Beneath Our Feet

Dig into layers of learning how Earth's surface has changed and keeps changing by examining fossils in layers of rock, modeling tectonic plates, and making mountains. Your student will read about fascinating fossils, perform their own fossil dig, model the rock layers with dough, simulate tectonic plate movement, and model mountain-building with foam and clay.

This Accelerate level kit includes a full-color student workbook and a detailed teacher guide, with step-by-step instructions for both hands-on and reading-based activities designed to engage students in plate tectonics and fossils.

Both teacher and student will be able to open the box and start within minutes, and the kit will provide over 9 hours of engaging learning.

In this kit, the student will engage in these hands-on learning experiences:

1. Propose an explanation for a perplexing fossil find.
2. Dig up real fossils and learn how fossils provide clues to an area’s history.
3. Model rock layers and Earth’s internal structure.
4. Find out what happens when tectonic plates collide.
5. Explore another feature of Earth’s active interior: volcanoes.

Use the Beneath Our Feet kit to answer questions such as:

• How are fossils excavated and analyzed?
• What is the inside of Earth like?
• How do rocks and fossils form?
• How do tectonic plates move?
• How do volcanoes happen?
• How are mountains made?

Your student is ready for this kit when:

• They know what a rock is and that rocks can change.
• They have an understanding of different landforms.

The following are Science Unlocked kits we suggest your student has completed prior to doing this kit:

• Not-So-Solid Ground
• Brick by Brick

The Beneath Our Feet kit is a part of the Science Unlocked Accelerate series and is recommended for grades 3-7.

Interested in learning more? Check out our Student Workbook Sample and Teacher Guide Sample!  

More Information

• Safety Information (SDS)

Items included in the kit:

• 1 Craft Stick
• 1 Dinosaur Bone Fragment
• 1 Flat Box with Foam Piece
• 1 Fossilized Shark Tooth
• 2 Packs of Linguine Pasta
• 1 Metal Probe
• 1 Modeling Clay
• 4 Modeling Doughs
• 1 Paint Brush
• 1 Bag of Pebbles
• 1 Plaster of Paris
• 1 Plastic Graduated Cup
• 2 Plastic cups
• 1 Bag of Sand
• 1 Tabulata Coral Fossil

Other items needed:

• Scissors
• Water

• Learning outcome: Dig into layers of learning how Earth’s surface has changed and keeps changing by examining fossils in layers of rock, modeling tectonic plates, and making mountains.
• NGSS science standards alignment

• 4-ESS1-1 Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
• 4-ESS2-2 Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.
• MS-ESS2-3 Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.