Gutsy Girls Go For Science: Paleontologists

Bush Gibson Karen

Description

Hands-on science projects pair up with inspiring biographies of female paleontologists in a full-color book for ages 8 to 11 that will have kids digging in their own backyards and making real-world learning connections!Who were the first people to walk upright? What kind of life existed millions of years ago? How have organisms changed through the eons? These are the kinds of questions that keep paleontologists awake at night! InGutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists with STEM Projects for Kids, readers ages 8 to 11 meet five female paleontologists who made breakthrough discoveries of ancient life from millions of years ago, including Mary Anning, Mignon Talbot, Tilly Edinger, Zofia Kielan-Jaworoska, and Mary Leakey. These women all led fascinating lives while working in the field and in the lab, often facing challenges because of their gender and race. Through hands-on STEM projects such as creating a paleontology diorama, modeling an excavation, preparing specimens and finding clues in teeth, kids gain critical thinking skills just like the ones necessary to succeed in field. Essential questions, cool facts about female scientists, and links to online resources all reinforce high-level learning. Using a fun narrative style, engaging illustrations combined with photography, fascinating facts, essential questions, and hands-on projects, this book deepens readers' creative thinking skills.About the Gutsy Girls Go for Science set and Nomad PressPaleontologists is part of a set of fourGutsy Girls Go for Science books that explore career connections for young scientists. The other titles in this series includeProgrammers,Engineers, andAstronauts. Nomad Press books in theGutsy Girls Go for Science series integrate content with participation, encouraging readers to engage in student-directed learning. Combining content with inquiry-based projects stimulates learning and makes it active and alive. Nomad's unique approach simultaneously grounds kids in factual knowledge while allowing them the space to be curious, creative, and critical thinkers.

Informations

• Publié par: Nomad Press
• Date de parution: 24 septembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781619307919
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

K A R E N B U S H G I B S O N
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Printed in the United States.
Books in the Gutsy Girls Go for Science series
explore career connections for young scientists!
Explore the lives of some of the world's
most amazing female astronauts:
Bonnie Dunbar, Sally Ride, Mae Jemison,
Sunita Williams, and Serena Auñón-Chancellor
are all pioneers in the field of space exploration.
Meet female programmers who made
revolutionary discoveries and inventions
that changed the way people used
technology—Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper,
the ENIAC women, Dorothy Vaughan,
and Margaret Hamilton.
Meet five female engineers who revolutionized the
role of women in engineering, including
Ellen Swallow Richards, Emily Warren Roebling,
Kate Gleason, Lillian Moller Gilbreth,
and Mary Jackson.
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eBook: all formats available, $9.99
PB: 978-1-61930-789-6, $14.95
HC: 978-1-61930-786-5, $19.95
eBook: all formats available, $9.99
PB: 978-1-61930-785-8, $14.95
HC: 978-1-61930-782-7, $19.95
eBook: all formats available, $9.99
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Other books in the series include:
Check out more titles at www.nomadpress.net
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A N N I N G
Specimen
Collector
Combing the southern
coast of England for
fossils, Mary found many
important specimens.
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I N T R O D U C T I O N
All About
Paleontology
One way we know
about ancient
history is by
studying
paleontology!
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M I G N O N T A L B O T
Fossil Discoverer
A professor of geology and the first woman to
become a member of the Paleontological Society.
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T I L L Y E D I N G E R
A “Brainy” Paleontologist
The first paleoneurologist,
who founded the field
of brain evolution.
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M A R Y L E A K E Y
Fossil Huntress
Mary discovered the oldest
fossils of human footprints!
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Z O F I A
K I E L A N - J A W O R O W S K A
Pioneer Paleomammalogist
This paleontologist was a leading expert on ancient ecosystems.
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G L O S S A R Y
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R E S O U R C E S
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I N D E X            
“
Fieldwork is exciting, I think. There is nothing like
going out and looking for something, finding
fossils of things you never knew existed,
that no person ever knew existed.
”
—
Mary R. Dawson ,
Curator Emeritus of the Carnegie
Museum of Natural History
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L I F E O N E A R T H B E G A N
A B O U T 3 . 7 B I L L I O N Y E A R S A G O .
But . . . how do we know that? After all, modern
humans have been around for only about 200,000
years! Nobody was snapping pictures or taking
notes when the first life appeared on Earth.
One way we know about events that
happened billions of years ago is through the
study of paleontology. People who work in
paleontology study all different kinds of fossils.
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Focus on Fossils
Have you ever seen a dinosaur skeleton
in a museum? That is a fossil! Fossils are
what's left of living things from long ago.
When these organisms die, their remains
decompose and eventually become dust. Last
to go are the hard surfaces—bones, teeth,
shells, or the wood of plants. If any remains
are covered with sediment before decomposing, and
conditions are just right for millions of years, the result might be—fossils!
There are
lots of vocabulary
words in this book!
Try to figure out the
meaning by looking at the
surrounding sentences or
find the definition in the
glossary.
Fossils are made when that sediment
hardens into rock around the bones. As water
seeps in through the pieces of sediment, it deposits minerals where the bones are
slowly decaying. That mineral takes the shape of the bones and becomes harder
and harder with every passing eon. Eventually, a lucky person digs it up and finds
a fossil.
3
Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists
Take a look at some of the
oldest fossils discovered!
•
O L D E S T B I R D
Archaeopteryx lived
150 million years ago in
Germany.
•
O L D E S T F L O W E R
Archaefructus liaoningensis
lived 125 million years ago
in China.
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O L D E S T F I S H
It's a tie! Both the
Haikouichthys ercaicunensis
and the Myllokunmingia
fengjiaoa lived
approximately 530 million
years ago in China.
•
O L D E S T M A M M A L
Spinolestes (resembles a
modern hedgehog) lived
125 million years ago in
Spain.
•
O L D E S T R E P T I L E
Ichthyosaur lived 248
million years ago in China.
Although people often think of only dinosaurs as fossils, paleontologists
study all types of fossils—ancient mammals, plants, and ocean life.
They also study fossils of microorganisms. Trace fossils include fossilized
footprints and tail prints.
Fossil is a French word
that comes from the
Latin word, fossilis ,
meaning “dug up.”
A paleontologist is a kind
of detective. They study a
fossil and find clues. If the
fossil is from an animal, a
paleontologist will try to
figure out what it ate and
how it moved. For example,
the type of teeth tells a
scientist whether an animal
was a meat eater or a plant
eater. Perhaps it was like
many of us and ate both
meat and veggies!
4
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A L L A B O U T P A L E O N T O L O G Y
L A N D H O !
The fossil of a three-foot -
long amphibian called
Pederpes finneyae revealed
to scientists that the first
land animal appeared
about 345 million years
ago. How do they know that
from looking at a fossil?
The amphibian fossil had
ankle joints that faced
forward for walking instead
of backward for swimming.
These are the kinds of clues
paleontologists look for.
Paleontologists compare a fossil
to similar species to look for more
information. Is this a new species,
a relative, or perhaps a child
instead of an adult?
Ultimately, all fossils explain
what Earth was like long ago.
And studying the past helps us
understand ourselves and plan for
the future.
5
Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists
Geologic Timescale
Scientists have developed a geologic timescale for the history
of living organisms. Take a look!
✤
Paleozoic era (545–249 million years ago)
This is when invertebrates—animals without
backbones—appeared. Much of life was sea-based at
the beginning of the era, but plant-based life such as
ferns and early trees grew by the end of the era.
✤
Mesozoic era (248–66 million years ago)
This period is often called the Age of Reptiles because it
was when dinosaurs lived. Small mammals
and flowering plants also appeared during
this era. The Mesozoic era is divided
into three periods—Triassic, Jurassic, and
Cretaceous.
✤
Cenozoic era (65 million years ago to today)
This is the era we live in today. The
Cenozoic era is also called the Age
of Mammals. Early mammals, from
mastodons to prehistoric humans,
populated the beginning of this era.
6
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A L L A B O U T P A L E O N T O L O G Y
Meet Some Paleontologists
While fossils have been around for a very long time, paleontology
has not. William Smith (1769–1839) and Georges Cuvier
(1769–1832) were early paleontologists who studied fossils
in the early nineteenth century. They compared fossils
and layers of rock to estimate the ages of the fossil.
A popular
location for finding
dinosaurs is La
Brea Tar Pits in Los
Angeles, California.
Animals from
10,000 years ago
were trapped here
by sticky tar. Take
a look at this video
to find out what
fossils have been
discovered here!
o n n e c t . . . . . .  
La Brea Tar Pits video
7
Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists  
These men owed much of their success to the great fossil
finder Mary Anning. You'll meet her in Chapter One.
Deeper into these pages, you'll also meet Mignon Talbot, Tilly Edinger,
Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, and Mary Leakey. These women all led
fascinating lives while working in the field and
in the lab.
Ready to get your
hands dirty and
discover the
cool world of
paleontology?
Let's go!
Mary Leakey's father
told her stories about
prehistoric people. He
took her to see cave
paintings in France at Pech
Merle, Font-de-Gaume, and
la Mouthe. She saw tools
made of stone and bone that
were used long ago. Mary was
fascinated with the prehistoric world.
It was like a treasure hunt!
8
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A L L A B O U T P A L E O N T O L O G Y
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Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists
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T O D A Y , P A L E O N T O L O G I S T S S T A R T I N T H E F I E L D .
T H A T ' S W H E R E M A