Montana, I’m Here!!!

The experience of a life time!  I found fossils at the clinker site.  I went to the micro-fossil site and “prospected” for fossils.  At this point, I wasn’t a great prospector.  Other people felt sorry for me, giving me their fossils, but I stubbornly refused because I wanted to find my own!  Stephanie came over and told me to look in a certain area because she knew there were turtle pieces there.  I searched for 20 minutes before I finally saw what she did!  Oh well…some people have an eye for it and some don’t.  At Hell Creek, I halped to prepare a triceratops frill that was sticking out of the ground vertically.  I found this experience to be relaxing, therapeutic, tedious, and socially rewarding.  I learned how to make field notes for my finds.  At the Pierre Shale Formation, I found sedimentary rocks with bivalves, gastropods, and ammonites!  Way cool!  They were easy to find but I also hammered my thumb!  At another Hell Creek site, I helped to remove a triceratops femur head and claw.  I “jacketed” the side sticking out of the ground with wet paper towels, then plaster soaked burlap!  Before lunch, I washed my plaster-covered hands in dirt.  Again, omg fun!  See some of our pics on flickr.

I loved sitting on the back porch of the rance.  It was a little chilly but the scenery and sounds were amazing!  Cows make more sounds than “moo”, they also make a grunting/moaning sound.  There are no buildings in sight.  I can see rock formations for miles.  I hear birds, with an occassional morning dove.  It’s my morning WOW pick-me-up, instead of coffee.

Dr Paul Serino’s Lab

OMG!!! I can’t believe I forgot this cool experience.  We were invited to see Paul’s lab!  Here we were able to see what happens to the fossilized bones when they come back to the lab.  Questions such as, “how do they get the bone out of the jacket (plaster cast)” were answered.  Also how do we know what the animal really looked like?

What clicked for me in this “field trip” was the marriage of two careers: the paleontologist and the artist.  For the student who loves art and creating but is reluctant in science, the two careers can merge into one.  As a class experience, students can make fossil casts, then paint them how they would have looked when they were alive!

 

2 careers merge: art and paleontology

Museum Field Trip

Day 5

 

Today we visited three museums.  I feel it is important for students to have a purpose when visiting a museum, especially if they’re in junior high.  At the Shedd Aquarium, the purpose was to interpret the past by studying the present.  Particularly, “How does the water level change throughout the year?  How does it affect the ecology?”    So the “Amazon Rising Exhibit” was chosen for us to study.  These are the past formations of the area of Montana we are going to visit.   Awesome! 

Amazon Exhibit Shedd Aquarium

At the Adler Planetarium, I’m sorry to say but we didn’t visit any exhibits that were new to me but we listened to a lecture from Mark.  I was able to hold rocks from the moon!  I learned about the Crustaceous-Tertiary boundary.  The dinosaurs died at the end of the crustaceous and mammals took over in the tertiary.

Moon Rock, Mark Hammergreen’s Collection

At the Field museum, we studied the “Life Through Time” display.  In particular, we studied the pelvic bones of two types of dinosaurs.  Basically, we were looking at the pubic bone facing forward or back.  I have to admit it took a very long time for me to see it, but Matt was very patient with me and I finally got it!

CPS Teachers at Field Museum

Power Point!!

How does this experience relate to my real world?

Day 4 Journal Entry

For me, the best way to learn science is by doing.  I whole-heartedly believe in the immersion method-eating, breathing, and sleeping science.  I also don’t think science disciplines should be taught independently in elementary school.  It should be integrated as students don’t have a background in earth, life, or physical science.

In my school, science is taught sporadically until 7th grade.  This happens for two reasons:  the push for reading and math AND teachers who are afraid of science.

I plan to bring the idea of summer school to teachers through immersion.  Two to three weeks of intensive integrated science with a Big Idea.  My experiences here will be blogged (like I’m doing right now) to show my growth of knowledge.  Then continued blogging throughout the school year as I apply my new found knowledge during student lessons.  This will hopefully inspire other teachers toward better science teaching in the lower grades.

Fossil or Not?

Still Day 3

This activity had us going to 15 different stations.  We were to identify whether the specimen was a fossil.  My results were 13/15 – pretty good for a beginner!  In Montana, I will be choosing specimens for this worthwhile activity.

Me with Potential Fossil (Armadillo Shell)

Taphonomy

Death…..(on day 3)

Today’s lesson was on taphonomy.  This means the study of death, transportation, deposition, and preservation.  This was both fascinating and confusing because the slide show presentation went very very fast.  I’m going to have to go home and review the material.  But basically scientists have studied present-day animals and how their body dies and decomposes naturally.  The fossils (click fossilization video) we will find will most likely be in a fluvial environment or a river flood plain area.

I can see myself talking about this unusual career of a “death investigator” with my students.  I’ll have to work on the content activity though.  Any suggestions?

Scientific Classification for Kids

Day Three

When we walked into class today, there were approximately 50 plastic toy animals ranging from dinosaurs to mammals and insects on a table.  Our task, group the toys in two minutes.  Here are the 8 ways we came up with:

1. insect/reptile/mammal
2. color
3. alive/extinct
4. carnivore/herbivore
5. size
6. paleozoic/mesozoic/cenozoic
7. locomotion
8. habitat (water/land)

 

 

Toy Animals for Scientific Classification Activity

 

 

I’ve done this type of classification/grouping activity before with writing utensils.  I see the value of using biological representations but the price is expensive.  I can repeat this simulation with pictures (laminated).

Geologic Time

Still Day Two

In the afternoon, we were again split into groups and assigned a geological time period to research on the internet.  We were asked to find out when our time period started and ended and what type of life existed.  Then we were to draw it on the board and label it.

 

Teacher Created Geologic Time Scale

 

I think we did a fantastic job!  Definite activity for my students using butcher block paper.

 

Rocks 101

Day Two

Today we had a crash course on rocks.  This is what I learned.  Keep in mind, I have never studied rocks before.

 

Breakdown of Rocks

 

I never knew rocks could be so interesting.  My favorite rocks were conglomerate rocks called coquina.  This type of rock is bioclastic which means it has pieces of shelld embeded in the rock.  Somewhere in my school, rock exists.  I must find thim!