Forensic Paleontology

Katherine McCarville

Upper Iowa University

Author Profile

This activity has been reviewed by 2 review processes (view details)

This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection

This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.
This activity has benefited from input from faculty educators beyond the author through a review and suggestion process. This review took place as a part of a faculty professional development workshop where groups of faculty reviewed each others' activities and offered feedback and ideas for improvements. To learn more about the process On the Cutting Edge uses for activity review, see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.

Initial Publication Date: July 30, 2009 | Reviewed: June 24, 2014 (see revision history: 2 events)

Summary

Students examine and sketch a dead animal, discovering as much as possible about it.

Field Techniques | College Lower (13-14)

Expand for more detail and links to related resources

Share your modifications and improvements to this activity through the Community Contribution Tool »

Context

Audience

This activity was designed for use in a lower-division undergraduate dinosaurs course. Most students take the course to meet the general education requirements in natural science, but it also attracts pre-service elementary teachers.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

There are no specific prerequisite skills or concepts. However, some work with understanding scale and using a grid may be helpful.

How the activity is situated in the course

Standalone activity.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

Locating and naming skeletal elements of the vertebrate body. Examining bone and tissue for evidence of cause of death. Detailed observation of taphonomy, including stomach or gut contents, type of bone breaks, evidence of insect activity, evidence of decay.

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

Comparing the recently dead animal to an animal that has been fossilized. Reconstructing the sequence of events between death and fossilization.

Other skills goals for this activity

Scientific documentation through field notes and sketching.

Description of the activity/assignment

The activity should begin with a brief review of scale, maps, how to use a grid in sketching, and the importance of field notes in science. Students are provided with a dead animal (roadkill) and some means of determining scale (meter sticks laid next to the animal). They sketch the animal, locating and labeling the major bones and bone groups. Students answer a series of questions designed to help them notice taphonomic features of the carcass. They are challenged to come up with the series of steps from death to burial to fossilization for the animal.