Fossil Themes Teacher Resources

Instructions for two terrific ancient history lessons for your primary paleontologists are provided in this resource. The first involves the creation of fossil cast replicas using plaster of Paris. The directions are detailed, but the...

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...

Fossil Lake, Wyoming contains the most complete representation of early Eocene life in the world. The first of three videos on location at Fossil Lake discusses the process of finding fossils. It introduces the tools and methods used to...

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...

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...

Fossils—not just intriguing, but helpful too! Scientists use the fossil record to support ideas throughout history. The video highlights some of the incorrect ideas that came from the fossil record. From cyclopes and griffins to...

How can we bend a fossil? Junior paleontologists explore the joint movements of extinct species in Brain Scoop's Fossils and Geology series. The narrator works with a paleontology curator to show the experiments performed on the...

Typically. when one thinks of palm trees, they rarely mention Wyoming ... yet Fossil Lake proves palm trees existed in this area back when it was a tropical paradise. The second video in a three-part series explores the history of Fossil...

Do all species evolve? A timeless video that is part of the "Eons" playlist explains the term living fossils. It presents the species that many believe haven't evolved over millions of years. It goes on to break down each assumption and...

Students examine how scientists use fossil evidence to trace evolution of various species and methods used to date fossils.

In this earth science learning exercise, students use the clues given at the bottom of the sheet to solve the crossword puzzle on fossils. They identify specific names of fossils and how to make a mold of one.

Students study different animals and plants that have been fossilized, and the time involved. They recognize how scientific information is gathered and is always changing. Afterward, they make replicas of fossils with found-object...

Geologists are gneiss, tuff, and a little bit wacke. The fifth chapter of seven includes ten activities at four different levels. The hands-on activities cover fossils including how they are formed, vertebrates, invertebrates,...

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...

Students read a news article that describes scientists finding a fossil of a T. Rex relative in China. They view a picture of the G. wuccai. They respond to the reading using details and by revisiting the anticipation set of questions.

A paleontologist finds a fossil, but then what happens? An engaging video explains what happens to fossils once they make it back to the lab. It then demonstrates three different ways of excavating the fossil from the matrix. 

Fossils ... from space? Science scholars discover evidence in a limestone quarry that helped researchers learn about a meteor shower that lasted hundreds of thousands of years through an interesting video from Brain Scoop's Fossils and...

An engaging interview allows scholars to get to know Proto Andy, a protoceratops fossil. Following along with the transcript, learners delve into six questions, including how he became a fossil, what he was like when he was alive, and...

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...

Just how long can a fossil preserve DNA? It seems that DNA becomes unreadable after about 6.8 million years. Learn about the science that helped make this conclusion and the mistakes made along the way in a lesson from a PBS Eons video...

Students recall prior knowledge of the process of fossilization. In this fossils lesson, students first create and at a later date, recover fossils. Students understand the painstaking process of recovering a fossil. Students recover and...

Fifth graders dig for fossils. For this fossil lesson, 5th graders read about the oldest found fossils and discuss the process of fossilization. They dig for their own fossils in a fossil box made of several dirt layers. 

Third graders investigate how some extinct organisms resemble organisms that are still alive today. They watch and discuss the Magic School Bus video about fossils, then create clay fossil imprints, matching the imprints to plaster of...

Students examine fossils to understand how they are formed and how they give information about geological history. In this fossil lesson, students research and write about fossils and make models of different fossil types.The PDF...