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ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — Fossil hunting was a new experience for Zara Bradley.
Her novice status did not hold her back during a fossil hunt this month in a Byron quarry, where Thurgood Marshall students traveled to learn more about Illinois geology and the aggregate business.
"I like math, and I'm really into animals," said Zara, 13, a seventh-grader whose fossil find was the envy of her classmates and had her teachers scurrying to identify it.
The well-formed fossil, larger than her hand and embedded in limestone formed millions of years ago, so closely resembled a large bolt or screw that many wondered whether it might be manufactured.
Math and science teacher Judy Bender organized the field trip, building on a summer workshop by the Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers that looked at the impact of rocks, minerals and mining on 21st-century life.
The excursion to Rogers Ready-Mix & Materials brought concepts about geology and earth science to life, Bender said. The Rockford-based concrete manufacturer also has an operation in Roscoe.
"We're bringing (Illinois's geological past) to where we live today," she said.
Rogers safety director Chad Broege shepherded the 60 students through the plant, gravel pit and limestone quarry. The tour culminated with a lecture on safety within the 150-foot walls of the quarry, then he set students loose to hunt fossils.
"We have quite a bit of regulatory oversight here," he explained.
Eighth-grader Riley Bouchard, 14, hoped to find a trilobite.
"They lived in the oceans around here," he said, struggling to describe what the extinct marine arthropod looked like. But the fossil-hunting segment of his day, while fun, was only part of what he had found engaging.
"It's interesting to find out how they mine all of this stuff," he said, pointing to the high walls of the quarry and the heavy equipment used to extract the stone.
Seventh-grader Lucas Carlson, 12, "thought the digger scooping out the sand was pretty cool."
"Not everybody's going to have this experience otherwise," Bender said. "The thing is that not everything in life is instant gratification. And they're sharing, which is nice."
Before the trip were several weeks of earth science instruction and viewing the film "Ground Rules," about mining around the world. The students will take what they've learned and complete individual projects on one of 24 identified geological features.
As her classmates were preparing to load up into their two buses and head back to school, Zara still did not know exactly what she had found. Teacher Kent Holden took the fossil in hand for a closer look.
"Now that's a fossil," he said.
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Source: Rockford Register Star, http://bit.ly/1nJzoCq
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Information from: Rockford Register Star, http://www.rrstar.com
This is an Illinois Exchange story shared by the Rockford Register Star.
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