Indoor Labs Fossil Discovery Lab Description: 3rd grade & above
Objectives: Students will... 1.) know what a fossil is. 2.) recognize similarities and differences in modern marine life. 3.) be able to recognize differences between carnivores, herbivores, scavengers and filter feeders. 4.) be able to identify eight fossils from 20 illustrations. 5.) know how shale is formed. 6.) be able to differentiate fossils from ordinary shale. 7.) be able to match fossils with the their feeding style: carnivores, herbivores, scavengers and filter feeders. 8.) be able to identify pyrite (fool's gold) as a mineral. The lab begins with an introduction "What is a fossil?" Since understanding life today helps us understand how life used to be, students will identify 10 – 20 different types of organisms in the ocean. A review of their feeding styles will be made. The first hands-on activity involves matching fossils from the Falls of the Ohio with an identification sheet. Students will handle their fossil using the shape and pattern to identify it with the ID sheets. They will learn how its is possible to reconstruct life-styles of fossils based on their modern counterparts.
Working in teams, students will sort through a Middle Silurian shale (about 421 million years old) to discover what fossils may be found. A guide will be used to identify the fossils, which may include: brachiopods, bryozoans, cephalopods, clams, corals, crinoids, cystoids, graptolites, snails, sponges, trilobites and trace fossils. We will review those fossil types not discussed earlier. Schools will be able to keep the fossils they find, collected during the last lab session and will get a Silurian fossil ID sheet.
Lab length: 35 or 45 minutes (dependent on size of group) Maximum number per lab: 30 students Maximum number per school: 90 (30 minute lab), 60 (45 minute lab)
Fossil identification Digging for fossils in Silurian shale Life at the Falls Long Ago Lab Description: 3rd grade & above
Primary Grade Level (K-2)
Goal: Students will learn how life is similar, and yet changed from life during the Devonian period. Students will... 1.) know what a fossil is. 2.) recognize similarities and differences between Devonian and modern marine life. 3.) be able to recognize differences between different forms of life. 4.) be able to identify eight fossils from 20 illustrations. 5.) Students will understand that creatures live in different parts of the sea and are adapted to live there. The lab begins with an introduction "What is a fossil?" We cobble together a definition based on the input from students. The first hands-on activity allows the students to handle and try to match their fossil with picture identification pages. The second part of the lab in an activity where students draw a Devonian ocean scene. First students are asked to name different creatures that live in the ocean. If one existed during the Devonian, it is drawn on the board. If it did not exist, it is not used. If an ancestor to something around today existed during the Devonian, then the drawing is of the ancient creature, not is modern descendant. Students draw and color a scene based on the illustrations on the white board; they are encouraged to be as creative as possible. Students keep their art work. (See photos below.) Lab length: 35 or 45 minutes (dependent on size of group) Maximum number per lab: 30 students Maximum number per school: 90 (30 minute lab), 60 (45 minute lab)
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