In this classroom activity, younger students compare their feet to the footprint of a large Apatosaur. The activity opens with background information about the enormous size range of dinosaurs and a discussion in which the students name some of the dinosaurs they know and describe how big they were. Then, each student will make an outline of their own footprint and fasten it onto the full-size Apatosaur ... Full description.

This site describes the skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex at the University of California Museum of Paleontology and includes active links for more information. The first, Meet T. rex gives general information about the animal. The second link, Building T. rex, includes pictures of the actual construction of the skeleton. The third link contains children's art depicting various dinosaurs. The final link ... Full description.

In this imaginary fossil hunt, students learn about the uncertainty of science and the fact that, as new evidence is revealed, ideas may change. As they follow a script read by the teacher, students find (remove from envelope) paper fossils of some unknown creature, a few at a time. Each time, they attempt to reconstruct the creature and each time their interpretation tends to change as new pieces ... Full description.

In this lesson, students will investigate the idea of strength in dinosaurs, and decide for themselves which was the strongest. Background materials point out the difficulty in determining the strength of a dinosaur from fossilized remains, and that size may not be a good measure of strength. The students will review the background material and other printed and online resources, then write an essay ... Full description.

In this activity students study trace fossils, which commonly occur in rocks that do not contain body fossils and may be the only evidence that organisms had once lived in a certain area. They will also learn how sediment type affects fossil preservation and how to design an experiment. Full description.

This lesson introduces elementary students to the concept of soring living things into groups according to certain features. Students look at two kinds of dinosaurs based upon the structure of the pelvis and categorize them accordingly. 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.

This lesson plan is part of the DiscoverySchool.com lesson plan library for grades K-5. It focuses on how scientists have developed theories about what dinosaurs were like by using evidence that they have found. Students work in groups and as a class to discover what a theory is and how it is supported or disproven. Included are objectives, materials, procedures, discussion questions, evaluation ideas, ... Full description.

In this activity students view photographs of 12 fossils and try to draw pictures of what the organisms looked like while they were alive. They then slice up fruit in various ways to get an idea of the difficulty of identifying an organism when only some of the hard parts may be exposed along a bedding surface, making it difficult to determine the true shape of the fossil, let alone the organism the ... Full description.

This Palentological Research Institution (PRI) website illustrates for students many of the concepts paleontologists must consider daily in their research. Concepts such as size and shape, form and function, and the process of science are covered in the activities. Full description.