Five E Lesson Plan

Whos first?- Fossil Records

Type of Lesson:
Inquiry and Challenged Activity
Learning Goal:
The students will be able to identify major events in fossil records
and show how fossils can be used in order to show stasis, sudden
appearance, and gradualism.
Key Question:
What information can we pull from the fossils in each sequence?
Target TEKS:
112.34-7B: The student knows evolutionary theory is a scientific
explanation for the unity and diversity of life. The student is expected
to: (B) analyze and evaluate scientific explanations concerning any
data of sudden appearance, stasis, and sequential nature of groups in
the fossil record
Related TEKS:
112.36-8B: The student knows that fossils provide evidence for
geological and biological evolution. Students are expected to:
(B) explain how sedimentation, fossilization, and speciation affect
the degree of completeness of the fossil record
Teacher Notes:
Materials Needed:
o Handouts
o Manipulatives
o Scissors
o Masking Tape
Resources:

If students need additional help remembering the information about

fossils there is a video available onlinehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClJ5lwl_wM0

ENGAGE
As soon as the students come into the classroom and sit at their desks
(after the bell has rung), the instructor will begin playing a short 3minute video over fossils on the smart board. The purpose of this video
is to grab the students attention and get them excited about
continuing to learn about fossils. The video also should relate to the
students in such a way that they will retain the information that is
presentenced to them. In this video, there is a well-known song that
plays instrumentally, but the lyrics have changed to talk about fossils
and are displayed throughout the video.
After the video has concluded, the instructor will then have a short
review session with the students over some of the key terms the
students learned in the previous class period. These terms include:
stasis, punctuated equilibrium, and gradualism. These particular terms
will be executed in the following activities as well.

EXPLORE
The instructor will put students into groups of four or more depending
on the size of the class. The students will then meet with their group
mates at the lab stations assigned to them in the back of the
classroom. The first activity goes over the different fossils that are
found in different sediment layers. This activity will be administered by
using manipulatives. These manipulatives are a series of cards that
represent the different sediment layers and on each card are some
letters, which represent different fossils. The students have to use
these cards to figure out which fossils are the oldest to the youngest
using a layer sequence. To reinforce learning about the fossil records in
the previous activity, students will then complete a second activity.
This activity will consist of the students using another set of
manipulatives, but this time each card has an actual fossil on it with
the name labeled underneath each fossil. This is so the students can
identify exactly what each fossil is and also which particular rock layer
it belongs to as well. Keeping in mind that once an organism
disappears from the sequence it cannot reappear later. This statement
should help the students arrange the fossils from oldest to youngest
with the oldest layer on the bottom and the youngest layer on the top.

EXPLAIN

During each activity the instructor will walk around to each lab station
and ask the students a series of questions to ensure the students
understand the concepts. The groups are established so that the
instructor isnt just lecturing to the students, but the students are
being able to learn from one another in a group setting. The instructor
will give guidance if needed and if any information is being presented
as being incorrect then the instructor will correct it as well. Once each
activity is complete the students will each receive a stamp on their
handouts to show completion and mastery of each activity.

ELABORATE
The students will do a final activity to show their mastery of the
concepts previously presented in the review session and series of
previous activities. This activity will consist of the students thinking
outside the box. They will be presented with a page of fossils grouped
together which they must each cut out. Then they will present what
they think the correct sequence is by placing their cut outs on masking
tape and placing them on the outside wall. This should be fairly
straightforward for them because they just practiced the same
concepts in both of the previous activities. The only difference is that
this time the fossils dont have names and also this time there are
several possible answers. After the groups have completed their
sequence, all of the students will go outside the classroom and
compare and contrast their answers and discuss as a class why it is
possible that each group has the same or a different sequence then
the other groups.

EVALUATE
Students will constantly be assessed for understanding with teacher
evaluations by open-ended questioning throughout the review session
and series of activities. The instructor will also observe student
behaviors as they explore the presented material. The students will
also show their complete understanding after the final activity to insure
the students did understand the over all concepts of the activities and
review session. This will be presented by turning in an exit ticket, which
will then count as a quiz grade for each student individually.