• Bryce Canyon Amphitheater

    Bryce Canyon

    National Park Utah

There are park alerts in effect.
show Alerts »

  • U.S. Highway 89 Bryce Canyon to Grand Canyon

    Road damage south of Page, Arizona will impact travel between Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon National Parks. Click for a travel advisory and link to a map with suggested alternate routes: More »

Paleontology

Hip Wimpee (Hyracotherium)

Students will learn how fossils form,
their different types and what they
can tell us about the past.

 

UNIT GOALS:

  • Present the geologic time line in an understandable way for kids.
  • Teach students about paleontological digs and their difficulties.
  • Teach students how permineralized fossils form.
  • Teach students two common fossil types, a mold and a cast.
  • Use fossils to determine the age of different rock layers.
 

UNIT ACTIVITIES:

1. Threads of Life: Explains fossil associations, as well as when they appeared and disappeared through Earth's history.

2. Putting it all Together: Takes students through a paleontology dig and the difficulties of deciphering the information presented by the fossils.

3. Let's make a Fossil #1: Presents an idea most people associate with fossil production, permineralization. This process forms petrified wood and preserves animals' hard parts.

4. Let's make a Fossil #2: Presents two common types of fossils, molds and casts. Students make a mold and cast. From these new fossils they describe information about the object that created the fossil.

5. Reading the Chapters of Time: Uses information learned about fossils throughout the unit to decipher the age of rocks and determine rock layers.

6. Fossil Form and Function: This activity helps students understand how paleontologists determine the way a dinosaur lived, what it ate, etc. by creating an animal from fossilized parts.

7. Tracking Paleo-Animals: Presents students with a chance to develop their skills as paleontologists analyzing fossilized tracks.

 

GEODETECTIVE Home - Paleontology Discovery Chest - Paleontology Kid's Page

Contact our Education Outreach Specialist here.

Did You Know?

Southwest Willow Flycatcher

Bryce Canyon National Park has three wildlife species listed under the Endangered Species Act: Utah Prairie Dog, California condor, and the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher. It is illegal to take, capture, kill, pursue, hunt, or harm these species or their habitat. More...