These are activities to do with your students before your visit to the Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries exhibition.

1. What do you know?
   Many of the discoveries presented in this exhibition contradict earlier notions scientists had about dinosaurs. These new discoveries are based on new ways of analyzing ancient fossils, such as using computer software to re-create the muscles of a dinosaur. Ask students to think of something that they used to believe in but changed their minds about when confronted with new evidence. Was there a time when a theory they had was reinforced by new evidence?

2. Tools of the Trade
   This exhibition presents new ideas about dinosaurs. Many of these theories were developed with the aid of new technologies (like computer modeling programs and CAT-scan machines). What are some traditional tools that paleontologists use to study dinosaurs? Ask your students to think about what kinds of things paleontologists have learned about dinosaurs using these tools.



Dinosaur tracks are one kind of trace fossil.
© AMNH
Click to Enlarge
3. What is a fossil?
   Many people think of fossils as the teeth or bones of animals long gone, when in fact bones are only one type of fossil. Other fossils, called "trace fossils," are evidence of something a dinosaur left behind but were not part of the dinosaur itself. Write the words "body" and "trace" in two columns on the board. Tell children that fossils are classified as body fossils and trace fossils. Have children come up with body fossils (skull, tooth, foot, etc.). Write their answers in the column marked "body." Further explain that trace fossils are remnants of the dinosaur, and not the dinosaur itself. Ask children to guess what trace fossils may be (footprints, skin impression, eggs, nest, and coprolites [fossilized dino feces]). Write their responses in the column marked "trace."

4. Kid biomechanics
   Biomechanics is the study of the relationship between the way you move and your body size and shape. Today, scientists turn to biomechanics to learn how dinosaurs most likely walked or ran, and moved their necks and tails. Ask students to think about how their joints work by comparing the motion of their knee to the motion of their wrist, elbow, or shoulder. What are the similarities and differences? (Knees and elbows act like hinges. Think of how a door can open and close, but does not operate in any other direction. Shoulders are ball-and-socket joints and have a wider range of motion. Wrists are "universal joints" and can move in any direction.)


Dilong paradoxus, a smaller cousin of T. rex
© AMNH
Click to Enlarge

5. Living dinosaurs
   Among the highlights of this exhibition is a model of a Dilong paradoxus, a dinosaur covered in feathers with a skeleton almost identical to a modern bird. This discovery, and many others, provides scientists with even more evidence that birds are actually living dinosaurs. Show your students a picture of bird and dinosaur skeletons and ask them to draw connections between the two.

6. Why feathers?
   Modern birds may be dinosaurs, but scientists believe that other dinosaurs had feathers but did not fly. Some dinosaurs had very simple feathers-an early stage in the evolution of feathers that probably dates back more than 150 million years ago. Other dinosaurs had more advanced feathers, similar to those found today on modern birds. Ask students to think about what dinosaurs used feathers for besides flying. Have them give examples of animals that use feathers for other purposes.