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.

Pupils engage in a role-play of a dinosaur excavation dig. They dig through sand to locate buried bones and then discuss the ethics of destroying buildings and other property to get at the fossil remains.

Students experience, through a "dig," the historical discovery of fossils which increasingly link whales to earlier land-dwelling mammals. They encounter the intermediate forms which show changes that lead to the modern whale.

Fourth graders, after defining the task and searching for some creative strategies, role play being a Park Ranger who tries to save Big Bend from being removed from the National Park system in Texas. They support the keeping of Big Bend...