Re: Dinosaur Illustrations

[Amado Narvaez <anarvaez@umd5.umd.edu>]

While we're on the subject of dinosaur illustrations, I'd like to make 
another appeal to any artists out there to put out some print and/or 
digitized clip art for educational use. Imagine how effective a class 
assignment like this would be:

        Objective: Student will produce a computer project about how a dinosaur 
becomes a fossil.

This can be done with anything from KidPix to HyperStudio, HyperCard or 
Amazing Animation. The student looks up the information in a book. Then 
she imports a black and white line-drawing of a T.rex. While the child 
colors the drawing, she subliminally learns that the T. rex back is held 
nearly horizontally with the tail well off the ground.

Next the child imports a picture of the T. rex drowning and colors it.
Then a picture of the dinosaur being covered with mud; the flesh 
decaying; the mud being washed away so that maybe only part of the tail 
is exposed; paleontologists discovering it; paleontologists excavating 
it; paleontologists wrapping the discovery in plaster; etc. etc.

An assignment like this requires the kids to read, put a series of steps 
in sequence, and use computer technology. They could write sentences 
describing each picture and then record the sentences to disk.

What better way to teach state-of-the-art dinosaur knowledge than 
involving the kids in state-of-the-art technology?

The drawings would have to be line-drawings rather than fully-textured 
renderings, since most of the children would be using basic painting 
tools to start with.

I'd be happy (as an educator) to collaborate with artists on a project 
like this. I'm a mediocre artist myself, and I've developed some 
curriculum stuff for my school system. (Someday I might be brave or 
reckless enough to have some of the experts look it over for critical 
review.)

I keep hoping the Dinosaur Society will sponsor something like this.

----- Amado Narvaez
      anarvaez@umd5.umd.edu