Is It a Dinosaur?
This material was originally created for
On the Cutting Edge: Professional Development for Geoscience Faculty
and is replicated here as part of the SERC Pedagogic Service.
and is replicated here as part of the SERC Pedagogic Service.
Jonathan Geisler, Georgia Southern University
Course: Dinosaurs, Extinctions, and Disasters
65 students
Course: Dinosaurs, Extinctions, and Disasters
65 students
Students are more likely to remember a definition when they have struggled to figure it out, first.
The Activity
One of the major misconceptions students have about dinosaurs is that anything large and extinct is a dinosaur. I show them a series of pictures of extinct animals and ask them to decide if it is a dinosaur or not. Some are easy while others are more difficult. After they are "stumped" a few times, then I go on to show the features that characterize all dinosaurs.