the great fossil find swbat make inferences based on observations

The Great Fossil FindThe Great Fossil Find

SWBAT make inferences based SWBAT make inferences based on observationson observations

Congrats! You’re a PaleontologistCongrats! You’re a Paleontologist

• You and your team are digging in a field in Montana, near the town of Randak.

• One clear crisp afternoon in October, you find four well preserved and complete fossil bones– Withdraw 4 fossil bones from your envelope,

without looking at the remaining ones!!

• It is too late in the day to continue the dig, so you return to camp with your find.

That night. . .That night. . .

• You and your colleagues begin to assemble the 4 bones you found earlier. Since the bones were all found together and in an undisturbed layer, you assume they are all from the same animal.

• You spend the rest of the evening trying different arrangements of the bones in hopes of identifying the animal– You have 5 minutes to try arranging them

Bedtime!Bedtime!

• As the night wears on, you get weary and decide to retire and begin anew in the morning

• Before you go to bed, jot down in your lab notebook the type of animal you think it might be.

Good Morning!!Good Morning!!

• Montana mornings are marvelous. They are cool, clear, and clean. Just the kind of day you need to get to work done at the dig site.

• The rock layers holding your fossils are very hard and give up only 3 more specimens– Withdraw 3 more bones from your envelope.

Back to Camp. . .Back to Camp. . .

• With the day at an end you head back to camp to try assembling this mysterious animal again.– You have 5 minutes to try some arrangements

• It’s late and you are weary. Maybe tomorrow you will figure out the puzzle.– Record your ideas on what the animal might

be in your lab notebook.

Day 3:Day 3:

• The next day is cold. It is the last day of the digging season. Winter lurks behind the mountains, and you must leave.

• Just as the day is about to end in disappointment and defeat, one member of the group cries, “I’ve got them! I’VE GOT THEM!!!!”– Withdraw 3 more bones from the envelope.– You have 5 minutes to try arranging them.

Back in the lab at Randak,Back in the lab at Randak,• You go searching in the resource library, and

you find some partial skeletal drawings from another group working at a different location, but dealing with the same geological period.

• They have found a skeleton similar to yours, but with some additional bones yours doesn’t have.– Take 5 minutes to compare your findings with another

team.– Look for clues that will help you in reconstructing your

skeleton.– Record what animal you now think you have found.

Back in your own lab,Back in your own lab,

• Once you back in your lab at Kimmel College Five and Dime, you find a Skeletal Resource Manual with drawings of skeletons of some existing animals.– Use the drawings to assist you in the final

assembly of your skeleton.– Once you are satisfied with your layout glue it

down.– Record your final idea on what animal you

have found.

Record the following data in your Record the following data in your lab notebooklab notebook

• Did you make any assumptions at the beginning of the activity that kept you from assembling the “right” skeleton?

• Did the discovery of new bones cause any conflict in your group?

• Did any of your group members resist changing in light of the new information?

• Did the information from another group influence your assumptions?


• Did the resource book confirm your group’s ideas, or did it cause you to rework your arrangement of the fossil parts?

• What features of the nature of science does this “fossil find” demonstrate?

• From looking at the fossil record and the resource manual, what could you say about how and where this animal lived?


• Do you think this scenario is typical of how scientists create and revise hypothesis?

• What does your experience with this scenario tell you about the work of scientists?

the great fossil find swbat make inferences based on observations

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