Looking under a dissecting microscope, or even with a good-quality hand lens, students can observe and record the different shapes and colors they see in sand particles. Students can pick out forams with a wet toothpick and glue them to a piece of black construction paper. Later, students can identify these using the foram key. Students can use modelling clay or plasticene clay to make macroscopic replicas of their favorite forams. Mathematics can be worked into the unit, as students sample and estimate the percentages of biogenic and abiogenic particles in their samples.
Students also draw on math skills to date the sand samples.
Geography can be included by asking students to plot on a world map where each foram in the key was collected. Language skills are important, of course, if students are to explain their conclusions clearly to Dr. Rockel. You can augment the unit with pictures of yourself dressed up as Dr. Rockel or of her field dig site, or even solicit the cooperation of a real Dr. Rockel. More extensive geology information can be integrated into the unit, including plate tectonics and sea floor spreading. Forams are important in paleoclimatology studies, in studies of ancient harbors, and even in the search for oil deposits.