This online computer game deals with why allosaurs hunted as they did, as well as how. The student needs to balance the need for food for energy and growth with the risk of being savaged by one's potential prey or killed outright by another allosaur. The "Big Al" starts out as a 0.2 kg hatchling and ends up as a hunter of sauropods and a parent to the next generation of allosaurs. On this Starting Point page, users can access information about the exercise's learning goals, context for use, teaching notes and tips, teaching materials, assessment ideas, references and topics covered.

This site presents a collection of scientific learning resources for educators, parents, kids, after-school coordinators, informal learning center staff, and anyone else interested in teaching or learning about science. The site provides a searchable database of resource materials, including activities (computer based and otherwise), curriculum materials, articles, evidence and analytical tools and procedures, exhibition materials, reference lists, and special collections of resources organized around a particular theme. Users can browse resources by topic, sub-topic, grade level, or resource type. Each resource is displayed with a concise description that includes the title, resource type, grade level, and key concepts. Clicking the icon next to the title displays the full resource description. If available, other icons link to the resource in print format, Web format, or both.

This fun Web site is part of OLogy, where kids can collect virtual trading cards and create projects with them. Here, they learn about cladograms and the vast variety of dinosaurs that once roamed Earth. The activity opens by telling kids that there are more than 400 known species of extinct dinosaurs and by explaining how cladograms show their relationships to one another. Students then go to an interactive cladogram that has 19 dinosaur species, ranging from Velociraptor mongolienis and Eudromia elegans to Protoceratops andrewsi and Drinker nisti. Each of the 19 dinosaurs includes a trading card with details about the species and its discovery, photographs, and interactive multiple-choice and "Fact or Fiction?" quizzes.

This fun Web site is part of OLogy, where kids can collect virtual trading cards and create projects with them. Here, they learn about paleontology with a hands-on activity. The activity opens with an explanation covering how fossilized bones are usually very delicate and buried deeply in rock fossils. Students are then given step-by-step directions for working with a friend to create two make-believe dig sites by burying bones in plaster of Paris. The activity ends with three discussion questions: What was surprising about excavating the bones? What strategies did you find worked well for removing the plaster? How would you have worked differently if you had no idea what was buried inside?

In this activity, students write an essay on the history of scientific discoveries in the field of dinosaur paleontology. The essays are then evaluated via Calibrated Peer Review. On this Starting Point page, users can access information about the exercise's learning goals, context for use, teaching notes and tips, teaching materials, assessment ideas, references and topics covered.

CHRONOS (Greek: time) aims to create a dynamic, interactive and time-calibrated framework for Earth history. CHRONOS's main objective is to develop a network of databases and visualization and analytical methodologies that broadly deal with chronostratigraphy - that is, with developing a better tool (the time scale) for understanding fundamental Earth processes through time. The CHRONOS platform will provide a new investigative environment for interdisciplinary Earth history research that includes the evolution and diversity of life, climate change, geochemical cycles, rapid geologic events, magnetic field fluctuations, and other major Earth system processes. What caused the largest mass extinction of the last 600 million years? How did life evolve from the first simple bacteria that dominated for billions of years? The goal is not only to produce a system for assembling and consolidating such a wide range of Earth history data, but also to provide a platform for modern, innovative Earth science research, and to empower the general public with new knowledge of Earth science facts and issues.

This "clicker case" is a redesign of a case, also in our collection, by Robert H. Grant titled "A Strange Fish Indeed: The 'Discovery' of a Living Fossil." The case follows the story of Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer and her discovery of the coelacanth, a fish of considerable evolutionary interest. It uses the story as a springboard to explore evolutionary concepts and the scientific method. It has been reformatted to use student personal response systems ("clickers") and a PowerPoint presentation (~4.2MB), and further emphasizes the role of Ms. Courtenay-Latimer. The case is designed for large introductory biology courses.

This page describes a geologic timescale poster available for purchase. The site also contains an interesting essay: "A Galactic Orbit Model for Periodic Mass Extinction," discussing how clusters of impacts could cause periodic mass extinctions.

This OLogy activity offers kids a fun way to show off their dinosaur knowledge. The activity begins by telling kids to pick a topic and title for their Mesozoic Museum, and provides a book list to help them research their selection. It then provides a list of materials and directions for setting up an exhibit that includes explanatory caption cards. Kids are urged to invite friends and family to the Mesozoic Museum, soliciting feedback and testing how well their exhibit communicated knowledge. As inspiration, the activity also includes a pictorial look at the construction of a dinosaur exhibit at the AMNH.

In this role-playing case study, students attempt to determine the identity of a variety of human fossils based on characteristics described during a "quiz show." The case was designed to be used in a general biology class for freshman students where the focus is on evolution. It could also be used in an anthropology or paleontology course.

This Web site, created to complement the Museum's Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries exhibit, offers a virtual visit to the Museum, complete with text, photos, video clips, audio interviews, and more. The site takes an in-depth look at modern paleontology and today's advanced technology.

This Web site is a firsthand report from an expedition to Patagonia in which the first dinosaur embryos with fossilized skin were found. It tells the story of the find, which was made by scientists who were actually looking for early birds and their ancestors. Discovery explains the original mission of the expedition and the remarkable find of a nesting site that contained thousands of dinosaur eggs. What Does a Paleontologist See? challenges students to find dinosaur remains in two rock specimens. (Answers can be checked by rolling the mouse over the images.) The Place profiles Patagonia with an excerpt from an audio interview with one of the expedition leaders. The Team features photographs and bios of the 14 scientists who made the discovery, as well as links to related Web sites. Dig Deeper answers a number of questions about the expedition, from what the most important expedition equipment was to the next steps in the research. Listen answers the question of What kind of dinosaur laid the eggs at the nesting site? with an English and Spanish audio recording. Publications provides a select list of books and articles by the expedition's two lead scientists, and includes abstracts of and excerpts from their work.

Microfossils are small, fossilized remains of organisms (animal, plant, or protozoa) that require magnification for study. They usually derive from the hard parts of organisms (skeletons, shells, jaws, teeth, seed coverings, etc), and may be imbedded in rock or exist as loose particles within soft substrate. Research studies of microfossils provide insights into ecological and evolutionary relationships among plant and animal communities that existed on earth hundreds of millions of years ago. Microfossils also provide excellent hands-on material for science classroom education in general biology, evolution, and earth sciences. The theme of this lab inquiry is biological, rather than geological. Focus is on retrieval, identification, and characterization of selected microfossils ranging in size from about 0.2 to 2.0 mm. Through hands-on discovery and examination of microfossil specimens, students should gain new insights and greater appreciation of the richness of marine biodiversity from the Devonian Period (ca. 375-400 MYA).

This OLogy activity shows kids how paleo-artists are able to transform dinosaur bones into dynamic drawings. After walking them through the five-step process outlined below, the activity challenges kids to create their own drawings from dinosaur skeletons|Step 1: Start with the bones. Step 2: Give those bones a body. Step 3: Shadow time!Step 4: Scaly skin and maybe feathers. Step 5: There's no place like home.

Early Image is a collection of extinct-animal paintings and sketches produced before 1923 (and therefore in the public domain). Some of the works are of Victorian age and may lend atmosphere to a class emphasizing the history of geology. The works are divided into two categories; prehistoric life before KT and prehistoric life after KT.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Paleontology Divisions offers educational resources on their website. Resources include booklets on geologic time, fossils, dinosaurs, and plate tectonics. Users can follow links to USGS resources including teaching sources and general interest information and non-USGS resources.

This website provides access to lesson plans published by the Evolution and the Nature of Science Institutes (ENSI). Based on 32 key ideas of scientific thought, the ENSI program emphasizes the importance of teaching the nature of modern science before introducing the elements of evolution as an example of modern scientific thinking. This website features lessons in three categories - the nature of science, the origins of life, and evolution. Lesson plans are organized into eight sections including an overview of concepts and objectives, logistics such as time, materials, and teaching preparations, and ready-to-use handouts and worksheets for students. These lessons are intended for use in any high school biology course, and may also be used in middle school and/or lower division university courses depending on slight modifications and the experience and level of students.

This Web article is part of OLogy, where kids can collect virtual trading cards and create projects with them. Here they meet Deena Soris, who interviews the fossil of a Protoceratops. The more-than-20 questions answered by this dinosaur fossil include: You look fabulous. How old are you?How do scientists guess an extinct dinosaur's speed?Is it a thrill to have a frill?So what happened?One day you're happily munching away on thick, tough plants, the next you're history?How did you go from being a "Gobi sandwich" to becoming a fossil?Your bones were underground for 80 million years. How did the paleontologists find you?Once you got to the Museum, what happened? Are there any secrets you'd like to share with the folks at home?

Students learn about fossils what they are, how they are formed, and why scientists and engineers care about them.