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Beyond T. rex

Abstract:: 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.

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Fighting Dinos

Abstract:: This fun Web site is part of OLogy, where kids can collect virtual trading cards and create projects with them. Here, they learn about the Fighting Dinos fossil. The site opens with a vivid account of the dinosaurs' fight. "Explore the Fighting Dinos Through a Paleontologist's Eyes" gives students an up-close look at the fossil, with notes about the clues it's given scientists. "How Did They Die, Anyway?" presents details about the three theories that have been developed about how the fighting pair was buried alive. "Bone Up Your Fossils" challenges students to match up eight dinosaur fossil photos and descriptions.

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Abstract:: This Web site, created to complement an American Museum of Natural History exhibition, reports on one of the most famous fossil finds in the world (the fighting dinosaurs of Mongolia) and other ancient animal fossils discovered in the Gobi Desert.

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Abstract:: This Web article is part of OLogy, where kids can collect virtual trading cards and create projects with them. Here they meet two Museum scientists who go fossil hunting every year in the Gobi, and view the duo's scrapbook. The article begins by introducing students to Mike Novacek, who wants to understand which prehistoric fossils are related to modern mammals, and Mark Norell, who is trying to figure our how certain dinosaurs evolved into modern birds. Students also learn about Roy Chapman Andrews, a naturalist who led the Museum's first expeditions to the Gobi in the 1920s. In addition to seeing photos and illustrations from the Gobi scrapbook, students learn about the journey to Mongolia, discover the challenges of fossil hunting, and see what a typical day is like for these scientists.

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Abstract:: This gallery of online resources is from the Museum's Seminars on Science, a series of distance-learning courses designed to help educators meet the new national science standards. Video Gallery: Velociraptor is part of the Dinosaurs Among Us: The Link to Birds seminar. This brief video looks at how the dinosaur is closely related to birds and includes a printable PDF transcript.