Students model a paleontologist's activities. They identify dinosaur bones and reassemble them into a skeleton of an extinct reptile.

Young scholars view and discuss a video about the challenges facing wildlife on the planet Earth. They define key terms, watch the video, and answer discussion questions about the film.

Fourth graders use their knowledge about fossils to arrange fossil pictures in sequence from oldest to youngest. They explain how fossils can be used to make inferences about past life, climate, geology, and environments and discover...

Young scholars use fossil leaves and a mathematical formula to study climate change. In this climate change and fossil lesson plan, students determine the differences in temperatures during two different times during the Cenozoic era...

Students examine scientific inquiry.  For this time and temperature lesson students create a template to solve scientific problems and work through a science problem. 

Middle schoolers study the term living fossil and examine why some of the reasons they survived.  For this fossils lesson students form a hypothesis and use data to see if it is accurate. 

Students explore the various ways in which geologists create fossil records. Working in pairs, students create a model of a fossil record through a hands on activity. They relate their experience to recent discoveries in geology and...

Students distinguish between walking, jogging and running trackways in humans. They analyze the phylogenetic progression of the leg position as described by pace width and angulation, comparing amphibians, reptiles and mammals. Research...

Learners examine what causes tsunamis and why they all behave differently.  In this tsunami lesson students complete a group activity after viewing a video. 

In this lesson, 6th graders research and examine current theories behind the mass extinction of dinosaurs. After a discusion about the extinction of the dinosaurs, students discuss the two major extinction theories talked about in the...

Students study birds and examine the idea that they evolved from reptiles or dinosaurs.  For this birds lesson students divide into groups and research one side of the debate, then at the end have the students debate each-other. 

Students use fossil range charts to explain relative dating. They graph for ammonites, marine organisms that went extinct at the same time as dinosaurs.

Young scholars examine how each animal's habitat provides what that animal needs for survival. They discuss what an animal needs to survive-food, shelter, water, and space.

Students examine different kinds and characteristics of reptiles, and demonstrate reading comprehension skills, including reading strategies, inference, literal meaning, and critical analysis.

Students examine natural and man-made threats to sea turtles. They create sea turtle mobiles while studying the range, environment, predators of and threats to sea turtles.

Second graders examine the formation of fossils and list the different types. They make cast model of a dinosaur fossil. They write about conditions that are necessary for fossils to form and create a model of a buried fossil.

Students hypothesize dinosaur size and speed by looking at dinosaur track way or by measuring a dinosaur models water displacement. In addition, techniques to help students become familiar with the ways paleontologists study fossils can...

Students study the Evolution in the Light of Fossils. Activities in this lesson range from quantitative measurements of hominoid skulls to the comparison of hominoid bone structures. They hypothesize dinosaur size and speed by looking at...

Students create a diorama depicting Mesozoic sea life. They color a template and add shells and pebbles to the diorama to depict the ocean floor.

Students study craters and identify the different things that characterize craters.  In this crater lesson students create a model of an impact crater. 

Students participate in a simulation in which they discover the threats to sea turtles throughout the world. In groups, they act out the life cycle of a sea turtle and describe the stresses that threaten their survival. As a class,...

Students listen to a story about a sea turtle sanctuary. They participate in a discussion about the sea turtles. They analyze some of the hazards that can hurt sea turtles and brainstorm ways to help the problem. They write and...

Students are able to describe the development of their chosen form of vertebrate life from the past to the present in a four to six page typed paper. They explain the use of phylogenetic tree. Students use the phylogenetic tree to...

Marine biology apprentices interpret data of sturgeon interaction with gill nets. They use the data to calculate the percentage of fish entangled in each twine size to discover if there is any correlation. This is a valuable exercise in...