Fossils

It is hard to imagine touching something that is 450 million years old, but with the help of the many fossils found here, students can hold the remnants of creatures that once swam in ancient seas. Students find out how fossils are made, cast their own fossils from plaster and explore with magnifying glasses the imprints of shells, brachiopods, crinoids and cephalopods embedded in layers of limestone. Students also participate in a simulated "dig", locating bones and reconstructing a skeleton of a mystery animal. Who knows what future palaeontologist might be inspired?

(This program can be modified to suit any grade)

Curriculum Links & Expectations:

Grade 4 : Science and Technology

Earth and Space Systems - Rocks, Minerals, and Erosion
4s101	demonstrate an understanding of the physical properties of rocks and minerals and the effects of erosion on the landscape;
4s110	identify and describe rocks that contain records of the earth’s history (e.g., fossils), and explain how they were formed.
4s113	formulate questions about and identify needs and problems related to objects and events in the environment, and explore possible answers and solutions (e.g., create a mould of a fossil and use the mould to make a replica of the fossil to demonstrate how the fossil was formed; design and carry out an investigation using sand structures to show the relationship between volume of water and erosion);

Grade 5 : Science and Technology

Life Systems - Human Organ Systems
5s13	compile data gathered through investigation in order to record and present results, using tally charts, tables, and labeled graphs produced by hand or with a computer (e.g., record both qualitative and quantitative data from observations of the nutritional value of foods; produce a graph of the heartbeat rate of someone climbing a specific number of stairs in a given length of time);

Grade 6 : Science and Technology

Life Systems - Diversity of Living Things
6s22	explain how fossils provide evidence of changes in animals over geological time;
6s23	compare similarities and differences between fossils and animals of the present.

Grade 7 : Science and Technology

Life Systems - Interactions Within Ecosystems
7s11	investigate ways in which natural communities within ecosystems can change, and explain how such changes can affect animal and plant populations (e.g., changes affecting their life span, their gestation periods, or their ability to compete successfully);
7s23	explain the long-term effects of the loss of natural habitats and the extinction of species (e.g., loss of diversity of genetic material, both plant and animal);