All students have to work with are satellite images of six possible fossil sites in Vastland. To pick the best fossil hunting site, students must learn all they can about landforms, rock types, plate tectonics and erosion, and also discover they can use the satellite imagery to help them solve their problem. In Step One, students begin to work on their mission by learning how plate tectonics helps create mountains and volcanoes on Earth's surface. Students then apply what they have learned to the six satellite images to explore whether any of the satellite images of Vastland look like mountain ranges or volcanic zones. In Step Two, a paleontologist gives students some tips based on his fossil hunting experiences.
Students also view a briefing video about satellite technology.
Step Three has students further identify the landforms they see in the satellite imagery of Vastland and learn how erosion helps expose fossils. In Step Four, students identify all the landforms in the satellite imagery and select the best site to hunt for fossils. A video reveals whether they have chosen the correct site. In the final step, students hear how a team of paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History is actually using satellite imagery to hunt for fossil sites in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. In sample lab activities, students model what happens at different plate boundaries using two pieces of foam, demonstrate the formation of each type of rock using wax flakes and crayon pieces, and use a water tray to model the flow of a stream through sediments, creating a river canyon.