Abstract
Experiments to explain fossilization have been introduced in elementary and middle school science textbooks. Most of them have explained the processes by the mold and cast formed by imprint of bivalve or leaf. The processes explained in the textbooks are more similar to that of trace fossil than body fossil, because the external molds from experiment are imprints after the model was taken off. However fossils of the figures in the textbooks are mostly body fossils. Therefore, the students may be willing to equate the experiment process with the fossilization of the body fossils. The misconceptions were confirmed in this study by the questionnaire which asked 9th grade students on this subject. Many students thought that the body fossils were fossilized imprints and the fossils of terrestrial organism were formed on land without transportation, that is, they did not understand well about biostratinomy and crustal movement. The misconception about the environment in which fossils formed was already reported in a survey on the elementary school students, but has not revised until ninth grade. Therefore, to remove the misconception related to the fossilization, the fossil models in the experiments may be replaced by trace fossils, or new experiments for body fossil should be designed.
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