More About This Resource...

• This activity is designed to enhance a visit to the Museum's Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries exhibit. The printable one-page PDF handout, which focuses on dinosaur features, includes the following activities.

  • An album of animal fashions in which students compare three dinosaur's frills with similar features found on animals alive today in order to determine their function.
  • A "design your own dinosaur" challenge in which students create a dinosaur that has the features they'd like to see.

• Completion Time

  Approximately 1 period

• Teacher Tip

  Supplement a study of paleontology with a classroom activity drawn from this student handout created for the Museum's Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries exhibit.

  1. Ask students: What are some of the more unusual features you've seen on dinosaurs? What purpose, if any, do you think these features served? Can you think of any animals alive today that have similar features?
  2. Give copies of the activity to students. Have students study the illustrations and speculate about the functionality of the dinosaur frills shown, working individually or in pairs.
  3. Working in small groups, have students complete the Wrap-Up! activity. Create a classroom exhibit of the dinosaurs they dreamed up.
  4. For an extra challenge, have students group their imaginary dinosaurs into sets and subsets, or classify them with a cladogram.

• Topic

  Paleontology

• Subtopic

  General

• Subtopic

  National Science Education Standards
  Grades K-4:
  Science as Inquiry CONTENT STANDARD A: 

  • abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry• understanding about scientific inquiry

  Life Science CONTENT STANDARD C: 

  • the characteristics of organisms

  History and Nature of Science CONTENT STANDARD G: 

  • science as a human endeavor

  Grades 5-8:
  Science as Inquiry CONTENT STANDARD A: 

  • abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry• understanding about scientific inquiry

  Life Science CONTENT STANDARD C: 

  • structure and function in living systems

  History and Nature of Science CONTENT STANDARD G: 

  • science as a human endeavor• nature of science

  Grades 9-12:
  Science as Inquiry CONTENT STANDARD A: 

  • abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry• understanding about scientific inquiry

  Life Science CONTENT STANDARD C: 

  • behavior of organisms

  History and Nature of Science CONTENT STANDARD G: 

  • science as a human endeavor• nature of scientific knowledge

• Learning Standard

  National Science Education Standards
  Grades K-4:
  Science as Inquiry CONTENT STANDARD A: 

  • abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry• understanding about scientific inquiry

  Life Science CONTENT STANDARD C: 

  • the characteristics of organisms

  History and Nature of Science CONTENT STANDARD G: 

  • science as a human endeavor

  Grades 5-8:
  Science as Inquiry CONTENT STANDARD A: 

  • abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry• understanding about scientific inquiry

  Life Science CONTENT STANDARD C: 

  • structure and function in living systems

  History and Nature of Science CONTENT STANDARD G: 

  • science as a human endeavor• nature of science

  Grades 9-12:
  Science as Inquiry CONTENT STANDARD A: 

  • abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry• understanding about scientific inquiry

  Life Science CONTENT STANDARD C: 

  • behavior of organisms

  History and Nature of Science CONTENT STANDARD G: 

  • science as a human endeavor• nature of scientific knowledge