Your Study Site in Time

What do we know about the history of this area? Your class will work on this investigation in teams, and each team is responsible for one part of the investigation into the history of your study site area.  Each team will create a 15-minute presentation of its findings and a poster at the end of the quarter.  You can include graphics such as maps, sketches, timelines and photographs.  Eventually your class may create a web page that combines the work of the four teams.

Consider what would be interesting to other schools. Most students in other global lab schools will never have been to your town, or even your part of the world.  It will be a challenge to help them "see" your world through your eyes.

  geology iconTeam role questions for Geologists

Geologists will study the history of the land at the study site and its major geological events.  Why does the land look as it does today?  What are its major geographical characteristics?  How did it look a hundred years ago?  A thousand years ago?  Have any rivers changed course?  Have there been any glaciers in the area?  Anyvolcanoes?  What did the land look like during major geological periods?  For example, what did it look during the Mezozoic Period (the Age of Dinosaurs.)  Was the land ever under water?  At the bottom on an ocean or sea?

 
Consider:
         What significant changes do you anticipate?
         What needs to be done to be ready for these changes?
 
bw fernTeam role questions for Biologists

Biologists will study the history of the flora and fauna at the study site.  What are the dominant plants on the study site?  The dominant animals?  How have plants and animals changed over time?  Why?  What kinds of prehistoric animals roamed your Area?  What were the first plants on your study site?  The first animals?  How can we know what life on land was like in the distant past?  Is it possible to "read" the land for its history?  What are fossils?  How are they made?  Have any fossils been discovered in your community?  What can they tell you about life in the past?

 
Consider:
         What significant changes do you anticipate?
         What needs to be done to be ready for these changes?
 
inkpot Team role questions for Social Scientists

Social scientists will investigate the human history of the study site.  Why and when did people first settle in the area?  How has the land on your study site been used?  Did people ever live on it?  Was it ever used for agriculture?  For industry?  For recreation?  What was your study site like at key points in your county’s history?  What was the first industry in your area and how might it have impacted your study site?  What industries might be impacting your study site today?  You could also look at Toponymics, the study of place names. The origins of such names often reveals much about people and their times when these places were named.

 
Consider:
         What significant changes do you anticipate?
         What needs to be done to be ready for these changes?
 
Team role questions for Ecologists

Ecologists will investigate ecological factors that might have impacted the site in the past.  What is the history of water purification in the community.  What is done with garbage and waste?  What are the community’s environmental accomplishments and problems?  What are your community’s environmental laws?

 
Consider:
         What significant changes do you anticipate?
         What needs to be done to be ready for these changes?
 

Where to Look for Information:


 
- The school or town/city library or historical society
- The internet, especially a web page of your town/city or region
- Back issues of newspapers
- Town or city halls
- Local colleges, history departments, biology/environmental departments
- Parents, teachers and neighbors, especially the elderly who can remember your study site area when they were young. Letters.
- Old and new maps, which you can use to compare changes in names and legal districting.


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You can also put phrases or the URL into Google Translate