What is a Dinosaur?
Activity for Grades K–4
Introduction
Procedure
Dinosaurs are prehistoric reptiles that have lived on
Earth from about 228 million years ago to the present.
Modern birds are one kind of dinosaur because they
share a common ancestor with non-avian dinosaurs.
Non-avian dinosaurs (all dinosaurs besides birds),
which are now extinct, varied greatly in shape and
size. Some weighed as much as 80 tons and were
more than 120 feet long. Others were the size of a
chicken and weighed as little as 8 pounds.
1. Write What Is a Dinosaur? on the chalkboard. Tell
students that today you will explore this question.
Have students work in small groups. Distribute
dinosaur books to each group. Give groups 10
minutes to look through the books and find three
interesting facts about dinosaurs.
All non-avian dinosaurs lived on land. Some may
have gone into the swamps and lakes for food, but
they did not live entirely in water. Meat-eaters
walked on two legs and hunted alone or in groups.
Plant-eaters walked on either two or four legs and
grazed on plants.
3. Display the pictures of the lizard and the dinosaur.
Ask students how the two reptiles are different.
Point out that the lizard has legs that sprawl out to
the side, while the dinosaur’s legs are directly
underneath its body. Explain that dinosaurs had a
hole in their hip socket that allowed them to stand
upright. Other reptiles, like lizards, do not have
such a hole and therefore are not dinosaurs. Call
on volunteers to imitate a sprawling stance and a
dinosaur stance. Have them try walking forward
using each stance.
The feature that distinguishes dinosaurs from other
reptiles is a hole in the hip socket. This feature
allowed dinosaurs to walk upright. Pterosaurs, or flying reptiles, and plesiosaurs, ocean-dwelling reptiles,
did not have this feature and were not dinosaurs.
Objective
This activity will help students understand the
difference between dinosaurs and other animals.
Materials
• Picture of a dinosaur and a picture of a lizard or
alligator (from a nature magazine or calendar)
• Dinosaur or Not? duplicated for each student
• Crayons
• Dinosaur books (You can find recommended books
at www.amnh.org/resources/exhibitions/dinosaurs/)
scales
horns
2. Have groups report their facts to the rest of the
class. Using students’ responses, create a
semantic map like the one shown.
4. Distribute Dinosaurs or Not? to each student.
Instruct students to look carefully at each animal
and to color those that are dinosaurs. When
students are done, review their answers with
them. (Answers: The lion, woolly mammoth, and
alligator are not dinosaurs.)
5. As an extension to this activity, have students play
a riddle game. Have students work with a partner.
Distribute index cards. Have partners choose a
dinosaur or another animal. Have them write three
clues that tell about the organism’s features on
one side of the card. The answer to the riddle
should be written on the back. Call on partners to
read their clues aloud. Have the class guess what
animal or dinosaur is being described.
bodies
plants
food
claws
big
sharp
teeth
Dinosaurs
meat
how they move
on two legs
on four legs
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
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Dinosaur or Not?
Name
Date
Look at the animals. Color the animals that are dinosaurs.
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
What Is a Fossil?
Activity for Grades K–4
Introduction
The American Museum of Natural History houses
the largest and most spectacular collection of
vertebrate fossils in the world. A fossil is any
evidence of prehistoric life that is at least 10,000
years old. The most common fossils are bones and
teeth, but footprints and skin impressions fossils as
well. Fossils are excavated from ancient riverbeds
and lakes, caves, volcanic ash falls, and tar pits.
Fossils are classified as either body fossils or trace
fossils. Body fossils were parts of the organism,
such as bones or teeth. Trace fossils include foot
impressions, eggs, burrows, and dung.
Objective
In this activity, students will learn to distinguish
between body fossils and trace fossils.
Materials
• Body Fossils and Trace Fossils duplicated for
each student
• Crayons
• Pictures of fossils (you can download images at
www.amnh.org/resources/exhibitions/dinosaurs/)
foot of
Tyrannosaurus rex
an impression of
dinosaur skin
Procedure
1. Write the word fossil on the chalkboard and have
students describe what a fossil is in their own
words. Guide students to understand that a fossil
is any evidence of life that is at least 10,000 years
old. Further explain that dinosaur fossils are much
older. Some are 65 million years old, others are
more than 225 million years old. Tell students that
paleontologists can learn a lot about life long ago
by studying the fossils they find. Tell students
they will explore different kinds of fossils.
2. Write the words body and trace in two columns
on the chalkboard. Tell students that fossils are
classified as body fossils and trace fossils. Body
fossils were once part of an animal. Display pictures of the body fossils. Have students identify
the skull, tooth, and foot. Write their answers in
the column marked “body.” Further explain that
trace fossils are evidence of something the
dinosaur left behind. Display pictures of the trace
fossils. Have students identify the footprints,
eggs, and skin impression. Write their responses
in the column marked trace. Allow students time
to share other information they have about fossils.
3. Distribute crayons and copies of Body Fossil
and Trace Fossils. Instruct students to look at the
fossils pictured and decide whether they are body
fossils or trace fossils. Have them circle the body
fossils blue and the trace fossils red. (Answers:
tooth, skull, and foot are body fossils. Skin imprint,
eggs, and footprints are trace fossils.)
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
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Bone Fossils and Trace Fossils
Name
Date
Look at the fossils below. Circle the bone fossils blue. Circle the trace fossils red.
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
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Dinosaur Timeline
Activity for Grades K–4
Introduction
Geologists at the American Museum of Natural
History study rock layers and the plant and animal
fossils found in them. They use radiometric dating to
help establish the age of rocks. In doing so, they also
establish the age of the fossils found in the rocks.
From the evidence they gather, geologists can piece
together the physical history of the Earth. Students
may be able to tell you how long ago dinosaurs lived,
but it is difficult for them to conceptualize that enormous amount of time.
Objective
This activity will help students gain an understanding
of geological time.
3. Tell students they are going to make a timeline
that goes all the way back to the time of the
dinosaurs. Display the adding machine tape,
unroll portions of it and read off the dates. Tell
students they will complete the timeline by writing in or drawing events that happened on those
dates listed.
4. Clear an area of the classroom and place the
timeline on the floor. Give each pair one event to
add to the timeline. Have them find the date on
the timeline and write or draw the event. When
students are done, display the timeline. Review
the dates and have each pair tell the event that
occurred on their date.
Materials
•
•
•
•
Roll of adding machine tape (about 100 inches long)
Ruler or tape measure
Index cards
Drawing materials
Preparation
Measure and mark the dates on the adding machine
tape as indicated in the chart. Then write the dates
and events on separate index cards. (mya: million
years ago)
Procedure
1. Have students discuss important events in their
lives, such as when they were born, when they
got their first tooth, when they first talked, etc.
Write their responses on the chalkboard.
Distribute six index cards to each student and tell
them to choose six important events in their lives.
Instruct them to draw one event on each card and
write the year that the event occurred.
2. Have students stack the cards with the first event
on the bottom and the most recent on top. (This
introduces the idea of layered rocks, or strata.) As
students dig down through the layers, (turn over
the cards) they can see events that occurred in
the past. Explain that the cards can be used to
create a timeline. Place a set of cards in order on
the chalkboard ledge. Have students identify the
events in order.
2”
= 480 mya
= first animal with a backbone
18” = 400 mya
= first sharks and fishes
28” = 350 mya
= first ferns
38” = 300 mya
= first egg-laying reptiles
52” = 228 mya
= first dinosaurs
56” = 210 mya
= first turtles and first
mammals
70” = 140 mya
= first Allosaurus, Apatosaurus,
Stegosaurus
74” = 120 mya
= first flowering plants
78” = 100 mya
= first ants
84” = 70 mya
= first Triceratops,
Tyrannosaurus rex
85” = 65 mya
= extinction of most dinosaurs
(except birds) and many
other animals
94” = 20 mya
= first grasses
96” = 4 mya
= first humans
98” = Today
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
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Dinosaur Names
Activity for Grades K–4
Introduction
Procedure
Dinosaur names are often made up of combinations
of Greek and Latin root words that describe
characteristics or how the animal might have
behaved. Other dinosaur names describe where the
fossil remains were discovered or the name of the
paleontologist who made the discovery. In 1841,
Richard Owen, the first director of London’s Natural
History Museum, gave the name dinosaurs to these
giant prehistoric reptiles. The word dinosaur is from
the Greek deinos (terrible) and sauros (lizard). Some
dinosaur names are short; others are tongue
twisters.
1. Display pictures of Triceratops, Stegosaurus,
Tyrannosaurus rex, and Apatosaurus to students.
Call on students to name the dinosaurs and tell
what they know about each one.
Objective
In this activity, students will be introduced to
dinosaur names and their meanings.
Materials
• List of Greek and Latin root words and their meanings written on the chalkboard or on chart paper
• Pictures of various dinosaurs (You can download
images at www.amnh.org/resources/exhibitions/dinosaurs/)
DINOSAUR NAMES
Word
allo
apato
bronto
cerat
compso
deinos, dino
echino
elasmo
mega
micro
nodo
ops
ornitho
raptor
rex
saur, saurus
stego
tri
tyranno
Meaning
strange
deceptive
thunder
horned
pretty
terrible
spiked
plated
huge
small
lumpy
face
bird
robber
king
lizard
roof
three
tyrant
2. Tell students that dinosaurs were named using
the Latin and Greek language. Explain that these
languages are used by scientists to name both
animals and plants. Dinosaur names can describe
what the dinosaur looked like, how it might have
acted, or where it was found. Have students look
for the meaning of the Greek and Latin words
used in the word “dinosaur” to discover the
word’s meaning. Write the following on the
chalkboard:
dinosaur = dino + saur
Call on a volunteer to look on the chart to find
the words dino and saur. Write terrible lizard on
the chalkboard and explain that this was the name
first given to dinosaurs.
3. Write the following dinosaur names on the
chalkboard. Have students use the chart to
decipher the names.
Tyrannosaurus rex = tyranno + saurus +rex
Stegosaurus = stego + saurus
Triceratops = tri + cerat + ops
Apatosaurus = apato + saurus
4. Have students suggest other dinosaur names
that they would like to learn the meanings of.
Write the names on the chalkboard. Use the chart
provided as a reference.
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
How Big Were the Dinosaurs?
Activity for Grades K–4
Introduction
Procedure
In the Roosevelt Memorial Hall at the American
Museum of Natural History, a Barosaurus rears up to
a height of 50 feet as it protects its offspring from an
Allosaurus attack. Some dinosaurs, such as the
Barosaurus, were quite large and may have weighed
as much as 35 tons. But other dinosaurs, such as
Compsognathus, were about the size of a chicken
and weighed only eight pounds.
1. Ask students to name some of the dinosaurs they
know and to describe how big they were. Suggest
that they compare the dinosaur’s size to known
objects, such as a school bus, house, building, etc.
Objective
In this activity, students will begin to explore the size
of the large dinosaurs by comparing their feet to the
foot of a large Apatosaur.
Materials
•
•
•
•
•
Construction paper
Safety scissors
Crayons
Glue
An Apatosaur footprint was approximately 24” by
48”. Use chart paper and the footprint outline on
the next page to create a footprint of this large
dinosaur.
2. Display the footprint and explain that it is the
approximate size of a footprint of Apatosaur, a
dinosaur that was about 90 feet long and weighed
about 35 tons. Tell students they are going to
compare their footprints with that of the large
dinosaur.
3. Have students work with a partner. Distribute
construction paper, crayons, and scissors to the
class. Have each student trace their own footprint
on the construction paper and cut it out. Allow
students time to compare their individual footprints with the dinosaur footprint.
4. Ask students to estimate how many of their footprints would fit in one footprint of an Apatosaur.
Write the various estimates on the board. Tape
the Apatosaur footprint to the chalkboard. Call on
students, one at a time, to glue their footprint on
the Apatosaur footprint. Make sure students glue
the footprints right next to each other so that
there is no wasted space. When the footprint is
filled, have students count how many of their
prints it took to fill the dinosaur footprint. Check
the results against students’ estimates.
5. Remind students that while many
dinosaurs were huge, there
were also many that were
small.
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
48”
How Big Were the Dinosaurs?
24”
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
Grouping Dinosaurs
Activity for Grades K–4
Introduction
Procedure
Paleontologists have identified over 700 species of
dinosaurs. How do they determine which dinosaurs
are related? At the American Museum of Natural
History, scientists group animals using a method
called cladistics. They look for unique features, such
as a hole in the hip socket, that the animals share.
Animals with like features are grouped together. A
chart, called a cladogram, shows these relationships.
Using cladistics, scientists can show how animals
are linked to one another through a long and
complex history of evolutionary changes.
1. Display the coins. Tell students they are going to
group the coins. Have students work in groups.
Distribute a set of coins, and construction paper to
each group. Tell students that as you make the
diagram on the board, they are to copy it on their
papers.
Objective
3. Then have students find one thing that three of
the coins share. (Three are silver-colored.) Draw a
circle within the larger circle and label it silvercolored. Move the nickel, dime and quarter into
that circle.
In this activity, students will be introduced to sets
and subsets as they group coins and dinosaurs.
Materials
• A set of coins (penny, nickel, dime, quarter)
• A copy of Grouping Dinosaurs for each group
• Construction paper
• Safety scissors
• Fun tack or masking tape
• Glue sticks
round
penny
silver-colored
nickel
2. Ask students to look at the coins and find one
thing they all have in common. (They are all
round.) Draw a large circle on the chalkboard. At
the top of the circle right round. Place the coins
inside the circle using fun tack.
4. Have students find one thing that two of the
remaining coins share. (Two are rib-edged.) Draw
a circle within the second circle and label it ribedged. Move the dime and quarter into that circle.
5. Have students identify the set (round coins) and
the subsets (silver and rib-edged). Tell groups they
will now work together to group dinosaurs.
6. Distribute Grouping Dinosaurs, construction
paper, scissors, and glue sticks to each group.
Have students decide how to sort the dinosaurs
(meat eater / plant eaters, two- / four-legged, small
/ large). Have them arrange the dinosaurs into sets
and subsets and glue them in place.
7. Have groups compare their sets. Discuss the
different ways groups classified their dinosaurs.
Display students’ work. (Answers will vary.)
rib-edged
dime
quarter
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
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Grouping Dinosaurs
Barosaurus
Coelophysis
Plant-Eater
Meat-Eater
Iguanodon
Ornithomimus
Plant-Eater
Meat-Eater
Pachycephalosaurus
Stegosaurus
Plant-Eater
Plant-Eater
Triceratops
Tyrannosaurus rex
Plant-Eater
Meat-Eater
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
What Teeth Tell Us
Activity for Grades K–4
Introduction
Materials
In the Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs at the
American Museum of Natural History, robotic
dinosaur skulls demonstrate how the dental adaptations of plant-eating dinosaurs worked. They show
that as teeth wore down, new teeth grew to replace
them. Paleontologists can tell a lot from the size of a
dinosaur’s skull and from the teeth in it. If the skull
has powerful jaws and long, sharp teeth, then the
dinosaur was most probably a meat-eater, a carnivore. The teeth were used to rip apart meat. Wide,
flat teeth with ridges indicate that the dinosaur was
a plant-eater, a herbivore. The teeth were used to
mash and grind tough vegetation.
• Pictures of plant-eating and meat-eating animals
(from nature magazines and calendars)
• Staple removers (one per group)
• Cotton balls
• Flat rocks (two per group)
• Leaves
• What Teeth Tell Us duplicated for each student
• Crayons
• Small mirrors
Objective
This activity will introduce students to teeth and help
them differentiate between the teeth of meat-eaters
and plant-eaters.
Procedure
1. Display the pictures of the animals, one at a time,
to students. For each animal, ask students to
describe the teeth. Ask them to name a food the
animal might eat. Use questioning to elicit
answers, leading students to the conclusion that
long, sharp teeth are associated with meat-eaters
and flat, blunt teeth are associated with planteaters. Tell students they are going to experiment
to learn how the teeth of animals help the animals
eat their food.
2. Have students work in small groups. Distribute
the staple removers, cotton balls, rocks, and
leaves to each group. Model what students are to
do. Display the staple remover and tell students it
represents the sharp teeth of a meat-eater. Show
them how the staple remover works. Tell them
the cotton balls represent meat. Display the rocks
and tell students they represent the flat, grinding
teeth of a plant-eater. Show them how the two
rocks work by grinding them together. Tell them
that the leaves represent plants. Have students
experiment “eating” the cotton balls and leaves
using the stapler remover and rocks. Have
students determine which set of teeth worked
best for each food. Then have students use the
mirrors to examine their own teeth to identify
what kind of teeth they have. Call on groups to
share their findings. Students should conclude
that they have both sharp, biting teeth and flat,
grinding teeth. Point out to them that they are
both meat-eaters and plant-eaters.
3. Distribute What Teeth Tell Us to students. Have
them complete the exercise. (Answers: top left,
herbivore; top right, carnivore; bottom left, carnivore; bottom right, herbivore.)
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
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What Teeth Tell Us
Name
Date
Color the dinosaurs that eat meat blue. Color the dinosaurs that eat plants green.
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
What Makes a Dinosaur a Dinosaur?
Activity for Grades 5–8
Introduction
Materials
What distinguishes dinosaurs from other reptiles?
Reptiles, such as crocodiles and lizards, have legs
that sprawl out to the side. Their thigh bones are
almost parallel to the ground. They walk and run with
a side-to-side motion.
• Picture of a four-footed dinosaur, such as
Apatosaurus
• Picture of a lizard and birds (from a nature
magazine or calendar)
Dinosaurs, on the other hand, stand with their legs
positioned directly under their bodies. A hole in the
hip socket permits this upright stance. This posture
allows dinosaurs to run faster and with greater
endurance than other reptiles that are the same size.
Procedure
During the Age of Dinosaurs there were other
reptiles living on the land and in the seas. While
these animals lived alongside dinosaurs, they did not
have a hole in their hip socket and thus were not
dinosaurs. Modern birds are one kind of dinosaur
because they share a common ancestor with nonavian dinosaurs. They have features such as the
three-toed foot and s-shaped neck, and therefore are
classified as dinosaurs.
Objective
In this activity, students will explore dinosaur stance
and the dinosaur-bird connection.
1. Display the picture of the lizard and the picture of
the dinosaur. Have students compare the stances
and conclude that the lizard’s legs are sprawled out
to the side, while the dinosaur’s legs are directly
underneath its body. Tell students that all dinosaurs
had a hole in their hip socket that allowed them to
stand this way. The hole in the hip socket distinguishes dinosaurs from other reptiles.
2. Call on volunteers to duplicate the
lizard stance by assuming a
crawling position and
then moving
their arms and legs
out to the side. Back feet should point
forward, hands should point slightly away from
the body. Have volunteers walk forward as
students observe. (They should shift their
weight from side to side (waddle), move
slowly, and awkwardly.)
3. Call on volunteers to duplicate a
quadrupedal dinosaur stance, with
arms and legs positioned directly
under their bodies. Have volunteers walk forward as students
observe. (They should move
more quickly, not as awkwardly.)
4. Tell students that paleontologists
at the American Museum of Natural
History classify birds as dinosaurs. Tell
students they will examine pictures of
birds and a dinosaur to find similarities.
5. Have students work in groups. Distribute
duplicates of the T. rex skeleton and pictures of
birds. Have groups compare the two and note
which features the two animals share. Give
groups time to share their findings. Some
shared features are: s-shaped neck and threetoed foot.
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
Fossil Find
Activity for Grades 5–8
Introduction
Preparation of Bone Carton
For more than 100 years, expeditions from the
American Museum of Natural History have scoured
the globe in search of fossil specimens. Fossils are
the remains and imprints of plants and animals that
lived thousands, and even millions of years ago.
Seashells, impressions of skin, leaves, petrified
wood, bones and teeth of animals, and insects
trapped in amber can all be fossils. When paleontologists find large fossil specimens, they often create a
grid with string and draw a diagram showing the
exact location of each bone they find. The position of
the bones may hold clues as to how the animal
stood, behaved, or even died.
You will need:
• A small cardboard box (with low sides)
• Sand
• Chicken skeleton with all the meat boiled off (ask
parents to contribute whole or partial skeletons)
Objective
This activity will stimulate a “dig” experience for
students.
Materials
For each group you’ll need:
• Fossil Find sheet
• Bone site carton (see preparation below)
• Tape
• String
• Small brushes, whisk brooms, or old toothbrushes
Directions: Place a thin layer of sand in the bottom
of the carton. Break up a skeleton or partial skeleton
(try to separate bones at the joints) and arrange the
bones in the sand. Cover the skeleton with sand.
Vary what you do for each bone site. Provide:
• a skeleton with missing bones
• an additional leg/arm
• bones of another species (such as fish bones)
• eggs shells, acorns
To cut down on your preparation time, you may consider having groups assemble the dig sites and then
trade with other groups.
Procedure
1. Have students share what they now about digging
for fossils. If students’ knowledge is limited you
might refer them to some of the books listed on
the reference list. Tell students that when
paleontologists find a fossil site, they often make
a grid over the site using string and then record
the position of each bone on grid paper. Explain
that the position of the bones might hold clues as
to how the animal behaved or died. Tell students
that they are going to excavate a fossil site and
reconstruct a skeleton.
2. Distribute Fossil Find sheets, and bone site
cartons to the groups. Review the directions with
them, making sure they know what they are to
do.
3. When students have completed the activity, have
them display their completed skeleton and share
their observations and findings.
4. Have groups compare skeletons and confirm or
revise their hypotheses. Discuss with students
what paleontologists can learn about dinosaurs,
what things they might hypothesize, and what
they cannot learn (based on the evidence they
have gathered).
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
Fossil Find
Name
Date
1.
Using the brushes (and without moving of any of the bones) carefully brush away the sand
to expose the skeleton. Using the string and tape make a grid so that you can diagram the
fossil site. Use the grid below. Include everything you find at the site in your diagram.
2.
Carefully remove the skeleton. Using the tape, work together to piece the skeleton together.
3.
Using only the skeleton and what you know of animals and their behavior, work as a group
to answer the following questions. Have one person in your group record your findings.
a.
What did you find? What parts were missing? What duplicate or additional parts did you
find? How did you figure out which parts belonged to your skeleton?
b.
How did the animal move (swim, fly, walk)? Was the animal bipedal, or quadrupedal?
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
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c. What
kind of skin covering did it have? What color was it? (Use only information from your dig.)
d. How
tall/long was the animal? What did it weigh?
e.
Was the animal a carnivore or herbivore? What food did it eat? Where did it find food (i.e.,
a swamp, high tree branches, close to ground). How did you figure this out?
f.
Where did the animal live?
g. What
can you tell about the animal’s behavior? For example, can you tell whether it lived
alone or in groups? Did it lay eggs or give birth to live young?
h. What
else did you find at the site? In what ways might the objects you found be connected to the animal? What conclusions can you draw?
i. Why
might a diagram of the bone site be important? What clues might it hold about the animal?
j. Describe
how the animal may have looked when it was alive. On a separate sheet of paper,
have a member of your group make a sketch of how the animal may have looked.
k.
Which questions were you unable to answer? How might you use your knowledge of how
modern animals look, behave, and move to formulate hypotheses that may help to answer
some of these questions?
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
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Understanding Geologic Time
Activity for Grades 5–8
Introduction
Objective
Geologists at the American Museum of Natural
History study rock layers and the plant and animal
fossils found in them. They use radiometric dating to
help establish the age of rocks. In doing so, they also
establish the age of the fossils found in rocks. From
the evidence they gather, geologists can piece
together the physical history of the Earth.
Students may be able to tell you how long ago
dinosaurs lived, but it is difficult to conceptualize that
enormous amount of time. The following activity will
help students gain an understanding of geologic
time.
• Chart paper
• Magic markers
• Reference books and resources
GEOLOGIC TIME
ERA
PERIOD
Paleozoic
Mezozoic
Cenozoic
Quaternary
Tertiary
Materials
EPOCH
MILLIONS OF
YEARS AGO
Recent
0.01
Pleistocene
1.8
Pliocene
5
Miocene
24
Oligocene
38
Eocene
54
Paleocene
65
Cretaceous
141
Jurassic
210
Triassic
250
Permian
290
Pennsylvanian
320
Mississippian
360
Devonian
410
Silurian
440
Ordovician
500
Cambrian
543
Procedure
1. Begin by asking students to share what they
know about geologic time. Ask the following
questions: How old is the Earth? How long did
dinosaurs live on Earth? How long have people
lived on Earth? How do scientists learn about the
history of the Earth? Discuss students’ responses.
2. Tell students that they will make a timeline showing they history of the Earth. They will identify
where on the timeline the Earth was created,
when different plants and animals appeared, and
when major extinctions took place. Have students
work in groups. Each group is responsible for
creating the timeline for one of the following eras:
Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, or Cenozoic.
Explain that each era is further divided into
periods, which should also appear on the timeline.
Divide a bulletin board into four sections, one for
each era. Have students use reference books, the
internet, and library resources to research their
era.
3. When groups are finished have them present their
portion of the timeline to the rest of the class.
Have students note how long humans have been
on Earth in comparison to how long dinosaurs
lived on Earth.
Precambrian: 4,500–540 Million Years Ago
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
Bigger Than You Think
Activity for Grades 5–8
Introduction
Procedure
Dinosaurs come in all shapes and sizes. The
Apatosaurus is one of the largest dinosaurs that ever
lived. In life, this 84-foot long dinosaur weighed
about 30 tons. But not all dinosaurs were large.
Compsognathus, for example, was about the size of
a chicken and weighed only about eight pounds.
1. Call on volunteers to describe the size of some of
the dinosaurs they know. Remind students that
while many of the dinosaurs were large, there
were also many that were small. Tell students
they are going to create a life-size drawing of a
dinosaur.
Objective
In this activity, students will create a life-size drawing
of a Tyrannosaurus rex head or a life-size drawing of
a smaller dinosaur, Protoceratops.
Preparation
When completed the T. rex head will measure three
feet by four feet. The Protoceratops will measure
one and a half feet by three and a half feet. Choose
one of these dinosaurs based on the available wall
space. Enlarge the dinosaur you selected on a
photocopier so that each square measures about
two inches. Cut out the grid. Have pencils and black
magic marker available. You will also need six-inchsquare paper for each student and clear tape.
2. Give each student a grid square and a square
piece of paper. Have students write the grid
number on the upper left hand corner of the larger
square.
3. Using pencils, have students enlarge the drawing
on the grid square to fill the larger square. Tell
students the drawing must match the grid square
exactly and must go all the way to the edges of
the paper.
4. Display a copy of the entire grid. Have students
check their own grid square with surrounding
squares to make sure that all the connections
match. Once connections have been adjusted,
have students go over the pencil lines with black
magic marker.
5. Have students assemble the grid squares and
tape them to the preselected wall to complete
the life-size dinosaur drawing. Once the drawing
is completed, call on students to give their
impressions of the dinosaur they created.
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
Bigger Than You Think
Tyrannosaurus rex
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
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Protoceratops
Bigger Than You Think
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
The Name Game
Activity for Grades 5–8
Introduction
Dinosaur names are often made up of combinations
of Greek and Latin root words that describe characteristics or how the animal might have behaved.
Dinosaur names might also indicate where the fossil
remains were discovered, or even the name of the
paleontologist who made the discovery. In 1841,
Richard Owen, the first director of London’s Natural
History Museum, gave the name “dinosaurs” to
these giant prehistory reptiles. The word dinosaur is
from the Greek deinos (terrible) and sauros (lizard).
Objective
In this activity, students will use their knowledge of
Greek and Latin root words to decipher dinosaur
names. They will create their own dinosaur, name it,
and describe how it raised its young, and how it
behaved.
Materials
• The Name Game duplicated for each student
• Drawing materials
the board (photograph, telephoto, photosynthesis,
terrain, territory). Tell them that dinosaur names
also use Greek and Latin root words and that
understanding the root words will tell them a bit
about the dinosaur itself.
2. Distribute The Name Game. Write Velociraptor on
the board. Have students find the meaning of
Velociraptor (Velo/speed, raptor/robber). Discuss
what they know of Velociraptor and whether they
think the name fits.
3. Have students figure out the meaning of the
dinosaur names on The Name Game sheet.
Discuss with them what they can tell you about
each dinosaur based on its name.
4. Have students work with partners to create a
realistic dinosaur of their own. Remind students
to use what they have learned from the activities
they have done in this unit in designing their
dinosaur.
Students should finish their projects during independent time or as a homework assignment.
Procedure
Period Two
Period One
1. Have partners present their dinosaurs to the class.
In their presentation, partners should describe
what the dinosaur looked like, what it ate, how it
raised its young, and some of its behaviors. They
should also explain why they gave it the name
they did.
1. Write the words photograph and terrace on the
chalkboard. Explain that these words contain
Greek and Latin root words. The Greek word
photo means “light,” and graph means “written or
recorded.” The Latin word terr means “land,” and
ace means “unit.” Ask students to suggest other
words that have these root words. Write them on
2. Exhibit students’ work on the bulletin board.
Group dinosaurs with like characteristics together.
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
The Name Game
Name
Date
1. Use the Greek and Latin root words to figure out the dinosaur names below.
allo
anato
ankylo
anuro
apato
baro
bi
brachio
bronto
canthus
cerat, ceros
cephalo
compso
cory
di
dino
diplo
docus
strange
duck
crooked
no tail
deceptive
heavy
two
arm
thunder
spiked, spined
horned
head
pretty
helmet
two
terrible
double
beam
don, dont
drypto
echino
elasmo
gnathus
lana
lepto
macro
maia
mega
micro
mimus
mono
nano
nodo
ops
ornitho
pachy
tooth
wounding
spiked
plated
jaw
wooly
slender
large
good mother
huge
small
mimic
one, single
dwarf
lumpy
face
bird
thick
pacro
ped
plateo
proto
raptor
rex
rhino
saur, saurus
stego
stereo
super
tri
tyranno
ultra
urus
veloci
xeno
xero
ridge
foot
flat
first
robber
king
nose
lizard
roof
twin
superior
three
tyrant
extreme
tail
speedy
strange
dry
a. Brachiosaurus
b. Ankylosaurus
c. Compsognathus
d. Stegosaurus
e. Triceratops
f. Allosaurus
g. Pachycephalosaurus
2. With a partner, create a dinosaur of your own. Use what you have read about dinosaurs and the activities you
have done to help you. When designing your dinosaur think about the following:
a. What did your dinosaur eat? What kind of teeth did it have?
b. What did your dinosaur look like? What kind of skin did it have? What color was it?
c. How did your dinosaur behave?
Draw a picture of your dinosaur. Think of a good name for your dinosaur. Use the Greek and Latin roots to
create the name. Write a paragraph that describes your dinosaur.
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
Understanding Cladistics
Activity for Grades 5–8
Introduction
Objective
At the American Museum of Natural History,
scientists use a method called cladistics to group
animals. They look for unique features, such as a
hole in the hip socket, that the animals share.
Animals with like features are grouped together. A
chart, called a cladogram, shows these relationships.
Using cladistics, scientists can reconstruct genealogical relationships and can show how animals are
linked to one another through a long and complex
history of evolutionary changes.
In this activity, students will explore cladistics and
create a cladogram of their own.
Materials
• Understanding Cladistics
• A penny, nickel, dime, and quarter for each pair of
students
• 6-8 pictures of dinosaurs duplicated for each group
Procedure
1. Write lion, elephant, zebra, kangaroo, koala,
buffalo, raccoon, and alligator. Ask students how
the animals are related and what might be a good
way of grouping them into sets and subsets.
Discuss students responses.
Tyrannosaurus rex
Apatosaurus excelsus
extinct
extinct
Theropoda
Sauropoda
Foot with three main
toes for support
At least 11 or more
bones in necks
Saurischia
Hand with a big thumb
with fingers getting
shorter as you get
further from the thumb
Dinosauria
Depression formng
a hole in the hip
2. Explain to students that scientists use a method
called cladistics to determine evolutionary relationships among animals. They look for features that
animals share, such as four limbs, hooves, or a
hole in the hip socket. Animals with like features
are grouped together. Scientists make a chart
called a cladogram to show these relationships.
3. Tell students that they will examine the features
of various coins to determine how they are
related. Remind students that cladistics is used to
determine relationships among organisms, and not
necessarily objects. The exercise they are about to
do will introduce them to how cladistics works.
Have students work in pairs. Distribute
Understanding Cladistics to students. Have
them complete the activity and compare their
cladograms. Discuss how they arrived at their conclusions and any differences among the cladograms.
Answers: The first feature (round) has been identified
for students. Possible other features are silver-colored
and rib-edged. However, students may choose other
features to classify the coins that are equally correct.
What is important to note is that a coin at any node
must have the features of all previous nodes.
4. Duplicate and distribute six to eight dinosaurs
found in the appendix. Ask students to work in
groups to classify the dinosaurs according to
features they identify. Have groups share their
findings.
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
Understanding Cladistics
1. Before constructing a cladogram, scientists look for features in animals and note whether the feature is present
or absent. They have special computer programs to help
them do this. You will use the chart. Begin by looking at
the coins. What feature do all the coins have in common? They are all round. Put a plus sign on the column
marked round under each coin.
Quarter
FEATURES
Dime
You and your partner will examine the features found in a
penny, a dime, a nickel, and quarter and construct a cladogram of your own.
Nickel
Date
Penny
Name
A. Round
B.
C.
2. What other feature do most of the coins share? Identify these feature and write it in the column
marked features. Put a minus sign, if the coin does not have this feature. Put a plus sign if the coin
has this feature.
3. What other feature do most of the remaining coins share? Identify this feature and write it in the
last space in the column marked features. Put a minus sign if the coin does not have this feature.
Put a plus sign if the coin has this feature.
4. __________________
3. __________________
2. __________________
1. __________________
C. __________________
B. __________________
A. Round
4. Use the chart to complete the cladogram. The first node (branch in the tree) A is labeled Round. All
the coins at this node and beyond share this feature. Label the other two nodes (letters B and C).
5. What coin is round, but does not share any more features with the other coins? Write the name of
the coin in number 1. What coin shares the first and second feature with the other coins, but no
more? Write the name of the coin in number 2. Which two coins share all the features you have
identified? Write their names in numbers 3 and 4. Use your cladogram to answer these questions:
a. Which two coins are the most closely related?
b. Which coin is a distant relative of these two coins?
c. What feature(s) does the nickel share with the dime?
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
Dinosaur Teeth
Activity for Grades 5–8
Introduction
In the Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs at the
American Museum of Natural History, robotic
dinosaur skulls demonstrate how the various dental
adaptations of plant-eating dinosaurs worked. They
show how as teeth wore down, new teeth grew to
replace them.
Paleontologists can tell a lot from the size of a
dinosaur’s skull and from the teeth in it. The teeth
provide the best clues as to what dinosaurs ate.
Some dinosaurs, like Apatosaurus, had long, rake-like
teeth. They used their teeth to strip leaves off
branches. Tyrannosaurus rex had sharp, knife-like
teeth. It used them to rip meat off its prey and swallow it whole. Triceratops had a whole battery of
sharp teeth that it used to slice plants. Other
dinosaurs, such as Hadrosaurs, had whole batteries
of grinding teeth used to grind up plants.
Objective
This activity will show students the kinds of
information that studying teeth can provide.
Materials
• Four to five small mirrors
• Pieces of carrot (one per student)
• Choppers, Strippers, Grinders, and Rippers
duplicated for each student
Procedure
1. Have students work in small groups. Distribute
the mirrors to groups. Have students use the
mirrors to examine their teeth. Ask them to
identify and sketch the three different kinds of
teeth they have (incisors, canine teeth, and
molars). Ask them to hypothesize how each of
the three teeth are used.
2. Distribute carrots. Instruct students to use their
teeth to:
a. grate or rake off the carrot’s outer layer
b. slice or bite off a piece of the carrot
c. grind up a piece of the carrot
3. Distribute the Choppers, Strippers, Grinders,
and Rippers to students. Have students read the
directions and complete the activity.
(Answers: top left, stripper; top right, grinder; bottom left, chopper; bottom right, ripper.)
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
Choppers, Strippers, Grinders,
and Rippers
Look at the dinosaur skulls below. Look carefully at the teeth.
•
•
•
•
Write chopper under the skull of the dinosaur that used its teeth to chop up plants.
Write stripper under the skull of the dinosaur that used its teeth to strip leaves off branches.
Write grinder under the skull of the dinosaur that used its teeth to grind up plants.
Write ripper under the skull of the dinosaur that used its teeth to rip meant off its prey.
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
Body Fossils
Skull
Foot
Teeth
Bones
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)
Trace Fossils
T. rex Footprint
Tracks
Nest of Eggs
Skin Impression
© 2005 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Presentation at the Museum at Prairiefire is generously supported by
Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation (Global STEM Education Partner)