Name __________________________________________________ Date ______________________________

NGSS-Designed Lesson Assessment: Earth’s HistoryMain Ideas

Read each item. Then select the letter next to the best answer.

1. You and a friend are hiking through a canyon. You tell your friend that the rock layers in the canyon are alldifferent ages, and you can tell which rock layers are the oldest and which are the youngest. She picks fourdifferent rock layers on the canyon wall, as shown in the photograph.

Which layer is the youngest?

A. Layer 1B. Layer 2C. Layer 3D. Layer 4

2. The geologic time scale is a model of Earth’s history. Based on the model shown below, which of thefollowing statements is correct?

A. Modern humans first appeared during the Cretaceous Period.B. Many dinosaurs went extinct at the end of the Mesozoic Era.C. Earth’s history is divided into three eras: the Precambrian, the Mesozoic, and the Cenozoic.D. The Precambrian Era, during which life first appeared, was the shortest era in Earth’s history.

3. Monique is studying how scientists reconstruct Earth’s history by studying rocks and fossils, as well as othersolar systems. She learns about four important events from Earth’s early history.

Which of the following events was the last to occur?

A. The sun formed.B. Earth’s oceans formed.C. Life on Earth originated.D. Meteorites bombarded Earth.

4. You are helping Professor Sanchez correlate the ages of rocks and fossils in two rock formations. One islocated in Europe, and the other is located in North America. You create a diagram to match up rock layers inNorth America with rock layers in Europe.

Based on the results below, which of the following conclusions is supported by the evidence?

A. The fossil in rock layer 1 is approximately 55 million years old.B. The fossil in rock layer 4 is younger than the fossil in rock layer C.C. The fossil in rock layer 2 is younger than the fossil in rock layer D.D. The fossil in rock layer 5 is about the same age as the fossil in rock layer E.

5. A 12-hour-clock model of Earth’s history is shown below. Based on this model, which of the followingstatements is correct?

A. Animals have lived on Earth for most of its history.B. Land plants have lived on Earth for most of its history.C. Life has existed on Earth for only a small fraction of its history.D. Humans have lived on Earth for only a small fraction of its history.

6. While exploring the coast of Greenland, you collect a rock. In order to figure out approximately how old thisrock is, you take it back to your lab and measure the amount of uranium-235 and the amount of leadcontained in the rock. You discover that the relative amounts of these elements are 20% uranium-235 and80% lead.

What can you conclude about the age of the rock using evidence in the diagram?

A. The rock is older than 2,100 million years old.B. The rock is younger than 700 million years old.C. The rock is between 700 and 1,400 million years old.D. The rock is between 1,400 and 2,100 million years old.

Think Like a Scientist

Read about the scientific investigation. Then answer the questions that follow the investigation by selectingthe letter next to the best answer.

Investigation

Your class is studying rocks from the Cretaceous and Paleogene Periods. You have been given three rocksto study, each of which contains fossils of organisms known as foraminifera. Foraminifera are tiny, single-celled organisms with shells. In addition, each of the rocks includes a layer that contains large amounts ofiridium. The iridium layer marks the boundary between Cretaceous and Paleogene. These iridium-rich layersare marked in blue.

7. Which of the choices A-D shows fossils correctly ordered from oldest to youngest?

A. Fossil Group AB. Fossil Group BC. Fossil Group CD. Fossil Group D

8. Which of the following fossils are you most likely to find in Layer X in Rock #3?

A. Fossil AB. Fossil BC. Fossil CD. Fossil D

9. Which of the following conclusions is supported by the scientific evidence your class examined?

A. Rock #2 includes the oldest rock strata your class examined.B. Rock #1 includes only rock strata from the Paleogene Period.C. Rock #3 includes only rock strata from the Cretaceous Period.D. Rock #1 includes the oldest rock strata your class examined.

Expressing Science Practices, Concepts, and Ideas

Read the directions for each item carefully before constructing your response.

10. Your class has been learning how to date rocks and fossils, so your teacher takes you on a field trip to theGrand Canyon! What can your class learn about the age of the canyon and the fossils in it?

• Label the diagram using the words in the word bank.• Write a caption explaining the evidence of erosion in the photo.

WORD BANKrock strataoldest layeryoungest layererosion river

11. The Grand Staircase is a huge series of rock strata that stretches from Grand Canyon National Park inArizona, through Zion National Park in Utah, to Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. The diagram belowshows the rock strata that make up the Grand Staircase. Use the evidence provided in the diagram to write aone-paragraph essay that includes:• a claim about which national parks you would need to visit to study the oldest and youngest rock layers inthe Grand Staircase.• evidence and reasoning to support this claim.

12. Your class is interested in studying plant fossils. You have four rocks, and you want to know which of themmight contain plant fossils. You decide to determine the approximate age of each rock and then useinformation about when plants originated to figure this out.

To determine the approximate age of each rock, you measure the amount of uranium-235 and lead in therock. Remember that, over time, the uranium-235 inside rocks is converted to lead. So, knowing the amountof each element in a rock allows you to estimate its age. The graph below shows the percent of uranium-235found in rocks of different ages.

Use the information in the graph and the geologic time scale to fill in the table.

% Uranium-235 ApproximateAge

Geologic Era Could this rockcontain plant

fossils?

Rock A 80%

Rock B 60%

Rock C 40%

Rock D 20%

13. You are preparing a presentation for your class in which you will compare two different models of Earth’shistory, the geologic time scale and the 12-hour-clock model. Write a script for what you plan to say in yourpresentation using the images shown below. In your presentation, you should:

• Explain why scientists find models for Earth’s history helpful.• Explain what information scientists use to create a model of Earth’s history.• Explain what the two models (geologic time scale and 12-hour clock model) have in common and how theydiffer.

In your essay, be sure to use all the words from the following word bank.

WORD BANKabsolute dating, fossils, geologic era, geologic period, geologic time scale, measurement, model,observation, relative dating, rock strata, scale, time