Examines evidence from the fossil record, behavior, biomechanics and cladistic analysis to interpret the sequence of events that led to flight in the dinosaur lineage.Students gather, organize and analyze data and then propose hypotheses about the evolution of flight in birds.What is especially interesting is that the fossils do appear to show a progression from the most "simple" of organisms, such as single celled creatures like bacteria, to the most "complex" organisms, such as vertebrates, mammals, and of course humans.This evolutionary progression seems to be clearly demonstrated in that certain kinds of creatures in the upper layers are rarely if ever seen in lower layers.There are four different pathways to explore: biodiversity, geologic time, paleoecology and past lives. Adventures at Dry Creek virtually engages students in scientific research.

Some layers contain mostly fish fossils while others contain land-dwelling creatures such as dinosaurs.A fossil is the remains or traces of a once-living plant or animal that was preserved in rock or other material before the beginning of recorded history.The term also is used to describe the fossil fuels (oil, coal, petroleum, and natural gas) that have been formed from the remains of ancient plants and animals.Since each of these layers seems so specialized it is easy to conclude that one type of creature gave rise to the next type of creature over the course of whatever time it took to form the various layers between them.Radiometric dating and many other techniques are used to support the idea that this transformation process took tens and hundreds of millions of years.The Evolution of Flight examines evidence from the fossil record, behavior, biomechanics and cladistic analysis to interpret the sequence of events that led to flight in the dinosaur lineage.The Arthropod Story takes students on an interactive tour through the amazing evolutionary history of arthropods, introducing them to taxonomy, paleontology, natural history and principles of evolution.