Students differentiate between observations and hypotheses after reading an article about pterosaurs. They then consider how challenging and further testing hypotheses is part of the nature of science.

Students understand how fossils form and explore the importance of fossils. Teacher Notes for the activity are in the database as a separate resource.

Students understand how fossils form and explore the importance of fossils. The student pages for the activity are in the database as a separate resource.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 4th Grade Science. 

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 4th Grade Science.

In this activity students will investigate four different ways fossils are made in sedimentary rock: impression, trace, preserved, and mineral replacement (petrification) fossils.

Learners compare a life-size drawing of a Tyrannosaurus rex head and a full-size Sinornithosaurus body to understand that dinosaurs varied in size. Learners trace individual pieces of a dinosaur on paper and then work together as a group to arrange the pieces of the "puzzle". This is an opportunity to understand scale drawings as well as learn how to work as a group.

This lesson helps students understand evolutionary trees and how they show change over time. They will also recognize that fossils provide information about organisms that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago.

Students use toothpicks to make a skeleton model of a sea reptile that lived more than 65 million years ago.

In this activity, students will learn about the different types of fossils, particularly trace fossils. They will also design an experiment to learn how the sediment type affects fossil preservation.

In this classroom activity, middle school students gain an understanding of geologic time. The activity opens with background information for teachers about carbon and radiometric dating. In a classroom discussion, students share what they know about geologic time. Then, working in small groups responsible for different eras, students create a timeline for their assigned era by conducting library and Internet research. The activity concludes by having students review all the timelines to compare how long humans have been on the Earth to the length of time dinosaurs inhabited the planet.

Fourth Grade Integrated Science textbook for the 2018-2020 school year. This textbook was developed to align to the Utah Science Core Curriculum. (Updated: May 29, 2019)

Students investigate events of long ago by examining a photograph of multiple dinosaur's footprints. Students will attempt to explain the events that created the tracks to understand that looking at fossils gives scientists a good idea of ancient animal behavior.

In this classroom activity, young students learn what distinguishes dinosaurs from other animals. The activity opens with background information for teachers about these prehistoric reptiles. Working in small groups, students look through dinosaur books to gather interesting facts to share. As a class, students use their facts to create a semantic map. Then they explore the differences in dinosaur and lizard legs, and examine how these differences affect their stances. The activity concludes with a student worksheet that challenges them to identify the dinosaurs within a collection of animal illustrations.

In this classroom activity, young students explore the differences between bone and trace fossils. The activity opens with background information for teachers about fossils. After describing what a fossil is in their own words, students learn that a fossil is "any evidence of life that is at least 10,000 years old." They then explore the differences between trace and bone fossils by examining pictures. The activity concludes with a student worksheet that challenges them to identify trace and bone fossils.

In this classroom activity, middle school students learn what distinguishes dinosaurs from other animals. The activity opens with background information for teachers about these prehistoric reptiles. As a class, students compare the stance of lizards and dinosaurs in pictures and try to replicate both reptiles' walks. Students then learn that Museum paleontologists classify birds as dinosaurs, and work in groups to compare a T. rex skeleton with pictures of birds.

In this classroom activity, young students investigate what paleontologists can tell from a dinosaur's teeth. The activity opens with background information for teachers about dinosaur teeth. Students begin by looking at animal photos and describing each creature's teeth. They then conduct an experiment that helps them differentiate between the teeth of meat-eaters and plant-eaters .The activity concludes with a student worksheet that challenges them to identify meat-eating and plant-eating dinosaurs.