Fossil Record Teacher Resources
Find Fossil Record lesson plans and worksheets
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Lesson Planet Curated
Science 4 Inquiry: Middle School Earth Science Lessons
The Science 4 Inquiry: Earth Science Collection includes 16 lessons designed for middle school. Scholars learn about layering through hands-on exploration of everyday materials and apply their findings to diagram the layers of the Earth,...
Lesson Planet Curated
Activity Book: Discover Your Changing World With NOAA
Introduce middle schoolers to the essential principles of climate science with a collection of 10 activities. Class members learn about the Earth’s climate systems, factors that change these systems, and the impacts of those changes....
Lesson Planet Curated
Crash Course: Ecology
Viewers take a Crash Course in Ecology with a 12-video collection that takes a look at where organisms come from, how they interact, and how they influence their environments. The videos, appropriate for in class or remote learning, use...
Curated OER
Evolution and the Fossil Record
Engage young biologists with four laboratory activities that explore the fossil record. Learners examine fossil images, a fossil kit, the rock record, and geologic time scale. They even experiment with the oxygen production of an Elodea...
Curated OER
Fossil Record Mystery
Watch how paleontologists scour the Gobi Desert to find fossils that fill in a gap in the fossil record. How big did dinosaurs get during the Jurassic period? Get your class thinking about these questions and more with this short clip....
Curated OER
The Evidence for Evolution
Summarize a unit on evolutionary evidence. Learners recount information about the fossil record, molecular record, homologous structures, convergent evolution. This worksheet provides plenty of room for students to write out responses,...
It's About Time
Mass Extinction and Fossil Records
The focus of a fossil-based lesson uses graphs and charts that allow young paleontologists to make inferences about events of mass extinction. They must apply their previous knowledge about fossil records in this final lesson of the...
Curated OER
Evidence of Evolution by Natural Selection
Walk your junior biologists through the evidence that supports evolution. The fossil record, anatomical record, and molecular record are explained and supported by colorful graphs and pictures. Extensive notes are provided for some of...
It's About Time
The Fossil Record
What do you call a plated dinosaur when he is asleep? A stego-snorus! Through four hands-on activities, young paleontologists rotate through stattions to learn about preservation in rock, resin, ice, and conservation of animal...
American Museum of Natural History
Layer of Time
Dig through the layers for a better understanding of fossils. Scholars learn that fossils form in layers of sedimentary rock. Pupils arrange virtual layers to show the fossil record of different species. Once the layers are correct, they...
American Museum of Natural History
Going Gobi: The Hunt for Fossils in Mongolia
Take a trip on a fossil hunt. Pupils read about a trip to the Gobi Desert by a group of paleontologists to find fossils. Learners view pictures taken on the trip and determine what the scientists go through in the search for answers to...
Curated OER
Guess Who Came to Dinner!
An exceptionally creative approach is taken to assessing your biologists' grasp of natural selection concepts. They are to imagine hosting Charles Darwin for dinner and having, to their surpise, a few other noted scientists crash the...
Curated OER
Hunting Invertebrate Fossils in the Classroom
Students acquire a general knowledge of fossils and paleontology, the study of evidence of life in the past and identify the major invertebrate groups (phyla) commonly found in the fossil record.
Columbus City Schools
Diversity of Living Things
Here's a topic classes can really dig—the fossil record. Use the well-organized and thoughtful road map to take eighth graders back in time to unearth the answer. Learn how our climate has changed, and how organisms have...
Curated OER
Examining the Fossil Record
Students create an evolutionary tree based on fossil morphology and their ages. In this fossil record lesson plan, students are given 23 pictures of fossil. They study their morphology and arrange the fossils by age and structures on a...
Curated OER
Relative Dating-Telling Time Using Fossils
Students explore how to read fossil range charts. They develop an knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the fossil record. Students become familiar with the concepts index fossil and fossil range. Students use bar graphs to...
Curated OER
How Science Works: Fossil Record - Televised Debate
Young scholars compare the three theories used tp interpret fossil records. In this earth science lesson, students create a production of a televised debate. They collaborate with group members to generate relevant questions about the...
The Brain Scoop
Fossil Sharks
Sharks contain a cartilage skeleton, rather than bone, so they rarely appear in the fossil record. The video explains why we find shark teeth and how scientists use that tiny piece of information to learn about sharks. Then, it presents...
FuseSchool
Fossils and Evidence for Evolution
What was the paleontologist's favorite album? The fossil record! Introduce the concept of fossils as evidence for evolution to your biology class with an inspiring video. The narrator of the Fuse School video from the Evolution playlist...
PBS
Fossils: Rocking the Earth
Scientists learn about animals and plants living today by understanding the fossil record. A helpful resource includes a brief explanation of the process to help scholars complete the online game. It also mentions the gaps in knowledge...
Columbus City Schools
The Mystery of Earth’s History
Every living creature can leave a fossil record, yet most fossils belong to extinct organisms rather than ones currently living. Scholars learn about dating rock layers, fossils, and the environment of the past. Pupils understand that...
PBS
How a Supervolcano Made the Cenozoic’s Coolest Fossils
Volcanoes cause mass extinctions, climate change, and physical alterations of our planet. They also create great fossil records, time markers in layers of Earth, and an interesting way to study geology. A video describes how one...
PBS
The Extinction That Never Happened
How do scientists define a mass extinction event in the fossil record, and what happens when they are wrong? Scientists find living plants and animals previously believed to be extinct on almost every continent. An engaging video...
PBS
The Mystery of the Eocene’s Lethal Lake
One lake in Germany killed everything that swam in it, drank from it, or flew over it providing scientists with an incredible fossil record and a huge mystery. PBS Eons explains the rarity of the fossil finds including turtles in the...
