By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Students in Paige McMillian’s AP Biology classes “did a little digging to get to the bottom of things” – both literally and figuratively – as part of their recent study of evolution.
The Union City High School students and their teacher took a field trip to the Coon Creek Science Center in McNairy County where they explored the grounds and dug for fossils in an exercise supplementing a recent class study.
In conjunction with UT Martin, the Coon Creek Science Center in Selmer hosts many education-based groups – including K-12 schools, homeschool groups, Boy Scout and Girl Scout Troops – as well as community partners and agencies, field trips and fossil digs.
Special concentration is on the removal, repairing, and preserving of the grounds and fossils before, during, and after the digs. A typical community day consists of about 20 minutes of education about why we have ocean fossils in West Tennessee and why they are world-famous.
A tour guide gave the UCHS students a detailed history of the area and walked them down to the creek, where they dug up fossils. He then showed them how to clean and preserve them.
“One of our topics in AP Biology is the evolution of living things and how looking at the geography can show the relatedness of different species and what existed in certain areas at one time,” McMillan explained. “I thought it would be interesting for my students to see what species were in this area thousands of years ago and how things have evolved, or changed, over time.
“It was a great trip for our students, and both entertaining and informative.”
In the early 1990s, the museum began a long-term association with the Geology program at the University of Tennessee at Martin to help with ongoing research at the site, visiting university classes, and professional development for educators.
The earliest record of fossils from what became the Coon Creek Formation was made by Tennessee’s first state geologist, Gerard Troost, on October 24, 1833.