How are fossils made? Objective Students will learn to make the distinction between different fossil types. Students will also learn about the process of carbonization Background Fossils are the remains of once living things and provide evidence to what past environments were probably like. Fossils are also useful in helping scientists to distinguish periods of geologic time. Without the presence of fossils in rock, it can be much more difficult to make inferences of what took place in the past. How do fossils form? There are a variety of ways that fossils form and it usually depends on the ch Duration: 60 Minutes.