What Have We Here? A Classroom Dig for Discovering “Fossils”
Author:
Paul Belmas, Bannach Elementary, Stevens Point, WI 54481
Grades:
4-6
Overview of Lesson:
This project will enable students to dig for and discover fossils in the classroom setting. Students will be required to accomplish certain tasks specified in a rubric. Teacher preparation and demonstrations will be necessary on the use of and the safety of instruments and tools being used. Parent volunteers will be beneficial.
Suggested Time:
5 periods of 50 minutes
Students' Prior Knowledge:
The following short answer pre-test will be given to determine prior knowledge:
1. What is Paleontology?
2. What is a dinosaur?
3. What is a mosasaur?
4. What is a paleontological dig?
5. Using a meter stick to represent a time line, with today being at zero and the beginning of Earth at 100, where would dinosaurs exist?
Background Information:
Paleontology is the study of ancient life on Earth. A paleontologist is a scientist who studies fossils and the history of life on Earth. Paleontologists go on ‘digs’, much like the students will do in the classroom. An actual dig will be shared with the use of a tape and slide presentation prepared by a group of teachers who conducted a dig in Kansas in June of 2001 or by consulting one of many books involving paleontological ‘digs’.
As an opening activity, Dig Discoveries, a teacher prepared activity using hot dog buns filled with various ingredients to simulate fossils, will provide a hands-on activity helping children to begin their quest to becoming paleontologists by using findings in their simulated rock to locate promising sites for digging fossils and a tasty treat.
Materials:
Safety glasses, tarp, dental picks with straight pointed ends (made by breaking the curved ends off, recommend using a vise grip, snapping tips off and filing), screwdrivers, brush, ruler, magnifying glass, glue, and camera.
Rubric for evalution - pdf file
Student Activity:
Students will work in groups of three or four in the classroom. Each group will conduct a dig on tarp to discover, map, assemble, photograph and write about their discoveries. The rubric will be used to guide as well as to assess each student’s work. Children will receive instructions and procedures when the rubric is introduced, with each step explained. A teacher demonstration will be needed to show the proper use of each of the instruments. Guidance will be given as the children dig, discover and clean up over the 5+ day period. Parent volunteers, if available, would be an invaluable resource.
As a concluding activity, each child will get an opportunity to share with the class something from their dig that they found exciting. After each child has shared one thing from their dig, hold a class discussion to share other things they found interesting. Asking how it would be different in the field and how it would feel to discover a fossil over 80 million years old would add a different light to the discussion.
Finally, a discussion on the life of a paleontologist would be beneficial, now that they had the opportunity to be one. Sample questions might be: How did it feel? Would you like to be one?
Assessment will be done using the supplied rubric. Daily observation and review of their notebooks is recommended to properly assess each child.
Teacher Notes:
Various materials will be needed to conduct and set up the various activities. The Dig Discoveries materials, such as, peanut butter, raisins, peanuts, skittles, etc., will need to be picked up at a local grocery store. The student dig will require a mixture of sand, plaster, and water. The fossils the students will discover embedded in the plaster may consist of chicken bones, cow vertebrae, deer vertebrae or home-made fossils made of narrow lined, sealed pine or any other material appropriate for the task.
To begin preparation, water is slowly added to a mixture of 1/2 gallon of plaster (bought at a hardware store) and 1 gallon of sand until it has a firm consistency. When this has been achieved, lay out several layers of unfolded newspaper. Onto this, place ½ of the plaster/sand mixture. Next, press the fossil materials being used into the paste, either articulated (together) or dis-articulated (spread apart). After this, pour the remaining mixture over the fossils. One part of a bone should be showing to indicate to our young paleontologists the need for a dig. After these steps have been completed, wrap the newspaper around the plaster and turn it upside down on a grilled or raised surface so that air is exposed to the bottom. This will aid the hardening process, which will take around one week. Numbering the specimens and recording the contents of each will help the teacher to remember what each dig contains.
If bones are to be used, proper preparation is necessary to eliminate unpleasant results (mold, smell, etc.). Boiling, bleaching, and drying completely are necessary steps. Dying the bones (either black or dark brown) to make them more realistic, will add to the experience, but is not necessary. One possible method would be to soak them in tea or coffee.
Vocabulary:
matrix - the material (plaster and sand mix) in which the fossils used are placed
articulated - fossils found connected and in order
dis-articulated - fossils that are not connected, but scattered
paleontology - study of ancient life on Earth
paleontologist - a scientist who studies fossils and ancient life of Earth
rubric - an assessment tool
Interdisciplinary Connections:
This project uses the math (scale), art (drawing of fossils) and writing (daily and final summaries).
Extension Activities:
*Picture This and Heads Up, activities from the Denver Earth Science Project, will enable children to reconstruct a miniature Tyrannosaurus Rex and put together a full sized head of a T-Rex.
*Students may investigate the Sternberg educational site at: http://www.fhsu.edu/sternberg/tour/#second
Wisconsin State Science Standards:
A.4.1
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scia4.html
When conducting science investigations, ask and answer questions that will help decide the general areas of science being addressed
A.4.3
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scia4.html
When investigating a science-related problem, decide what data can be collected to determine the most useful explanations
A.4.5
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scia4.html
When studying a science-related problem, decide what changes over time are occurring or have occurred
C.4.1
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scic4.html
Use the vocabulary of the unifying themes to ask questions about objects, organisms, and events being studied
C.4.2
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scic4.html
Use the science content being learned to ask questions, plan investigations, make observations, make predictions, and offer explanations
C.4.4
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scic4.html
Use simple science equipment safely and effectively, including rulers, balances, graduated cylinders, hand lenses, thermometers, and computers to collect data relevant to questions and investigations
C.4.5
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scic4.html
Use data they have collected to develop explanations and answer questions generated by investigations
C.4.6
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scic4.html
Communicate the results of their investigations in ways their audiences will understand by using charts, graphs, drawings, written descriptions, and various other means, to display their answers
C.4.7
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scic4.html
Support their conclusions with logical arguments
C.4.8
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scic4.html
Ask additional questions that might help focus or further an investigation
