Megabugs are big (mega) bugs that existed on Earth during the Carboniferous period, from about 359 million to 300 million years ago. There were dragonflies three times the size of today’s largest species and centipedes 2m long. Scientists believe it was the higher level of oxygen, due to the vast lowland swamp forests that existed during that time, and the lack of decomposers that contributed to arthropods being much larger than today.

No prior knowledge is required.

This can be a pre-visit, post-visit or a stand-alone activity.

What are megabugs?

In this program students will:

• Understand how fossil evidence can unlock our understanding of arthropods of the past

Students will:

• Observe present day arthropods using magnifying glasses and microscopes, and collect measurements and other data
• Use fossil evidence to observe arthropods from the Carboniferous period, and collect measurements and other data
• Compare the difference between present day arthropods to those from the Carboniferous period
• Discuss why arthropods were larger in the Carboniferous period

Science – Science understanding

• Living things have characteristics that distinguish them from non-living things and things that were once living, including fossils (VC2S4U01)
• Plants and animals have different life cycles; offspring are similar, but not identical, to their parents (VC2S4U02)

Science – Science inquiry

• Observations can be used as a basis for posing questions to identify patterns and relationships, and to predict the outcomes of investigations (VC2S4I01)
• Findings can be compared to those of others, including, as appropriate, whether a test was fair or not, to enable conclusions to be drawn, and may lead to the identification of further questions for investigation (VC2S4I05)

Critical and Creative Thinking – Reasoning

• What is meant by evidence and what is meant by a value and how they are used to support reasoning (VC2CC4R02)

Mathematics – Measurement

• Measure and compare objects using familiar metric units of length, mass and capacity, and instruments with labelled markings (VC2M3M02)