What is a Dinosaur
It's not what they ate or when they lived that distinguishes dinosaurs from other reptiles. It's the hole in their hip socket. Find out how this feature affected the way dinosaurs walk.
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More About This Resource...
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In this classroom activity, created to complement the Museum's Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries exhibit, young students learn what distinguishes dinosaurs from other animals.
- The activity opens with background information for teachers about these prehistoric reptiles.
- Working in small groups, students look through dinosaur books to gather interesting facts to share.
- As a class, students use their facts to create a semantic map. Then they explore the differences in dinosaur and lizard legs, and examine how these differences affect their stances.
- The activity concludes with a student worksheet that challenges them to identify the dinosaurs within a collection of animal illustrations.
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Completion Time
Less than 1 period
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Origin
Moveable Museum -
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• organisms and environments
History and Nature of Science CONTENT STANDARD G:
• science as a human endeavor
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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• organisms and environments
History and Nature of Science CONTENT STANDARD G:
• science as a human endeavor
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