Students can better explain how mould and cast fossils occur when they make their own cast fossils using plaster of Paris and objects such as shells, bone or even their own hand or footprint.

Students investigate what a fossil is and how it came to be.  In this fossil lesson, students examine pictures of skeletons and identify characteristics that can and cannot be determined by a fossil.  Students complete diagrams...

Fourth graders make inferences and interpretations from sets of dinosaur tracks. They describe Utah fossils and how they were formed. Partners trade their sketches of tracks and try to guess which dinosaur it belonged to.

Fourth graders create their own dinosaur tracks using clay. In addition, 4th graders compose a story about the dinosaur / animal who created the tracks. They study photographs of dinosaur tracks before beginning.