Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: Paleobiology: Geologic Time: The Oligocene
Travel through Earth's history to learn about the Oligocene time period, which is characterized by the appearance of most of the living families of mammals.
Other
Black Hills Institute of Geological Research: All About Fossils
The Black Hills Institute of Geological Research is a world-renowned center for paleontology. Here they describe in clear language how fossils are formed and preserved, and what information they give us about the past, particularly in...
American Geosciences Institute
American Geological Institute: Evolution and the Fossil Record
The American Geological Institute has done an excellent job of defining and explaining evolution in this online booklet. Darwin, fossils, natural selection, and change over time are some of the concepts that are covered. Make sure to see...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Fossils
Fourth graders act as paleontologists to figure out the environment where various fossils would have existed.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Fantastic Fossils
Learners learn about fossils - what they are, how they are formed, and why scientists and engineers care about them.
Other
American Coal Foundation: Lesson Plan: How Was Coal Formed?
Two-part lesson in which middle schoolers learn about when and how coal was formed. They will do research on geologic time frames and order them by eon, era, period, or epoch.
Estrella Mountain Community College
Online Biology Book: Paleobiology: The Late Paleozoic
College-level biology book covers the Late Paleozoic geologic time period in Earth's history. See photographs of fossil evidence from that era in addition to diagrams to help with understanding.
American Geosciences Institute
American Geosciences Institute: What Can We Tell From the Fossil Record?
Find out what the fossil record tells scientists about the geologic and biological history of the Earth.
BBC
Bbc Nature: Prehistoric Life: Triassic Period
Overview of the Earth in the Triassic Period as told by photos, news, and external links with an emphasis on what grew then, what lived then, the causes of mass extinction, types of fossils, and what life was like in general.
Other
Bio Web Evolution: Homepage
This site from BioWeb Evolution was originally created as a ThinkQuest entry, and it has some good basic information about evolution. This page is on fossils and geologic time.
Other
Prehistoric Planet: Rock Layers: Timeline of Life on Earth
Offers an easy to understand explanation of the earth's layers and the fossils we find in each layer. It explains how these are interpreted by scientists to represent the evolution of animal and plant life through the geological eras.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Sorting Out Sedimentation
Sedimentary rock forms in layers that are deposited one after the other over long periods of time. Oftentimes, sedimentary rock contains fossils and other debris that are deposited within the layers. Use this experiment to investigate...