Museum in a Box

Welcome!

Museum in a Box brings dinosaur fossils, paired with hands-on, inquiry-based activities, into your classroom. Your students will conduct investigations that mirror the type of inquiries carried out by paleontologists at the American Museum of Natural History and at other scientific institutions.

These activities invite students to think, question, and explore like scientists: observing closely, forming hypotheses, and developing evidence-based explanations. Furthermore, each lesson plan aligns with New York State elementary learning standards.

Quick-Start Guide

Watch these helpful videos to get you started.

A table with various fossils layout and a play button in the middle of the screen

Receiving Museum in a Box

User Guide

Museum in a Box Users Guide

Museum in a Box Contents

How to Use

Our Educational Approach

Museum in a Box activities are designed to expose learners to natural science phenomena in ways that inspire curiosity and engagement.

We define natural science phenomena as those that are: a) naturally occurring b) observable within the lesson experience, and c) accessible and relevant to the learner.

Next generation science learning relies on the premise that authentic science learning happens when learners engage with the same kinds of phenomena that scientists investigate. This process involves applying science practices and crosscutting concepts to develop knowledge about the natural world. Leading with scientific explanations does not typically motivate learners to engage, ask questions, or develop a personal interest in a topic, limiting opportunities for deeper learning. Museum in a Box enables learners to observe, touch, and wonder about the same things that made scientists wonder about the natural world. This tactile learning and sense of wonder motivates learners to ask questions, which is a key step in meaningful science learning.

For example, a natural phenomenon is that ancient dinosaur skeletons resemble the skeletons of modern birds. When learners observe firsthand the similarities in body parts—such as feathers, feet, and skulls (which are naturally occurring and observable)—they will be motivated to investigate why these similarities exist (content becomes accessible and relevant). They will understand on a visceral level why scientists consider birds to be a type of dinosaur. Simply telling learners at the start of a lesson that birds are dinosaurs takes away the opportunity for them to make this discovery themselves.

The activities in this program provide teachers with opportunities to introduce compelling phenomena, support student observation and questioning, and foster the curiosity that drives scientific investigation.

Before you Start

Show your students this introductory video from paleontologists at the American Museum of Natural

Michael Novacek: Hi, my name is Michael Novacek. I'm a paleontologist. That means I study ancient life.. . . a long bone of something. I study mammals that lived

at the time of the dinosaurs and also collect dinosaurs. I'm here in the Gobi Desert with other paleontologists, and we're digging for dinosaurs, and ancient mammals, and lizards,

and other ancient vertebrate creatures.

Yeah, yeah.

Matteo Fabbri: We know that these rocks surrounding us are the right age to find dinosaurs.

Hongyu Yi: When dinosaurs were living here this is also a very arid area, which means it's dry. And we think some of these are sand dunes formed during the time of the dinosaurs.

Suzann Goldberg: This looks to me like a skull of a dinosaur, so I'm just being very gentle, and I'm going to apply some adhesive to protect it as I'm clearing the area. And hopefully it will be something really awesome.

Matteo Fabbri: We walk around the rocks all day long. We find little bones sticking out from the rock.

Suzann Goldberg: . . . piece of a skull, but it could . . .

Matteo Fabbri: We dig really carefully for all day long. It seems to be the same bone. The fossil is packed to make sure that the fossil can be brought safely to the lab

and then studied carefully.

Michael Novacek: Then we send it back to the American Museum of Natural History so we can study it. The fossils belong to Mongolia. So after we study them for two years, we return them to Mongolia. We want to know about what kind of an animal it was, how it was related to other animals, and what it was like when it was living. Back at home is where the real discoveries happen. You can study fossils, too. Your crate has some amazing fossils in it. See what you can discover about the animals that lived millions of years ago.

Choose one or both Introductory lessons depending on grade level

What is a Dinosaur? (slideshow for all grade levels): Introduce your students to the diversity of dinosaurs with this slideshow featuring illustrations of famous (and not so famous) dinosaurs. You can do this activity even before your box arrives to get your students excited.

What is Paleontology? (online article for Grades 3-5): This online, interactive article covers all the “big ideas” behind the field of paleontology. Students can read the whole thing, or just one or a few of the big ideas. You may also choose to read the article aloud to younger students.

Using Museum in a Box

Setting Up

Museum in a Box has two sets of elements: the museum display and the activity boxes. There are two suggested configurations for the use of Museum in a Box

Central location: Museum display and all activities are used in one classroom, library or other commonly accessed area
Dispersed: Several classrooms use and rotate individual activities, museum display or banner is used in central area, or omitted

Museum Display

The Museum Display creates a small museum in the classroom, library, or other central location. The display includes individual objects from activity boxes that will get kids excited and asking questions before the activities start. Please note that because the museum display uses objects from the activities, they will need to be removed to be used during the activity session.

Included Components:

Double-sided banner – 6'6 wide x 7’
6’ tablecloth
Object labels and display stands

School to provide:

6’ table or other surfaces for “display”

Objects used in Museum Display:

Box 1: Coprolite, dinosaur bone, fish plaque. T. rex tooth cast
Box 2: T. rex furcula cast, Archaeopteryx plaque cast, Velociraptor skull cast
Box 3: Large trackway cast
Box 4: Mystery fossil

Activity Boxes

These activities can be done in any sequence, though we do recommend starting with What is a Fossil? Each activity box comes with a Lesson Plan intended to take one 40-minute class period, and a Mini Investigation, intended to take up to 20 minutes. Lesson plans include teacher overview, classroom setup, Grades K-2 and 3-5 worksheets, other online resources, and standards alignment. All physical objects for each activity are included in the box. Any consumable including handouts, writing or coloring utensils are not included.

Box 1: What is a Fossil?

Students learn that fossils are evidence of past life.

Lesson Plan: What is a Fossil?
Mini Investigation: What is a Fossil?
Slideshow: What Did They Look Like?

Box 2: How Do We Know Birds Are Dinosaurs?

Students discover how scientists determined that birds are a kind of dinosaur.

Lesson Plan: How Do We Know Birds Are Dinosaurs?
Mini Investigation: How Do We Know Birds Are Dinosaurs?

Box 3: Who Walked Here?

Students analyze dinosaur trackways for clues about ancient dinosaur behavior.

Lesson Plan: Who Walked Here?
Mini Investigation: Who Walked Here?
Slideshow: Famous Trackways | Who Walked Here?

Box 4: Mystery Fossil

Students use evidence and their imaginations to hypothesize about what a mystery fossil is and how it was used.

Lesson Plan: Mystery Fossil
Mini Investigation: Mystery Fossil
Slideshows: Modern Animal Reveal | Mystery Fossil Reveal