Curated OER
How Old Is Mike?
Students examine the absolute dating of fossils, they use a list of names and ages to determine the difference between relative age and absolute age. They explore the relative age and absolute age of people and of fossils.
University of California
Ucmp: A Relative Dating Activity
An learning activity to help students grasp the concept of relative dating and geologic time.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Hotspot Lesson: Relative Dating
This lesson explains the application of relative dating for volcanic features in the ocean, after which students will identify which volcanic features are relatively older than others.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: Paleobiology: Absolute Dating
An explanation of radiometric or absolute dating of geological formations based on using the half-life of radioactive elements to figure out how old given rock layers are. A link on the left provides information about relative dating as...
Biology Corner
Biology Corner: Fossil Record
In this lesson, students use the fossil record to understand the topics of speciation, punctuated equilibrium, and gradualism. Students arrange fictitious animals' fossils by age based on appearance to create a fossil record.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Principles of Relative Dating
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Introduces Steno's laws, which allow scientists to decipher the geological events that occurred and the order in which they took place, including how the relative...
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas: Texas Memorial Museum: Understanding Geologic Time [Pdf]
A lesson plan containing two activities for learners to gain a better understanding of geologic time scale. The first activity allows students to get a visual of geologic time by role playing events in time on a football field. The...
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Correlation Using Relative Ages Study Guide
This comprehensive study guide covers the main terms and concepts needed for an earth science unit on correlation using relative ages. Review questions are included at the bottom of the study guide.