Review: Rocks, Fossils and Earth History
Use Earth records while distinguishing evidence from inference.
Bring the unit skills together
Use these 4 new cases to check your reasoning. Choices are temporary and are not saved to an account, sent to staff or recorded as school grades. Download your current review choices before leaving or reloading.
The download contains your current choices and any checked feedback. Keep the separate transfer-task work in your own document; downloading its instructions does not mark it complete.
Use the skills in a new task
Draw or write four parts for “Rocks, Fossils and Earth History”—one pretend example from each lesson. In each part, show what happened, give your answer, and say which clue helped you. If the question gives numbers, show your working too. Finish with one thing the practice case does not tell us. You may say your answers aloud.
Work on paper or in your own document. Explain the choices you made.
- Choose one pretend example from each of the four lessons.
- Name what each example shows.
- If the example gives numbers, show your calculation and unit. Otherwise, say which clue explains your answer.
- Say that the case details are supplied for practice; they are not your own real-life observations.
- Say one thing the example does not tell us, or one change that could give a different answer.
Compare with a model response
Panel 1: Which scientific label fits the specifically described step or feature? Supplied case: Lava cools and solidifies. Result: igneous. Reasoning: The answer is igneous. In the notes, it means “formed by cooling molten rock.” Igneous rock forms as molten material cools. Sedimentary rock commonly forms from deposited particles or other sediment-forming processes. Metamorphic rock changes under heat and pressure without fully melting. Model limitation: only the stated classroom boundary and supplied observations are established; unmeasured real-world performance remains unverified. Panel 2: Which scientific label fits the specifically described step or feature? Supplied case: Shell imprint in old rock. Result: fossil. Reasoning: The answer is fossil. In the notes, it means “preserved evidence of past life.” A fossil preserves evidence of past life. Its setting can support an inference about a past environment. Not every organism is preserved, and an absence of fossils is incomplete evidence. Model limitation: only the stated classroom boundary and supplied observations are established; unmeasured real-world performance remains unverified. Panel 3: Which scientific label fits the specifically described step or feature? Supplied case: Three layers: label bottom. Result: oldest. Reasoning: The answer is oldest. In the notes, it means “bottom layer of this undisturbed sequence.” In a simple undisturbed sequence, lower deposited layers are older than layers above. Folding, faults and intrusions can complicate this rule. Our supplied layers explicitly remain undisturbed. Model limitation: only the stated classroom boundary and supplied observations are established; unmeasured real-world performance remains unverified. Panel 4: Which scientific label fits the specifically described step or feature? Supplied case: Shell fossil in a layer. Result: organism clue. Reasoning: The answer is organism clue. In the notes, it means “fossil evidence about past life.” Several independent clues can strengthen an interpretation. A fossil, sediment texture and layer order answer different questions. A drawn record cannot provide an exact date unless dating evidence is supplied. Model limitation: only the stated classroom boundary and supplied observations are established; unmeasured real-world performance remains unverified.
A different response can also meet the criteria. Compare the evidence and reasoning, rather than copying the wording.