The vast expanse of Earth's history, featuring the predominance of microorganisms, is explored in four activities with increasing levels of student control. The chronology of evolution is converted proportionally to either distance (500 m and 5 m) or familiar time scales (year, month, and day). (i) Students travel a 500 m course across campus. (ii) Students stand at points along a 5 m line. (iii) Students work in small groups to identify the relative positions on a more familiar time scale. (iv) Students are given the approximate dates of key events and then must calculate and plot events on a calendar.