Ice Age Mysteries (for grades 2 - 12)

Journey back in time to look at several enduring Ice Age mysteries with the help of the Grand Traverse Area Rock and Mineral Club. We will work with some of Earth's largest mammals, including a 42,000-year-old baby mammoth discovered by a Siberian reindeer herder. This program will then combine hands-on activities with science content while using fossil bones, pollen, spores, and tree rings to reconstruct Ice Age environments. Studies of the past Ice Age are increasingly important as we struggle to understand the scale and rapidity of climatic and environmental changes today.

Class activities will include:

• completing a bone identification exercise,
• viewing pollen and doing an exercise on what pollen tells us,
• discerning changing environments through tree-ring studies,
• and more.

Patrons will:

• closely examine the teeth of a Columbian and a Woolly mammoth,
• discover how Ice Age fossil sites are excavated,
• understand why certain Ice Age animals became extinct,
• and more.

Steven Veatch is a researcher, writer, and Earth scientist. He received his Master of Science degree in Earth Science at Emporia State University. In addition to popular science writing, Steve has published scientific papers on Cretaceous dinosaur footprints, a mammoth fromColorado, Ice Age pollen, and other areas of research.