Fresh out of college, the author had only a handful of items worthy of displaying, which included some fossils she had collected in her paleontology class. She had binders filled with great science information, but kids want to see "real" science, not paper science. Then it came to her: she could fill the shelves with science artifacts with the help of her students. On the first day of school, they reviewed classroom rules, objectives, and the course syllabus, as well as the extra credit criteria for collecting artifacts. She explained that students could earn 1-2 points of extra credit for bringing in something science-related for display on the shelves in the back of the room. Each student was also required to provide an artifact description (which the author taped to a display card and placed next to the artifact on the shelf). By the end of her first month of teaching, the entire bottom shelf was filled with incredible artifacts, including animal skulls, beehives, acorns, buckeyes, and petrified wood.