Texas TEKS 3.12.D
The Standard
identify fossils as evidence of past living organisms and environments, including common Texas fossils.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students examine fossils and identify what kind of organism left each trace. They use fossil features to describe whether an area was once ocean, forest, or another environment.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a fossil sample or photo, a student can identify the organism or fossil type. The student can use visible features to support a reasonable claim about the past environment.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think fossils are only dinosaur bones or that every unusual rock is a fossil. They may also confuse modern shells with fossils or assume Texas was always dry land.
How to Assess It
- Show a photo of an ammonite in limestone. Ask: What does this fossil show lived here, and what was this area probably like long ago?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups replica fossils, hand lenses, and a sorting mat labeled plant, land animal, and sea animal.
Ask students to write: What evidence could prove that part of Texas was once covered by an ocean?
Play a matching game with cards showing Texas fossils, their organisms, and likely environments.
Use a Texas fossil map to locate a nearby fossil area and infer what its environment was long ago.
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Printable 3.12.D Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 3.12.D, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
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Related Standards
- 4.12.C
identify and describe past environments based on fossil evidence, including common Texas fossils.
- K.1.C
identify, describe, and demonstrate safe practices during classroom and field investigations as outlined in Texas Education Agency-approved safety standards;
- 1.1.C
identify, describe, and demonstrate safe practices during classroom and field investigations as outlined in Texas Education Agency-approved safety standards;
- 5.10.B
model and describe the processes that led to the formation of sedimentary rocks and fossil fuels; and
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