North Attleborough
Public Schools

Thematic Unit

Fossils of
North Attleborough

A Research In Science Class Project
David Vito, Instructor, North Attleborough High School

Introduction   Carboniferous Period 
    Geologic Time Line      Carboniferous Plants
    Research In Science Class Fossil Project    Educational Links   
Taking Our Fossil Show "On The Road"

Introduction

    For the past three years students in Research in Science class at North Attleborough High School had the unique opportunity to participate in a "hands-on," long-term paleontology study of plant fossils. Since the fossil bed is located three miles away from school, many 43-minute field trips were possible. The fossils collected date back to the Carboniferous Period, some 300 million years ago when swamps dominated the landscape. Back then, Massachusetts was located near the equator, so it was much warmer than it is today.

     The fossils were unearthed by the students, brought back to school, cleaned, sorted, identified, and put on permanent display at the high school. The culmination of this project was the development of a PowerPoint teaching lesson documenting this study.

Carboniferous Period

How the continents looked during the Carboniferous Period

Characteristics 1