Lesson Plan: Fossils Science
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to describe cast, mold, trace, and petrified fossils and explain what information can be gained from studying fossils.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- recall that fossils are the remains of organisms, or parts of them, that have been preserved and that these organisms no longer exist,
- describe how fossils are formed, including full-body fossils, cast fossils, trace fossils, mold fossils, and petrified fossils,
- give examples of information that can be gained from fossils about the evolution of organisms and the paleoenvironment, including detecting the age of sedimentary rocks,
- recall that fossils are important in petroleum exploration.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the concept that some organisms that existed a long time ago have died out (gone extinct).
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- reasons for the extinction of organisms,
- the process of extracting petroleum.
