Deducations from Fossil Preservation

Steven M. Stanley

University of Hawaii

This activity has been reviewed by 2 review processes (view details)

This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection

This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.
This activity has benefited from input from faculty educators beyond the author through a review and suggestion process. This review took place as a part of a faculty professional development workshop where groups of faculty reviewed each others' activities and offered feedback and ideas for improvements. To learn more about the process On the Cutting Edge uses for activity review, see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.

Initial Publication Date: June 4, 2009 | Reviewed: November 3, 2013 (see revision history: 2 events)

Summary

This exercise helps students learn how to deduce things from modes of preservation of fossils. It teaches them how to be effective sleuths.

Paleoecology | College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16), Graduate/Professional

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Context

Audience

This exercise can be used in either undergraduate or graduate courses.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

All they need is a logical mind. Background material is provided -- partly, as needed, by the instructor on the scene.

How the activity is situated in the course

Stand-alone exercise

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

How fossils form and what their preservational features reveal about preservational and diagenetic processes as well as modes of life.

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

This is all about deductive reasoning in the formation of hypotheses.

Other skills goals for this activity

The exercise can be conducted in groups. This may be especially desirable if there is a wide range of abilities within the class.

Description of the activity/assignment

Students will view fossils, sometimes with supporting illustrations, and answer questions about them via deductive reasoning. The exercise is highly interactive, with the instructor providing hints and helpful questions. The questions concern ways in which fossil preservation reveals information about things like what kind of organism the fossil represents, how that organism lived, and how the fossil came into being.