Young children often go through a dinosaur phase, so using these creatures as a theme for teaching science can be a rewarding experience for students and teachers alike. There is a variety of projects that can teach young students about the anatomy, habitat, diet and natural history of dinosaurs as well as concepts of climate change, evolution and extinction.
Play Paleontologist
Kindergarten classes will love the chance to play in the sand, especially if there are dinosaur bones to find. Explain that people that dig for dinosaur bones are called paleontologists and that they use special tools to dig for and clean the bones they find. Give each student a tub or box filled with sand covering several cleaned chicken bones and a set of special tools to conduct their dig. The tools should include a small shovel, a sifter and a paintbrush. Demonstrate how to dig carefully, sift the sand and clean the bones that are found. Explain that the cleaned bones are pieced together like a puzzle and displayed in museums for everyone to enjoy. Ask the children to "match" the bones they find to a display dinosaur skeleton or a dinosaur skeleton coloring sheet.
Habitat and Camouflage
Creating a habitat and a herd of hiding dinosaurs will give students in the second grade a chance to learn about predator-prey relationships and the value of camouflage. Have students imagine the habitat in which dinosaurs lived and color a page depicting their imagined landscape. Next give them a page of dinosaurs to color, instructing them to color one red with bright polka-dots and one that would blend into the habitat they created. Finally, the students should cut the dinosaurs out and glue them into the habitat. As they observe their creation have them answer questions regarding which dinosaur is best camouflaged and why, how camouflage would help prey animals, and how camouflage would help predators. Have students think of animals that are living today that use camouflage to protect themselves or to catch prey.
Dinosaur Classification
Observing similarities and differences in a mixed set of dinosaurs will help students learn how scientists classify animals into different taxonomic groups. Begin with a set of 12 different plastic dinosaurs. Draw a circle on a large piece of paper and write the number 12 in it for the 12 dinosaurs in the set. Work together as a class to develop a rule that will divide the group of 12 into two groups. The rule should be simple and be answered with yes or no and should be written underneath the circle. (Do not use color as a way to group the dinosaurs.) Draw two more circles below the first circle with arrows pointing from the first circle to each of the two new circles. Use the rule developed by the students to place each of the dinosaurs into its new group. Write the number of dinosaurs in each group in the appropriate circle. Continue this process until there is only one dinosaur in each circle. Have the students name each species of dinosaur based on its characteristics, and write the name in its circle.
Prehistoric Ecosystems
Upper elementary students can also enjoy dinosaur-themed projects that involve research with library materials and the Internet and a comparative analysis of ecosystem characteristics. The objective of this project is to have students create an accurate depiction of a dinosaur and its habitat following research into a particular dinosaur. Students should begin their research at school, and complete a diorama of the chosen dinosaur's habitat at home. Students will then bring the diorama back to school and explain the characteristics of the habitat in which their chosen dinosaur lived and whether or not a similar habitat exists on the planet today. Have them consider how climate change affects animal populations. Can they adapt to it and what if they can't?
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar