FOSSIL FINDERS Lesson Plan by: Caitlin Schrein NSF Graduate teaching fellow, Arizona State University

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Malcolm Singleton
6 years ago
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1 Objectives: Before beginning the lesson, the students should be able to: Explain very generally how fossils form and in what types of rocks fossils are found. After the lesson, the students should be able to: Create an accurate scale drawing of an object. Identify an object (fossil) using references such as field guides. Disseminate information about a discovery to peers. Suggested pre-lesson plan activities: Demonstration or discussion about how fossils are formed o Activities with rock and mineral kits (look at hand specimens with magnifying lenses) Introduce three types of rocks (sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic) What are minerals? Watch movies: Fossils, Fossils Advanced, Types of Rocks, Dinosaurs (~3 min each) and take BrainPop quizzes Introduction to dinosaurs, time periods (Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous) o Watch Walking with Dinosaurs Discuss how scientists make inferences about dinosaur behavior Field trip to a natural history museum or university research laboratory (geology or paleontology) PRE-ACTIVITY TEACHER PREPERATION (prepare this at least two days ahead of time!!) The teacher makes mock fossil sites for every group of students by mixing sand and glue to make sedimentary rocks. Each fossil site should include at least two dinosaur fossils. Materials: 1 plastic shoebox-size storage container per student group (2-4 students/group) All-purpose sand (can be purchased at hardware store) Elmer s white school glue (large bottle) Food coloring Warm water Photos/drawings/pictures of dinosaur or other fossil bones/skeletons cut out and laminated (obtain permission from publisher to copy these from a book) or any other item that can get wet that is representative of a fossil at least two per group of students. If skeletons are used, cut them in pieces and put the different pieces in different groups boxes, so that they can match them up later after excavation. 1

2 Prep: Pour an inch of sand or less into each shoebox. Mix glue with some warm water just so that the mixture pours easily. Pour the glue mixture over the sand and mix, just so that all the sand is wet and packable, as if building a sandcastle. Do not add too much of the glue mixture, or the sand will take too long to dry. Bury the laminated pictures of the fossil skeletons in the wet sand. Smooth over. Let stand to dry for at least two days. Sand will become extremely hard. You can add food coloring to the glue mixture to change the color of the sand to signify different age deposits (ex. Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous) and you can even make multiple layers in one box by letting one layer dry and then adding another layer of a different color on top of it, with the appropriate fossils in each layer. *Instead of giving each group their own shoebox, you may consider using a much larger container and making one fossil site for the whole class, but this may take longer to set and harden. *If teacher doesn t have time to prepare this ahead of time, the students could make up the fossil sites and exchange them, so groups don t know what is buried in the fossil site they are excavating. Lead-in to Activity Ask students to come up with some ideas about how scientists know where to look for fossils, using their knowledge of geology/fossil formation (sedimentary rocks, somewhere where there might have been water, etc.). Tell the students they are going to learn what scientists do once they decide where they are going to hunt for fossils. LESSON PART A: Making a map of their fossil site Once the fossil sites are made up, each group has to describe and make a scale map of the site before they can start excavating. Materials: (for each student group) 81/2 x11 graph paper ruler colored pencils handout Procedure: On the handout, the students must describe the fossil site (color, texture, grain size, etc.) The students need to make a technical drawing of the site TO SCALE. You can make this an entire math extension lesson on scaling. They should lightly color in the drawing to depict the color and grain of the sand. They must use a ruler to draw all straight lines, include a scale bar and remember the orientation of the drawing relative to the site. 2

3 PART B Materials: Small hammers Chisels Old dental tools Mini shovels/scrapers (kids gardening equipment) Brushes of different sizes (wire, paint, etc.) Bucket for collecting sand Safety goggles The students are going to use their tools to excavate their fossil site. They should be instructed to work carefully and deliberately because they do not want to harm the fossils. Once they have identified the location of a fossil, the students will draw the fossils on their map TO SCALE. Once drawn on the map, the fossils can be removed, but not before! Procedure: Handout the tools to the students and instruct them to wear safety goggles at all times. Instruct them on how to use chisels or other tools, if necessary. Once a fossil is uncovered, and before removal (!) from the sediments, the students should use their rulers to determine exactly where in the site the fossil is located so that they may plot the fossil in the proper location on their map (see diagram below). They should label the drawings of the fossils (1,2,3 or A, B,C, etc.). They should also describe the sediments in which the fossil was found on their handout. They should also title their map and be sure to put their names and the date on the map. RULER RULER fossil A shoebox Once the students remove a fossil, they should use books, field guides, etc. to identify it. You can also make your own field guide by photocopying the items you use as fossils and putting them together in a packet for the students. The handout requires them to identify when the animal lived, as well as list one fact about the animal. 3

4 Once each group has completely excavated their fossil sites, have the groups present their findings to the class. If different groups have parts of the same skeletons, now is when they can match them up. You can display their fossil maps and associated handouts. o You can insert a discussion here about why it s important for scientists to share their findings with other scientists via papers and conferences. Assessment: The handout can be used for assessment. Be sure that they have identified their fossils correctly and the information that they have provided on the handout is accurate. You should also grade their site maps using a rubric: o Assign a certain value/number of points to each of the following: Neatness Accuracy Are the fossils in the correct place? Is their map to scale? Is it colored appropriately? Are the fossils labeled? Do they have a scale bar and is it accurate? Do they have a title/names/date/etc.? Suggested post-lesson plan activities: Have the students locate and mark on a world map where their fossils were originally found by scientists. Introduce the concept of continental drift and show them maps of what the continents used to look like in the time period that their fossils are from. There are numerous activities on the Internet that address fossils and evolution: o Evolution and Natural Selection: (PBS Evolution website for teachers and students) (Natural Selection is a gateway to quality, evaluated Internet resources in the natural world co-ordinated by The Natural History Museum, London) (American Museum of Natural History) o Dinosaurs and other beasts: (BBC Walking with Dinosaurs) (BBC Walking with Beasts) (National Museum of Nat History how and when did dinosaurs go extinct?) o Human Evolution: (National Geographic Outpost Human Origins) (Anthropology for grades K-12, Smithsonian Institution Libraries) 4

5 (Institute of Human Origins; has some really good human evolution activities) (Smithsonian Institution s selected references on human evolution and paleoanthropology) (BBC Walking With Cavemen companion) 5

Sediment Sleuths. Purpose: To identify the types of rocks and minerals found in various regions of the state.

Sediment Sleuths. Purpose: To identify the types of rocks and minerals found in various regions of the state. Sediment Sleuths Grade Level: 7-8 Purpose: To identify the types of rocks and minerals found in various regions of the state. Suggested Goals: Students will be able to identify common rocks and minerals