Kids Activities
A Newspapers In Education program for grades 7–10
Letter to Educators
LESSON #1: The Burgess Shale: Who? What? Where? When?
Students work in groups and play the roles of paleontologists on a dig. They "unearth" a few fossils and attempt to figure out what animals lived in the Burgess sea 505 million years ago and to reconstruct that ecosystem.
LESSON #2: All Fossils are Not the Same: Different Fossils are Formed in Different Ways
This is a three-part activity. First, students make a fossil using a sponge and salt water. This will need to sit for several days. Second, students make a fossil using plaster of Paris and modeling clay. Third, they are given different scenarios and asked to speculate on the environmental conditions that led to fossilization of a plant or animal.
LESSON #3: Age of Earth: Creating a Time Line Scaled to the Outline of a Human Body
Students work with a partner to draw an outline of their bodies on a large sheet of paper. They then measure their body length and use ratios to create a scale indicating how many inches equals how many years. Next they write in specific dates on their body outlines to create a time line showing the age of the Earth and significant events in Earth's history.
LESSON #4: What am I? Trying to interpret the fossil evidence of an enigmatic species
Students are given a series of photographs and drawings of one of the most unusual and controversial Burgess Shale animals, Hallucigenia, to try to interpret its appearance. The goal is to get the students to think about how scientists work: they gather information, form hypotheses, test them, and adapt the hypotheses to new information.
LESSON #5: Writing about the Burgess
Students write a short letter (called a query letter) trying to convince a magazine editor that he/she should hire the student to write an article about the Burgess Shale. The students are given background material on how to write a query letter, details on the Burgess Shale and its discoverer Charles Walcott, and Web sites for additional research.
Glossary
Additional Resources