Science·Space Systems & Earth's History·conceptual
How fossils form
Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time
Suggested ages 9–10
Learning journey
Your child is exploring our solar system and Earth's place in it — understanding how the Earth's rotation creates day and night, how planets orbit the sun, and how we can read Earth's history through rocks and fossils.
Evidence of understanding
- Explain that rock layers (strata) form over time, with the oldest at the bottom
- Describe how fossils in different layers provide evidence of organisms that lived at different times
- Use patterns in rock formations to explain how a landscape has changed over millions of years
Assessment prompt
If How fossils form sees layers of rock in a cliff face, can they explain that the bottom layers are oldest and any fossils tell us what lived there long ago?
Standards alignment
4-ESS1-1US · ngss-k5
4-ESS1-1
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) K-5