Student resources: infographic, news report 1, news report 2, video interview with the paleontologist who rediscovered Spinosaurus. Activity adapted from Fossils: Uncovering the Facts.
Fossil Stations:
- Allosaurus upper jaw bone with teeth, T. rex tooth (compare to black bear jaw, elk jaw, coyote jaw)
- Utahraptor hand claw, Grallator track (footprint), dinosaur egg
- Modern and fossilized seashells, modern and petrified wood, sensory table fossil dig
- Apatosaurus hip bone with tooth marks, Tarbosaurus toe bones (normal and diseased)
- Diabloceratops skull, frill piece and horn
- Dinosaur research station
Students generate questions they have about dinosaurs, fossils, and earth's history. Together we choose a driving question: Why did the dinosaurs go extinct?
- How do fossils form?
- How do people find fossils?
- How do scientists know what bones go to which dinosaur?
- Have people ever been fossilized?
- When were the first people born?
- Were people on earth when dinosaurs were alive?
- When was the last dinosaur on earth?
- How can we tell how old the earth is?
- What caused the meteor to hit earth?
- Why do dinosaurs have tails?
- Why were dinosaurs so big?
S4.O2.b,c,d
Explain how fossils can be used to make inferences about past life, climate, geology, and environments.
- Based on the fossils found in various locations, infer how...environments have changed over time.
- Research information on two scientific explanations for the extinction of dinosaurs and other prehistoric organisms.
- Formulate questions that can be answered using information gathered on the extinction of dinosaurs.
Describe plants and animals...and how these organisms have adapted to the environment in which they live.
- Find examples of endangered plants and animals and describe steps being taken to protect them.