Adventures in Paleontology: 36 Classroom Fossil Activities

Millions of years after vanishing from the Earth, dinosaurs still have the power to stir students’ curiosity. Deepen that interest with Adventures in Paleontology, a series of lively hands-on activities especially for middle schoolers. This beautifully illustrated full color book features 36 activities that open students up to a variety of foundational sciences, including biology, geology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy.

For example:

• “How Do Fossils Form?” discusses how organisms become fossils and illustrates the concept with activities that simulate fossil-making processes.

• “What Can You Learn From Fossils?” explores what fossils teach about ancient organisms.

• “Mass Extinction and Meteor Collisions With Earth” discusses recently discovered links between meteor and asteroid impacts on Earth and the demise of animals like dinosaurs.

Other chapters cover how to tell the age of the Earth; how dinosaurs evolved; and diversity, classification, and taxonomy.! The final chapters offer humanistic perspectives on fossils in literature and art. As an attention-grabbing complement to the text, vivid full color illustrations show not just skeletons and animal tracks but also what dinosaurs probably looked like in their natural settings. Handy line drawings guide students through each step of the activities.