Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Idea Labs: Prehistoric Climate Change
Sort fossil leaves from 55 million years ago into groups with smooth or 'toothed' edges. Then, use a formula to calculate the percentage of each type and, from there, look at how high the temperature might have risen when global warming...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Learning Lab: Prehistoric Climate Change and Why It Matters Today
In a lesson in this issue of Smithsonian in Your Classroom, students do the work of a team of paleontologists studying a time of rising carbon dioxide and rapid global warming during the Eocene epoch. By examining fossils of tree leaves,...
Climate Literacy
Clean: A Fossil Thermometer
In this activity, students calculate temperatures during a time in the geologic record when rapid warming occurred using a well known method called 'leaf-margin analysis.' Students determine the percentage of the species that have leaves...