Week+2

//To understand the emergence of humans we should first understand the origins and development of our home, planet earth and of life itself. This topic explores the major changes in conditions on the earth and the development of life and the biosphere which made the emergence of humans possible. The earth is an hospitable place for current life forms including humans but was it always and will it always be so?//
 * Week 2:** **History of the earth and life on earth**

**Notes** **__:__** Last week we looked at 'big history' which introduced the main happenings since the 'big bang'. This week we want to go into a little more detail and provide firmer time lines that enable us to put our puny period of existence into [|perspective] and start to consider the future, not just tomorrow or the political election cycle but tens, hundreds, thousands and perhaps millions of years. We will consider the near future in more detail later. Further notes on earth and life history are given in the resources section below.

**Resources** **:** **View the two videos and two** //Wikipedia articles. Do not read the latter in detail but skim through all and return to establish your own summaries of major points.// **1) Arrow of time and Cosmic origins. ** The two movies from this web page fromTufts university provide an excellent visual overview of deep time and biological time leading upto and including human development with just a glimpse of possible futures. They are dramatic but good for presenting perspectives.  **2) Wikipedia: History of the earth [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Earth] ** A well as developing a perspective of earth and life history from videos: for IHS you need a more robust working knowledge including some familiarity and understanding of major concepts and terms used. History of the earth provides much detail and you should browse the whole section for interest. But for now focus on accounts given in: a) The introduction, b) the summary diagram. c) oceans and atmosphere, d) abiogenesis, origins of life and e) the oxygen revolution (our WA stromatolites are famous here). We will deal with human evolution and civilization later. **3) Wikipedia: Evolutionary history of life [] ** This article follows on from HIstory of the Earth and goes further into origins and explanations of life. Just browse this article for interest but focus on: a) origins of life, b) Multicellularity, c) Emergence of animals and d) Dinosaurs, birds and mammals.

**Activities** **__:__** **Submission date for Week 2 Assignment: Sunday 19th August** **Posting to the week 2 forum is due during week 2 and prior to Sunday 12th August.**

**Procedure:** Open this week's assignment word document and complete the activities as outlined. Return to Moodle, click on **Assignment** in Week 2. This is found at the bottom of the front page of this unit. You will be prompted to submit the file. If you have problems, message me. Once submitted, your assignment will be graded and feedback will be provided. You will be able to see this in your grade book in moodle. If for any reason you cannot complete any of the activities, please make a note in the section provided in the upload portal as you submit your assignment. Once complete, save the file for your own records in your computer. Later (from week 2, you will include it into your ePortfolio).