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...

When studying artifacts, especially tools, how do archaeologists determine what the devices were used for? In what ways might researchers' previous experiences influence their perception of an artifact? An article about researchers'...

How do scientists know when they've discovered something new? Travel back in time to when dinosaurs roamed the earth using an interesting video, which is part of Brain Scoop's Fossils and Geology playlist. The narrator examines the...

What tools do archaeologists and anthropologist use to learned about what life was like in the past. After watching West of The West's documentary Once Upon a Time that details how scientists use artifacts to establish a history of the...

Pigmy mammoths on the Channel Islands? Indeed. West of the West's Arlington Springs Man documents the history of the archeological digs on Santa Rosa Island and the discovery of human and mammoth bones that challenge the once popular...

Learning to craft quality questions is a skill that can be taught. Class members use the Question Formulation Technique to learn how to create and refine both closed-ended and open-ended questions. They then view West of the West's...

West of the West's documentary Arlington Springs Man introduces viewers to the remarkable finds on Santa Rosa Island. Archaeologist have discovered on this small island that is part of the Channel island chain, human and pygmy mammoth...

Should the excavation of what is believed to be the cave of the Lone Woman of San Nicholas Island be allowed to continue? As a practice exercise designed to prepare pupils for a timed writing exam, individuals read two Los Angeles Times...

Class members will dig this activity that has them trying their hand at recovering artifacts. Groups are assigned a section of a sandbox, carefully uncover the artifacts in their section, and then develop theories about who might have...

The excavation of a cache of artifacts found on San Nicolas Island, a part of the Channel Island chain, is the focus of a documentary that shows how archaeologists uncover artifacts and use these finds to attempt to understand the past....

Young archaeologists have an opportunity to learn about ancient Egypt courtesy of the materials in a resource that prepares classes for a visit to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. After examining information about the Predynastic Period,...

Skeletons may not be able to speak, but they can still tell us a lot. High schoolers watch a short video about the ways biological anthropologists can use a skeleton's bone structure to determine age, gender, place of birth, and social...

A passage about Stonehenge offers readers a perfect opportunity to demonstrate their ability to separate factual statements from opinions. After studying an article about this "mysterious monument," readers are asked to label statements...

Behind the closed doors of natural history museums lies a hidden world of scientific research and discovery that goes unseen for visitors. Follow along as this short video explores different scientific mysteries that have been solved...

Challenge the knowledge of your young scientists with this colelction of online quizzes based on the Magic School Bus series. Covering a wide range of topics from insects to outer space, this resource is a quick and easy way to assess...

Explore the inventions of the past with a project on ancient tools. After reading an article about hunting during the Archaic period, the Late Prehistoric period, and the Historic period, kids fill in a cause-and-effect chart about the...

Let's go an an archaeological dig! Prepare your kids with a list of vocabulary terms relating to archaeology, including different types of items that one might find. They study pictures of each item and play a memory game based on the...

Junior oceanographers access the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Shipwreck Database and plot the locations of several shipwrecks. Shipwrecks are always an enthralling subject and this activity allows your learners to act as...

"Have respect for the dead!" Scholars investigate how science and religion often clash. As they look into the laws of science and the laws of religion, the legal ramifications at the federal level of both play into an argument they...

Archeology is all about clues. Young explorers read an information passage about an archeologist, identify context clues in sentences, and use clues to match words with their meanings. Learners write eight answers.

Take a peek into the very interesting world of Ancient India. These slides provide insight into the geography, climate, social structure, architecture, and trade skills of Ancient Indus Valley dwellers. An archaeological view is taken,...

Here is an excellent cross-curricular lesson plan. Learners relate multiplication to area by making a grid on graph paper, and then creating the same grid in real space outside in the school yard.

High schoolers investigate the models for the origin of modern humans and the conditions that facilitate speciation and evolution. The classification and nomenclature of hominid species is also examined.

Archaeologists, historians, and scientists all work together to create a timeline of our past. Engages learners in a series of activities that all filter through the NOVA video, "Mysteries of the First Americans." Each activity is...