Paleontology Lesson Plans

From Discovering Fossils to Teen Angst, find teacher approved paleontology lesson plans that inspire student learning.

Dinosaurs

11 Views: 4th - 6th Grade; 5.0/5.

Students dig for and discover fossils in a classroom setting. They dig on a tarp to find, map, assemble, and photograph their discoveries.

Paleontology: A Field Experience

5 Views: 5th - 7th Grade; 5.0/5.

Students go to a dig where they prospect for bones which simulate fossils. They encase the bones in plaster and transport them back to school for further investigation.

Fossils and Dinosaurs

28 Views: 3rd - 5th Grade; 5.0/5.

Students visit a variety of Internet sites and identify the kinds of information that can be deduced from a fossil and how a fossil forms. They differentiate between commonly known dinosaur facts and myths.

Discovering Dinosuars

5 Views: 3rd - 4th Grade; 5.0/5.

Students generate hypotheses about dinosaurs from observing patterns in dinosaur footprints. They view and discuss a video showing the ways paleontologists collect data from fossils then pair up to evaluate pictures of dinosaur footprints to determine what the dinosaurs were doing at the time the footprints were made.

[PDF] Rocks, Minerals, and Erosion

19 Views: 3rd - 5th Grade; 5.0/5.

Students identify and describe rocks that contain records of the earth's history and explain how they were formed. They formulate questions about and identify needs and problems related to objects and events in the environment, and explore possible answers and solutions.

We Can Dig It! Newly Added

8 Views: 3rd Grade; 5.0/5.

Students understand the process by which fossils and rocks are excavated. In this fossil and rock lesson, students explore the job of the paleontologist in a podcast.

Where Are the Dinosaurs? Newly Added

11 Views: Kindergarten - 2nd Grade; 5.0/5.

Students recognize that they haven't seen a dinosaur because they no longer exist. In this dinosaur lesson, students view videos and understand what the dinosaur habitat was like. Students role play dinosaurs. Students explore dinosaur egg models and discuss their survival in the habitat. Students make hatch-able dinosaur eggs.

Boning Up on Fossil Features

4 Views: 6th - 12th Grade; 5.0/5.

Students investigate a specific dinosaur; produce a poster relating what is known or speculated about where and how the dinosaur lived to the physical features of the dinosaur.

How Do Scientists Find Dinosaur Fossils?

23 Views: 3rd - 5th Grade; 5.0/5.

Students have probably already studied dinosaurs in school, but they may not have learned much about the process by which paleontologists locate, excavate, and study dinosaurs. They write journal entries pretending they are on a dinosaur dig.

Teen Angst

0 Views: 6th - 12th Grade; 5.0/5.

Students gain a broader understanding of new scientific research about the life cycle of the Tyrannosaur, and translate their knowledge into the creation of an illustrated studenT book produced and created by the entire class.