Engage: Students view images of Spinosaurus, the first dinosaur known to swim (reference). Working in small groups, students brainstorm a list of interview questions for Spinosaurus. They discover that some of these questions can be answered by studying fossils. What did paleontologists infer from the fossils of Spinosaurus? Student groups research discovered facts about Spinosaurus, matching inferences to the fossil clues that support them.
Student resources: infographic, news report 1, news report 2, video interview with the paleontologist who rediscovered Spinosaurus. Activity adapted from Fossils: Uncovering the Facts.
Student resources: infographic, news report 1, news report 2, video interview with the paleontologist who rediscovered Spinosaurus. Activity adapted from Fossils: Uncovering the Facts.
Explore: Fossils are the remains of organisms that used to be alive a long time ago. Today, students do the work of paleontologists, rotating through six different stations to study dinosaur fossils (borrowed from the Natural History Museum of Utah). They use fossil clues to make inferences about what each dinosaur ate, how it moved, how it reproduced, how it defended itself, how it died, and how its environment changed over time.
Fossil Stations:
Students generate questions they have about dinosaurs, fossils, and earth's history. Together we choose a driving question: Why did the dinosaurs go extinct?
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?
Explain: Students construct an explanation based on evidence for why the dinosaurs went extinct. Using informational text, students record each piece of evidence on a sticky note. They consider the evidence supporting a large meteor impact vs. the eruption of a supervolcano and how both of these events could have drastically changed the global environment. Thinking routines: Crazy Professor and Tug of War.
Elaborate: Students consider how environments are changing today by comparing before and after pictures of various habitats. After listing indicators of change, students research an endangered animal that is dependent on this habitat and identify the cause(s) for its decline. Students work in small groups to develop a conservation plan that will protect the endangered species and prevent its extinction.
Evaluate: Students present what they discovered about their endangered species to the whole class. They describe the animal's adaptations, why it's endangered, and what can be done to protect it. Students set up an art display in the school library to raise awareness about endangered animals. Science assessment probe: Habitat Change.
Extend: Students still have lots of questions about dinosaurs, fossils, and earth's history.
- 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?
Standards:
S4.O2.b,c,d
Explain how fossils can be used to make inferences about past life, climate, geology, and environments.
Describe plants and animals...and how these organisms have adapted to the environment in which they live.
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.