|
Visit all of Granny's past articles at Science in Africa and travel with us
on the journey to the stars.
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November |
Learning with Granny!
A Journey through Time
After an exhausting trip to the outskirts of the Universe, we had a 'Music
Break' and a ride on a steam train to visit a 'Science and Technology Exhibition'.
This month Granny plots the course for a different sort of journey - A trip through TIME.
 So fasten your seat-belts for a speedy trip back to 'The Birth of Earth'.
Look at the chart that Granny made to show when some of the life forms first appeared on Earth. Just
click on the picture to the right.
Here we will learn about the life forms that have come and gone from the Earth's surface and how and where we humans fit into the 'Bush'of Life.
We will also look at the Earth's surface since it's birth and note the changes that have taken place over the millions of years.
The 'Time periods' have been used to help scientists to understand which life forms existed on Earth at any time in the past.
We will be going way, way back in time, leaving all the history ever written about Man behind -past the Sumarians, the Egyptians, the Minoans and the Hittites, past the Chinese and the Indians, past the Peruvians, the Babylonians, the Romans, the Greeks, the Hebrews and the Celts and all the early civilizations.
To get to the time period on Earth when early life started forming, we have to go through a very long time period when 'early Man' was struggling to survive before they came together and lived in civilized groups.
Everyone knows that the dinosaurs lived 'millions' of years ago, but we will go back yet still further.
Two of the life forms you will come across in this early time period, are a cockroach and an amazing fish called the coelacanth
(Find out more about the coelacanth here)
 We will be going back to 570 million years before the present and to make it easier to understand, Granny's characters divided the time periods in their own geological time chart by using a ladder and some of their sports equipment.
Just click on the picture to the right to see all the characters on the ladder
and the time periods they represent.
Each of the time periods on the ladder will be broken
up into smaller time periods and over the next few months Granny will be going
into more detail. So if you want to know more about the paleozoic era from 570
million years ago, or the mesozoic era from 225 million years ago, visit
Granny's web-column each month.
THIS MONTH'S POEM
A Timetrip in Cyberspace
Please come and join us in cyberspace
Come in your own time - this is not a race
Although the 'journey' will take us far
You won't have to move from wherever you are
--------
We'll look at life from green algae to man
And try and find where the dinosaurs began
We'll learn why some animals no longer walk the Earth
And why zoos and animal lovers nurture each new birth
--------
We'll learn about ancestors and the 'origin of Man'
And how life has been perfecting since time began
We'll find life in the oceans that stretch around the Earth
And share the history of 'Mankind' in the land that gave us birth.
--------
We can travel through time in cyberspace
And visit with ease each far distant place
You don't need a time machine or a magic car
Just one 'click' of your 'mouse' and there you are.
------------
Jenny
Marais Nov.2001
Visit us next month to learn about the creatures from
millions of years ago.
Granny looks
forward to letters from teachers and pupils and is happy to answer your
questions. Simply e-mail her at granny@scienceinafrica.co.za
Until Next Month...
Granny Jenny
|
