Fossil Finders: Using Fossils to Teach about Evolution, Inquiry and Nature of Science

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The Fossil Finders project engages children in classrooms across the country in an authentic investigation of Devonian fossils. Goals include supporting children in the use of evidence in constructing explanations of natural phenomena, and motivating culturally and linguistically diverse groups of children to engage in learning science. The four-year project is a collaboration of Cornell University Department of Education and the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) in Ithaca, New York. Classrooms from two grade spans (5th/6th and 7th/8th) receive shipped samples of layers of shale from an Upstate New York outcrop. Deliverables include development and testing of an interactive website where children learn how to identify the fossils they find and add their own data to an emerging database. A key focus is on classrooms with a high proportion of underrepresented groups of children (English language learners, [ELL] and children whose race and gender are not well represented in the sciences). Developed materials involve cutting-edge STEM interdisciplinary science content, including environmental science, global climate change, variation, adaptation, biological evolution, and the fossil record. Two groups of pilot teachers receive professional development and contribute to materials development during summer work sessions and field test curriculum the following school year. Fossil Finders is assessing learning progressions of children and teacher understandings of evolutionary science concepts, nature of science, and inquiry. The project is helping children and teachers understand how scientists use evidence to build theory, enhancing abilities to do inquiry, and stimulating interest in paleontology, biology, and geology in target demographics (females, low SES, and ELL students). Fossil Finder's broader impacts include providing a viable national model for informal-formal partnerships in which natural history museums connect with classrooms; providing inquiry-based, authentic science experiences; and potentially broadening participation among underserved groups of students.