Advent of Complex Life

Introduction

In this webquest, you will learn about fossils from a period of time known as the Ediacaran, about 560 million years ago. Scientists believe these fossils represent some of the earliest known complex life (organisms made up of many different types of cells) and possibly the first appearance of animal life on Earth.

Story

There is a big lot of unused land in your town, near where you live. The town has decided to use the land to build a new mall. A construction crew moves in one day and begins to excavate the ground. On your way to school, you happen to walk by the excavation site and notice a strange shape on a rock that has been dug up by the bulldozers. Intrigued, you pick up the rock and bring it to school to show your science teacher. When you show her the rock, her eyebrows raise "Wow! What an interesting find! I think this might be a fossil." You aren’t sure, because most fossils you’ve seen are of dinosaurs and wooly mammoths, and this definitely isn’t one of those! Intrigued by your discovery, you head to the library and decide to investigate further.

A slab of Ediacaran aged rock - what are those strange marks on its surface?

This webquest was created by the MIT Advent of Complex Life NASA Astrobiology Team with assistance from the ASU NASA Astrobiology Team and the Australian Center for Astrobiology

Are you a teacher who has used, or is using, our WebQuest in your class? If so, please contact E/PO Lead Phoebe Cohen - we want to hear from you!