Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Students Explore Fossil Creatures Of The Cambrian Period Burgess Shale Through Model-Making, Andrea Anderson, Ksenia Zhbanova, Phyllis Gray, Jolene K. Teske, Audrey C. Rule

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

This practical article features an arts-integrated science unit on fossils of the Burgess Shale for fourteen elementary/ middle school students at a weeklong summer day camp. The day camp had a theme of recycling, reduction and reuse; all of the fossil models had substantial recycled components to support this theme. Next Generation Science Standards were supported by the course activities in which students examined fossil specimens, images, and comparative modern relatives to determine the anatomy and lifestyles of Burgess Shale Cambrian Period fossil animals (e.g., Olenoides trilobites, Anomalocaris, Canadaspis, Opabinia, Wiwaxia, Hallucigenia) through making scientific …