ripples support water here in the past.

Those clues don't record the weather on one particular ancient afternoon.

It's okay to leave details unknown when evidence is missing.

A patient investigator doesn't fill every gap with a confident guess.

Which fits our shells and water-made ripples: past water or exact weather?

Choose the claim these records actually support. Take a moment.

A past water environment! The clues don't give that afternoon's weather.

You linked your explanation to the evidence. Nicely done!

Can one footprint name every plant that once grew nearby?

No. We'd need other evidence to investigate those plants.

Teeth, limbs, tracks, and surrounding rocks can provide different clues.

Several clues together can support an environmental explanation.

Keep claims within what the evidence supports.

Our observation notes and explanations are sorted again.

Bring your careful thinking. I'll help look for the next clue.

Train more, start this adventure, or explore another map destination.

Free Reconstructing Past Life teacher guide and practice (PDF)