This is the second lesson of a 5-7 day unit on extinction and conservation, intended for an Environmental Science or Biology class. During this unit, students will: learn about the "Big 5" mass extinctions in earth's history; compare sources and evidence about past mass extinctions and our current extinctions; determine, based on evidence and differing scientific viewpoints, whether we are currently experiencing a sixth mass extinction; analyze new and innovative approaches to species conservation; and finally, write a 1-page persuasive paper advocating for one conservation approach. Resources are available as individual lessons or bundled.

This lesson focuses on analysis of various sources relating to extinction, past and present. When I taught this unit, I used 16 sources, roughly half about the "Big 5" mass extinctions, and half about the modern epoch, the Holocene, but specifically species extinction data in the last 200 years. You will need to search the sources on your own since I do not own the rights to them, but they are easily searchable using Google.