My Science Box

Assessment

Lesson Plan

1. Have students write down on a piece of paper: what they know about fossils and what questions they have about fossils.
2. Spend 5 minutes allowing students to share what they know and the questions they have. You may want to write up some of their questions and knowledge on the board.

Teacher Background

Sources
The geologic time scale used in this lesson was based on information from the International Commission on Stratigraphy and on Wikipedia.

Teacher Background

Getting Ready

1. Make copies of the Geologic Time Web Activity handout
2. Preview the teacher and the student sections of the “Understanding Geologic Time” website

Sources

Lesson Plan
Classroom Introduction

1. There are 2 pieces of information that are useful to review with students in the classroom before going on this field trip.

Sources
The inspiration for this activity is the squeeze box, cleverly designed by Eric Muller of the San Francisco Exploratorium. Look under Earth Science for the Squeeze Box activity.

For more information about Nicolas Steno and stratigraphy see:

Sources
Many rock identification guides are available on the Internet. My favorites include: