Investigation 5: Comparing Fossils over Time

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To learn more about identifying fossils, visit the following web sites:

Fossil Identification Key, Kentucky Geologic Survey
This key will help you use shape and descriptive terms to identify fossils.

Where are the Fossils, San Diego Natural History Museum
This site offers eight suggestions for finding and identifying fossils. It begins by investigating location and continues with procedures for fossil recovery and identification.

Follow a Fossil, Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Join a Denver Museum of Nature and Science paleontologist in a fossil hunt, from the beginning of the dig to the final display in a museum case! Site visitors can choose to explore vertebrates, invertebrates, or plants and in doing so, learn how paleontologists work.


To learn more about evolution in the fossil record, visit the following web sites:

Evolution and the Fossil Record, American Geosciences Institute (AGI)
Explore this online publication to learn more about evolution and the fossil record.

Proterozoic Era: Life, Museum of Paleontology
Explore this site for information on the early life forms in the Proterozoix Era. This site provides an informative glossary, links, and color pictures to help you build your conceptual framework.

Localities of the Vendian: Ediacara Hill, Australia, Museum of Paleontology
Explore the discovery of soft-bodied organisms from the Vendian Period of the late Precambrian Eon by an Australian geologist in the 1940's.

Learning about the Vendian Animals, Museum of Paleontology
This site provides text and illustrations for may Precambrian organisms.

The Burgess Shale: A Hidden Treasure in the Canadian Rockies, Hooper Virtual Paleontological Museum
To find out more about the scientific significance of the Burgess Shale, explore this museum's web site.

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AGI's professional development programs for teachers are supported by generous contributions from corporate contributors of the American Geosciences Institute Foundation and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation.