2026 Praxis Elementary Education Science (5905) Complete Practice Test

Fossils are records of organisms from the distant past. They are preserved remains or traces—like bones, shells, imprints, or footprints—found in rocks, which let scientists learn what ancient life was like and how it has changed over time. A paleontologist is the scientist who studies fossils, not the records themselves. The Archeozoic Eon and Proterozoic Eon are long intervals in Earth’s history, not the preserved evidence of organisms. So the term that refers to those records is fossils.