This slide show presents images of dinosaur bones and shows paleotologists at work excavating and preserving these fossils, the best evidence remaining of these long-lost creatures. A background essay and discussion questons are included. Full description.

This lesson plan asks students to think about the ways in which living animals use their bodies and the ways in which dinosaurs might have used their bodies based on fossil evidence and our best educated guesses. These topics serve as a prelude to studying evolution and adaptation. Full description.

In this activity, students will appreciate how descriptive dinosaur names are formed. They will use multiple combining forms added to the suffix "-saurus" (Greek for lizard) to form the name of a "dinosaur" which they will then draw. This activity contains background information, materials, directions, and extension activities. Full description.

In this classroom activity young students explore the meanings behind dinosaurs' names. It opens with background information for teachers about the Greek and Latin roots of dinosaur names. After discussing what they know about dinosaurs, students learn that dinosaur names can describe what the dinosaur looked like, how it might have acted, or where it was found. Working as a class, students use a ... Full description.

In this activity, students will recognize that body design affects balance by building models of dinosaur body types, using straws and marshmallows. There is background information, procedure, and a lab investigation with questions in this activity. Full description.

In this activity students first work in small groups and look through books to find three interesting facts about dinosaurs. Groups report their facts to the rest of the class while the teacher uses students' responses to create a semantic map. Students are shown the difference between the lizard and the dinosaur. On the included worksheet students will color only the animals that are dinosaurs. When ... Full description.

This Classroom of the Future (COTF) resource explores dinosaurs and the possible causes of their extinction, including orbital changes in the Earth, volcanoes, disease, a supernova, and asteroid impact. The site provides a brief, illustrated essay for each theory, as well as links to related sites. Full description.

This curriculum model represents an entire school district's attempt to use paleontology to implement standards-based education reforms. While most colleges do not have a dinosaur available for student and teacher use, the project provides a template for partnerships between colleges and local school districts. The curriculum can be adopted by teachers to institute standards-based classroom practice ... Full description.

This lesson introduces students to the idea that animals prefer certain types of habitats over others and, in fact, cannot live in places that are too different from what they prefer. In this case they will focus on dinosaurs. They will learn about the types of habitats and climates scientists believe dinosaurs tended to prefer and will conclude by drawing background scenes to use in a toy dinosaur ... Full description.

This presentation recreates a field trip on which paleontologists find and retrieve a partial Tyrannosaurus rex fossil. Students will see how a site is selected using a geologic map and looking for an exposed area with little vegetation such as the side of a cliff (in this case in the Badlands of South Dakota.) The presentation stresses the special care needed in documenting the location of a fossil ... Full description.