Students engage in a lab which introduces them to fossils and paleontology. They examine eleven numbered boxes containing fossils which are related to the questions on this lab then answer questions on a lab sheet imbedded in this plan.

Students count the number of varves (annual layers of sediment) in shale billets, taken from the Green River Formation in Wyoming. The count is then extended to reflect the entire 260 meters of sediments where the billets originated.

Students go on an imaginary fossil hunt. They follow a script read by the teacher, students "find" (remove from envelope) paper "fossils" of some unknown creature. They attempt to reconstruct fossil pieces into an animal.

Students identify and interpret the type of evidence found at a typical dinosaur dig and mimic a paleontologist by taking crayon rubbings of simulated bone impressions. After the rubbings are taken, the students reconstruct the complete...

Students become cookie paleontologists. In this paleontology lesson, students try to excavate whole chocolate chips from a chocolate chip cookie without breaking the cookie. They use toothpicks and paintbrushes to do it. 

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...

Fourth graders act as paleontologists and attempt to figure out the environment where various fossils would have existed. They explain how fossils can be used to make inferences about past life, climate, geology, and environments.

Students are guided through a process in which three questions are addressed by retrieving beta hemoglobin sequences from online databases, and using online tools to compare those sequences in student-selected animals.

Students identify and describe rocks that contain records of the earth's history and explain how they were formed. They formulate questions about and identify needs and problems related to objects and events in the environment, and...

Students investigate how body design affects balance. They make simple models of dinosaur bodies using straws and marshmallows. Before making their models, they discuss the effects of gravity and the importance of balance in body shape.