Re: High School Paleo Curriculum

["Steve Brusatte" <dinoland@lycos.com>]

On Tue, 25 Sep 2001 09:32:33  
 Andy Farke wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I just finished an outreach program for K-5 graders--not the same age level
>that you're dealing with, of course, but I did have to consider many of the
>same topics. Items you might wish to include are:
>
>1) Various types of fossils and how they're preserved--tracks, coprolites,
>bones, shells, amber, etc.
>2) How fossils show us evidence of behavior, anatomy, etc. Also. . .how much
>we can know and *can't* know from the fossil record.
>3) The fact that dinosaurs weren't the only thing that lived long ago!
>Brachiopods, trilobites, oreodonts and chalicotheres can be just as
>interesting, and are definitely just as important.
>4) Facts and fictions of recent popular movies and TV shows
>
>These, along with other suggestions on the list, should be a good start.
>Best of luck to you!

I'm sure that all of these suggestions may be bogging you down, but I thought I 
would throw in a few points, being as I may a high school senior myself.  

I think HPs Farke and Kinman mentioned all of the major points.  Be sure to 
make it clear (i.e., don't just mention it and move onto dinosaurs for four 
days), that paleontology covers all fossils and ancient life, and through 
studying biology and geology paleontologists are able to reconstruct these 
fossils.  Second, an overview of the geological timescale is crucial, as is an 
overview of evolution.  

And, please, please try to be interesting :-)  I really can't see how 
paleontology can be boring, but to some kids it probably is.  By showing off a 
lot of fossils (everything from brachiopods to Barosaurus bones) you can keep 
your audience's attention.  Plus, a few jokes wouldn't hurt.  I don't remember 
the webpage, but I believe there is a "Top 100" list, or something of that 
nature, of hilarious comments made by Dr. Holtz in his class at the U of 
Maryland.  Paleontology can be funny, too :-)

Steve

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