Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Paleontologist: Can You Dig It?

For Teachers K
Students investigate what a paleontologist does. They participate in a dinosaur dig, write a story, and explore the Dinosaur Dig website to view and discuss photos of a real dinosaur dig.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dinosaur Daze

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students review, create, and inquire about dinosaurs, the fossilization process, and paleontology by successfully completing each of six classroom stations.
Lesson Plan
Project SMART

Dinosaur Trek

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders investigate dinosaurs. They explore various websites, submit questions to a paleontologist online, construct cut and paste model dinosaur skeletons, develop a graph to compare dinosaurs, and label pictures from online...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Archeological Finds

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore archeology and it contributions to human history. They write a magazine article describing the discovery of a dig.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Footprint Detectives: Making Inferences Using Dinosaur Trackways

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students analyze and discuss footprints and dinosaur tracks. They listen to books about paleontologists, create and analyze their own trackways using black paper and chalk, examine the data, and form hypotheses about footprints and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hide and Seek with Bones: A Mapping and Scaling Comparison

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students examine and simulate how paleontologists map objects. They hide and find objects using a grid to map the objects' placements.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Animal Tracks - Walking and Running

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students, using paper and water, make tracks and record the time needed to make them. They compare tracks made walking and running to determine the speed of the animal.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Chesapeake Bay Fossils/Geology

For Teachers 5th - 10th
Young scholars define and investigate paleontology, research geological history of the Chesapeake Bay, review geological time line, and identify fossils of the Chesapeake Bay.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

White Glue Fossils: Casts, Molds, and Impressions

For Teachers 2nd - 8th
Students make impressions and molds in clay and them make casts with glue. After the glue dries students remove their fossils.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Types of Dinosaurs

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students complete puzzles of dinosaurs. They compare each piece of the puzzle to a fossil and simulate a scientist's role in learning about dinosaurs.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fossils

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Young scholars act as paleontologists to discover who a mystery guest to the classroom was. They do not know the identity of the guest but infer the identity from items left behind in the classroom. They make inferences from dinosaur...
Activity
Curated OER

Cookie Paleontologists

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students become cookie paleontologists. In this paleontology lesson, students try to excavate whole chocolate chips from a chocolate chip cookie without breaking the cookie. They use toothpicks and paintbrushes to do it. 
Worksheet
Curated OER

Branches of Science

For Students 9th - Higher Ed
In this science worksheet, students locate and identify the various branches of science as they are named. There are 36 words/phrases located in the puzzle.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Biology: Howler Monkeys Tell All

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine a PBS special about howler monkeys as an introduction to scientific forensic investigative methods. In groups, they conduct a host of experiments containing clues which point to discovery. By challenging assumptions,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Excavation Dig

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students engage in a role-play of a dinosaur excavation dig. They dig through sand to locate buried bones and then discuss the ethics of destroying buildings and other property to get at the fossil remains.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dig It!

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders complete various activities about dinosaurs and fossils. They conduct Internet research, participate in a sandbox dinosaur fossil dig, and create a computer slideshow presentation using information they found on various...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dig This

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders explore the work of paleontologists and the life of dinosaurs and create a sculpture of the bones of a Stegosaurus. The sculpture was then buried and used by other classes for a dig.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduction to Paleontology Lab

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Learners engage in a lab which introduces them to fossils and paleontology. They examine eleven numbered boxes containing fossils which are related to the questions on this lab then answer questions on a lab sheet imbedded in this plan.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dino Traces

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young scholars are introduced to the type of evidence that is found at a typical dinosaur dig. They create rubbing casts of bone impressions on paper and, using bones, identify dinosaurs.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Can You Dig It?

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Young scholars investigate a fossil site and diagram a site map. They role play as paleontologists.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Be a Paleontologist

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Learners search for fossils in a simulated archeology site and explore how paleontologists mark out a dig site.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where Can I See The Sea?

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students see how the pieces of the fossil puzzle fit together to allow the paleontologist to imagine the earth as it was millions of years ago. They draw a map showing what environments were present in a certain area more than 70 million...
Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Whales in the Making

For Students 9th - 10th
This graphic from Evolution, traces the evolution of whales from land-dwelling mammals to the aquatic creatures we know today. A PDF is included that diagrams the evolutionary process that is believed to have taken place.
Handout
University of Houston

University of Houston: Engines of Our Ingenuity: Robert Hooke

For Students 9th - 10th
The transcript of a talk given on the syndicated radio broadcast titled "The Engines of Our Ingenuity." Interesting account of Robert Hooke. Using a captivating and engaging story line, the article tells of Hooke's many interests in...