Grade 6-8 Teacher Resources

Tule Springs Fossil Beds preserves a story of climate change through time.

NPS Photo | Andrew Cattoir

Standards-Based Lesson Plans for Educators

Our teacher resources have been evaluated to meet the Nevada State Academic Content Standards for Science, which are based on the national Next Generation Science Standards. Download our teacher resources for traditional and homeschool classroom use.

Meals for Mammoths

• Objective: Students will use factor label equations to calculate how much food a Mammoth would need to eat
• Standards:
  • MS LS4 1 : Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.
  • CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.RP.A.3.D : Use ratio reasoning to convert measurement units; manipulate and transform units appropriately when multiplying or dividing quantities.

Climate Change at Tule Springs

• Objective: Students will use factor label equations to calculate how much food a Mammoth would need to eat
• Links to supplemental materials:
  • “Worth Protecting: Desert Springs Monitoring in Joshua Tree” video
  • “The Geology and Paleontology of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada” downloadable material
  • Tule Springs Rock Record & Climate downloadable material
  • Tule Springs Local Fauna supplemental material
  • “Species' Range Shifts at Sequoia-Kings Canyon NP” video
• Standards:
  • MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
  • MS-LS4-1. Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.