Activity Summary: This lesson is intended for middle school students to analyze real-world scientific data from ocean sediment cores containing fossilized planktonic foraminifera. Students learn to identify and interpret variables in a table to create stratigraphic columns, draw conclusions, and make predictions based on the data. They will explore the relationship between the age of the foraminifera and the depth at which they were found, gaining insights into changes into Earth’s past.

Students will be able to make observations and inferences about the different organisms found within the layers of sediment cores and pose questions for further analysis, AND analyze information to create a scatter plot to visualize data showing the relationship between age and depth of foraminifera.

This lesson has been revised and updated based on Microfossils in Blake’s Nose.