American Geosciences Institute: What Can We Tell From the Fossil Record?

Fossils—not just intriguing, but helpful too! Scientists use the fossil record to support ideas throughout history. The video highlights some of the incorrect ideas that came from the fossil record. From cyclopes and griffins to...

Exactly how did humans become the top of the food chain? Follow archeologists through an analysis of the fossil records during a video presentation from the PBS Eons series. The ancient artifacts trace human evolution from Africa to the...

Sharks contain a cartilage skeleton, rather than bone, so they rarely appear in the fossil record. The video explains why we find shark teeth and how scientists use that tiny piece of information to learn about sharks. Then, it presents...

Watch how paleontologists scour the Gobi Desert to find fossils that fill in a gap in the fossil record. How big did dinosaurs get during the Jurassic period? Get your class thinking about these questions and more with this short clip....

For this investigation, students examine an image of multiple fossil footprint tracks. They try to construct an explanation for the events that created the pattern of tracks. Even though students come up with different explanations for...

This colorful, interactive site demonstrates how fossils can be used to discover a range of information about the past. Topics include Past Lives, Paleoecology, Geologic History, and Biodiversity.

Skeletons may not be able to speak, but they can still tell us a lot. High schoolers watch a short video about the ways biological anthropologists can use a skeleton's bone structure to determine age, gender, place of birth, and social...

Take a trip on a fossil hunt. Pupils read about a trip to the Gobi Desert by a group of paleontologists to find fossils. Learners view pictures taken on the trip and determine what the scientists go through in the search for answers to...

Can you name all of the planets in our galaxy in order from the sun? The young astronomers in this video demonstrate how they memorized the planets.

Fossils provide scientists with clues about Earth's past. This site from the University of California's Museum of Paleontology is great for exploring lots of information on fossils.