In 7th grade science, the students have been learning about Earth history which includes the fossil and geologic record. In this lab, students were given 4 different rock layer samples from 4 different locations on our planet. Within some of these rock layers, fossils were also present. Fossils can be used in rock layers for various purposes: first, the fossil can give us an idea of the types of organisms that lived in a specific area, next, depending on the fossil structure and anatomy of the organism, we can get a fairly good idea of what the environment may have been like hundreds to thousands to even millions of years ago! By studying multiple rock layers in different parts of the world, scientists can understand the range of specific organisms and gain a better idea if an organism actually went extinct (it would stop showing up in the fossil record) or if it simply moved locations. To complete this lab, the scholars studied the rock layers and the fossils that were in them; they then used colored pencils to help color coat the layers. After everything as color coated, they were able to interpret which fossils were older or younger based on their placement in the geologic column (rock column). By the end of this lab, our students were able to correlate rock layers and interpret which fossils were the oldest or youngest and why!