Silurian

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/silurian

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the geologic system?Silurian System
2. What is the position in paleozoic era?Third period, following the Ordovician and preceding the Devonian
3. What happened during the Silurian period?During the Silurian, plants first walked on land and fish grew new jaws. This time marked a big change in life on Earth, with many new species appearing in both land and sea.
4. Why were plants important in the Silurian?Plants grew larger and more complex because they had vascular tissues that carried water and nutrients. They helped stabilize soils and changed the atmosphere, making the land more habitable.

Vascular Plants: Plants possessing specialized tissues (xylem and phloem) for efficient transport of water and nutrients, enabling greater size and complexity.
Placoderms: An extinct class of heavily armored, jawed fish that were prominent during the Silurian and Devonian periods.
Arthropod Terrestrialization: The evolutionary process by which arthropod lineages adapted from aquatic to terrestrial environments, leading to new ecological roles.