Science // Dinosaurs & Paleontology

Types of Fossils

Distinguish body fossils (preserved bones, teeth, shells) from trace fossils (footprints, trackways, eggs, burrows, coprolites) and explain what each type can tell scientists

Ages
7 to 9
Type
Concept
Builds on
2 topics
Leads to
3 topics

Quick check

If the learner saw a dinosaur footprint in rock at a museum, could they explain how it's different from a fossil bone and what scientists can learn from it?

Ask this to see whether the topic is secure.

Topic // Mastery

What mastery looks like

What a learner can do once this topic is secure.
  • Sort examples into body fossils (bones, teeth, shells) and trace fossils (footprints, eggs, dung)
  • Explain that body fossils show what an animal looked like physically
  • Explain that trace fossils show how an animal behaved — how it moved, what it ate, where it nested

Topic // Map

Where this fits

What to learn first and what this topic opens up, with the reason for each link. Required links come first.
  • RequiredMust come first
  • HelpfulHelps, but not essential

Before this

2 topics
  • Fossils & PalaeontologistsRequired

    Dinosaurs & Paleontology // Ages 5 to 7

    Must understand what fossils are before distinguishing body vs trace fossils

  • How Fossils FormHelpful

    Dinosaurs & Paleontology // Ages 7 to 9

    Understanding formation helps contextualise different fossil types

You are here

Types of Fossils

Ages 7 to 9 // Concept

Leads to

3 topics
  • Fossilised Dinosaur DungRequired

    Dinosaurs & Paleontology // Ages 7 to 9

    Coprolites are a type of trace fossil — must understand the category first

  • Reading Dinosaur TrackwaysRequired

    Dinosaurs & Paleontology // Ages 7 to 9

    Must understand trace fossils before analysing trackways

  • How Palaeontologists WorkHelpful

    Dinosaurs & Paleontology // Ages 9 to 11

    Understanding different fossil types helps contextualise what palaeontologists look for

Topic // Research-informed

Teaching notes

From the Marble Skill Taxonomy. These notes have not been validated in classrooms, so treat them as a starting point for your own judgement.

The approach

For ages 7–9 learning Types of Fossils: children distinguish BODY fossils (preserved parts of an organism — bones, teeth, shells, which reveal anatomy/appearance) from TRACE fossils (evidence of activity — footprints, trackways, eggs, burrows, coprolites/dung, which reveal behaviour like movement, diet, nesting). The core task is to classify WITH REASON: for each find, decide 'part of the animal, or something it DID?' and then say what it could tell a scientist. Boundary cases (eggs, coprolites, burrows) and combining both fossil types to reconstruct a scene are central. (Eggs are used here as the source's worked boundary case, read as TRACE via nesting behaviour; eggshell itself is a genuinely debatable case.)

Common misconceptions

  • 'Only bones/body parts are fossils' — footprints, burrows, eggs, and dung are trace fossils too.
  • 'A coprolite (dung) is a body fossil because it's a solid lump' — it records activity, so it's a trace fossil.
  • 'Trace fossils are less useful' — they uniquely reveal behaviour (speed, diet, nesting) body fossils can't.
  • 'A footprint contains the foot' — a trace fossil is the mark/impression, not the body part itself.
  • 'You can tell everything from one fossil' — anatomy and behaviour usually need different fossil types combined.

Useful representations

  • A two-column sorter: BODY (bones, teeth, shells) vs TRACE (footprints, eggs, burrows, dung).
  • A 'what it tells us' tag on each example (looks vs behaviour).
  • Paired icons: a skeleton (body) beside a footprint (trace) to anchor the contrast.
  • Boundary-case cards (egg, coprolite) that prompt applying the rule.

Teaching practices

  • Organise around the guiding question 'part of the animal, or something it DID?' to make the body/trace cut usable.
  • Always pair the sort with 'what could this tell us?' so classification connects to inference, not just labelling.
  • Use boundary cases (eggs, coprolites, burrows) deliberately — they force students to apply the rule rather than pattern-match to 'bone = fossil'.
  • Contrast the questions each answers: anatomy (body) vs behaviour (trace), so students see why both matter.
  • Connect forward: trace fossils (tracks, dung) are the evidence base for the following behaviour topics.

Activities to try

  1. 1

    Fossil-sorting bench: part of the animal, or something it did?

    Why it works: Body fossils and trace fossils answer two different questions — what an animal looked like versus what it did — and the richest reconstructions combine both. A fossil need not be a body part: a mark or product of activity turned to rock (footprint, dung) is still a fossil.

    1. Work through a set of fossil finds one at a time: a tooth, a shell, a footprint, an egg, a coiled burrow, and a knobbly lump of dung (coprolite).
    2. For each find, answer two questions in order: first 'Is this a part of the animal, or something it DID?' (sorting it into BODY or TRACE); then 'So what can it tell us?' (what it looked like, or how it behaved).
    3. Place the tooth and shell into BODY and tag them 'what it looked like'; place the footprint into TRACE and tag it 'how it moved'.
    4. Tackle the tricky boundary cases deliberately: decide that a solid lump of dung records an action (eating), so it is a TRACE fossil that reveals diet; discuss where an egg belongs (read here as a record of nesting behaviour, a TRACE reading) and where a burrow belongs and why.
    5. Finish by combining the two types: use a body fossil to give a dinosaur its shape, then footprints and dung that scientists think came from that kind of dinosaur to show how it moved (for example, widely spaced prints suggesting running) and what it ate — stating what each fossil type contributed.
  2. 2

    Tappable fossil gallery: two shelves, two kinds of evidence

    Why it works: Body fossils reveal what an animal looked like; trace fossils reveal what it did — each category carries a different kind of information.

    1. Explore two labelled shelves of specimens — one BODY shelf (bones, teeth, shells) and one TRACE shelf (footprints, eggs/nests, burrows, dung).
    2. Tap each specimen to reveal its type and a 'what it reveals' caption (anatomy/appearance for body; behaviour such as movement, diet or nesting for trace — e.g. the egg/nest read as evidence of nesting).
    3. After browsing, state in your own words how the two shelves answer different questions.
  3. 3

    Classify and match check: body/trace and what it reveals

    Why it works: Confirm you can both place a fossil in the right category and state the specific inference it supports.

    1. Sort a mix of examples into a BODY pile and a TRACE pile (e.g. bones, teeth, shells vs footprints, nests, dung).
    2. Match each fossil to what it reveals: fossil → anatomy (what it looked like) or fossil → behaviour (how it moved, ate, nested).
    3. Answer this question: a palaeontologist finds a fossilised footprint and a fossilised tooth — which tells you how the dinosaur behaved, and which tells you what its body was like? Explain how you decided.

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