Humanities and Science
Basic orientations for the use of the lab:
- Use your lab coat at all times
- Do not lean or tip the chair
- Clean your desk and organise the space before leaving
Questions:
What information can we learn by studying a fossil?
Hypothesis:
The hypothesis is what you propose will happen in the experiment. Usually it uses part of the question and can be stated in the following structure:
If (independent variable) is _________ (characteristic)……., then ____________ (dependent variable – conclusion)….
Example hypothesis: If the mineral is a rock, then, the rock can be big or small. If the human artifact is made by humans, then we can discover if humans had hands.
Goal of the activity:
Create plant and animal fossils, describing their characteristics and possible background history.
Materials needed for the activity:
- Cold porcelain dough
- Leaves, stems and flowers
Procedures:
1. Once seated, cover your desk with a paper.
2. open the package of the cold porcelain dough and separate it into 2 equal parts.
3. Roll the 2 parts into 2 small balls.
- One ball will be used to create the imprint fossil of a plant.
- One ball will be used to create the animal cast fossil
Plant imprint:
4. We will start by creating the plant imprint fossil.
a. . Choose a leaf you can find on the outside floor. Make sure it’s a small one, not completely dry and around 5cm in size.
b. Crumple the first small ball until you have a flat surface of more or less 5 mm of height
c. Make sure the surface is even
d. Onto this surface, press your leaf / flower / stem to make an impression in the dough
e. Gently press it with your entire handit onto the dough for at least 5 seconds to guarantee the details will be registered. Remove the plant.
f. If the final impression is not good, re-start the entire process
g. Once the impression is done, leave at the side of the table to start drying.
Be careful not to drop your artifact, since the dough might break after completely dry.
Animal fossil:
5. Now we are going to create the fossils of animals. Since the real process of creating a fossil is very complex, we’ll only make a representation of the fossils. Use one of the options below:
a. Beaks of birds
b. Ammonites
c. Corals
d. Small insects
e. Skull of T-rex
6. After choosing your animal, use the second ball of dough, mould and format the dough until it’s similar to the animal you chose. Keep in mind that you might have to separate the second ball of dough in different pieces to create your animal fossil.
7. If the fossil is not good, re-start the entire process.
8. Once the fossil is done, leave at the side of the table to start drying.
Final procedures:
9. After finishing the procedures, clean your desk and organise the space.
10. Collect your objects and personal belongings. The fossils will dry in the classroom