Digging Science Building a Fossil Pit in Your Schoolyard T. Griffith Jones Science Department Chair P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School University of Florida Linda Cronin Jones Associate Professor of Science and Environmental Education Department of Instruction and Curriculum University of Florida Searching for hidden treasures has always been an alluring endeavor, whether you are a scuba diver canvassing a sunken galleon for gold doubloons or a child searching through a backyard for hidden eggs on Easter morning. The more the objects are valued by the hunter, the greater the excitement of the hunt.
Many scientists are also treasure hunters.
For a scientist, the valued treasure resulting from a hunt can range from discovering a new component of a neutron to locating a new star in a distant galaxy. Although these monumental treasures are usually only discovered by established scientists, young future scientists can also experience the thrill of scientific discovery right in their own schoolyards. In our case, the treasure we decided to focus on was locally accessible fossils. To make the study of fossils more fun and realistic, we constructed a small fossil pit in our schoolyard. With the help of the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida in Gainesville, the pit was filled with fossil-rich substrate from active dig sites used by the museum.