ALEX | Alabama Learning Exchange

Fossils StudyJam

Classroom Resource Information

Title:

Fossils StudyJam

URL:

https://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/rocks-minerals-landforms/fossils.htm

Content Source:

Other
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/

Type:

Interactive/Game

Overview:

Fossils are preserved traces or remains of living things. Paleontologists who study fossils look for teeth, bones, shells, petrified wood, molds and casts, traces or carbon shadows, or even entire animals.

The classroom resource provides a slide show that will describe fossils and how they form. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.

Content Standard(s):

Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: 3

9 ) Analyze and interpret data from fossils (e.g., type, size, distribution) to provide evidence of organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago (e.g., marine fossils on dry land, tropical plant fossils in arctic areas, fossils of extinct organisms in any environment).

NAEP Framework

NAEP Statement::
E8.3: Fossils provide important evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed in a given location.

NAEP Statement::
E8.4: Earth processes seen today, such as erosion and mountain building, make it possible to measure geologic time through methods such as observing rock sequences and using fossils to correlate the sequences at various locations.

Unpacked Content

Scientific And Engineering Practices:

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Crosscutting Concepts: Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

Disciplinary Core Idea: Unity and Diversity

Evidence Of Student Attainment:

Students:

Analyze data from fossils to provide evidence of organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.
Interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.
Provide evidence of organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.

Teacher Vocabulary:

Analyze
Interpret
Data
Fossils
Type (mold fossils, cast fossils, trace fossils, true form fossils)
Size
Distribution
Evidence
Organisms
Environment
Extinct
Relationships

Knowledge:

Students know:

That fossils represent plants and animals that lived long ago.
The relationships between the fossils of organisms and the environments in which they lived.
The relationships between types of fossils and the current environments where similar organisms are found.
That some fossil represent organisms that lived long ago and have no modern counterparts.
The relationships between fossils of organisms that lived long ago and their modern counterparts.
The relationships between existing animals and the environments in which they currently live.

Skills:

Students are able to:

Organize data about fossils of animals and plants.
Identify and describe relationships in the data to make sense of fossils.
Interpret data to make sense of fossils.
Provide evidence based on data from fossils.

Understanding:

Students understand that:

Fossils provide evidence of organisms that lived long ago.
Features of fossils provide evidence of organisms that lived long ago and of what types of environments those organisms must have lived in.
Science assumes consistent patterns in natural systems (based on relationships found in the data).
Environments can look very different now than they did a long time ago.

AMSTI Resources:

AMSTI Module:
Heredity and Diversity

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards

AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.3.9- Match a fossil to the organism from which it was formed.

Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: 4

12 ) Construct explanations by citing evidence found in patterns of rock formations and fossils in rock layers that Earth changes over time through both slow and rapid processes (e.g., rock layers containing shell fossils appearing above rock layers containing plant fossils and no shells indicating a change from land to water over time, a canyon with different rock layers in the walls and a river in the bottom indicating that over time a river cut through the rock).

NAEP Framework

NAEP Statement::
E4.3: The surface of Earth changes. Some changes are due to slow processes such as erosion and weathering, and some changes are due to rapid processes such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.

NAEP Statement::
E4.4: Earth materials that occur in nature include rocks, minerals, soils, water, and the gases of the atmosphere.

NAEP Statement::
E8.6: Soil consists of weathered rocks and decomposed organic material from dead plants, animals, and bacteria. Soils are often found in layers with each having a different chemical composition and texture.

Unpacked Content

Scientific And Engineering Practices:

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns

Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems

Evidence Of Student Attainment:

Students:

Construct explanations by citing evidence found in patterns of rock formations that Earth changes over time through both slow and rapid processes.
Construct explanations by citing evidence of fossils in rock layers that Earth changes over time through both slow and rapid processes.
Cite evidence from patterns in fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.

Teacher Vocabulary:

Evidence
Patterns
Rock Formations
Fossils
Rock Layers
Landscape
Marine fossils

Knowledge:

Students know:

Different rock layers found in areas can show either marine fossils or land fossils.
Ordering of rock layers (e.g. layer with marine fossils found below layer with land fossils).
Presence of particular fossils (e.g., shells, land plants) in specific rock layers as evidence of Earth's changes over time.
The occurrence of events (e.g., earthquakes) due to Earth forces.

Skills:

Students are able to:

Observe evidence from rock patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
Identify evidence from rock patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
Articulate and describe from evidence patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
Use reasoning to connect the evidence to support the explanation including the identification of a specific pattern of rock layers and fossils.

Understanding:

Students understand that:

Local, regional, and global patterns of rock formations reveal changes over time due to earth forces, such as earthquakes. The presence and location of certain fossil types indicate the order in which rock layers were formed.

AMSTI Resources:

AMSTI Module:
Water and Landforms

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards

AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.4.12- Identify patterns in rock formations and rock layers; explain how Earth changes over time.

Tags:

amber, environments, excavation site, fossils, organism, organisms, paleontology, rock layers, sedimentary rock

License Type:

Custom Permission Type
See Terms: http://www.scholastic.com/terms.htm
For full descriptions of license types and a guide to usage, visit :
https://creativecommons.org/licenses

Accessibility

Comments

The test may be completed as a whole group or independently on student devices.

This resource provided by:

Author:

Hannah Bradley

ALEX Classroom Resource

Fossils StudyJam