Dating the past – question bank

An inquiry approach is a method often used in science education. The question bank provides an initial list of questions about measuring the age of rocks and fossils and places where their answers can be found.

The article Dating the past – introduction has links to further resources and student activities.

Q. When did dinosaurs live in New Zealand?

• Date a dinosaur

• Fossil correlation

• How old is that dinosaur?

• Joan Wiffen and her fossils

Q. What fossils did the famous paleontologist Joan Wiffen find?

• Date a dinosaur

• Joan Wiffen and her fossils

Q. How old is the Earth?

• Age of the earth – timeline

Q. How do geologists divide up time?

• Developing the New Zealand geological timescale

• Build a timescale

• New Zealand geological timescale

Q. What’s the difference between relative and absolute dating?

• Relative dating

• Absolute dating

• Which dating method?

• Using absolute dating methods

• Relative rock layers

• Rock layers and relative dating

Q. How do geologists know which dating method to use?

• Absolute dating

• Using absolute dating methods

• Ice ages unearthed

Q. What can fossils tell us about what New Zealand used to be like?

• Whanganui rocks and climate cycles

• Ice ages unearthed

• Whanganui rocks

• Fossils from Whanganui

Q. What happened during ice ages?

• Ice ages unearthed

• Sediment core tour

• Whanganui rocks

• Rocks and Ice Ages

Q. What are some of the biggest and smallest fossils that used to live in New Zealand?

• Date a dinosaur

• Cretaceous creatures

• Squawkzilla

• Foulden Maar

Q. How are different rocks formed?

• The rock cycle