25 Geoscience Education (Posters) I

Sunday, 9 October 2011
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Hall C

DINOSAUR ACADEMY: A POST-SECONDARY PROGRAM PROVIDING HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION STANDARDS AND COLLEGE CREDIT FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN PALEONTOLOGY

Paper number: 25-7
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Authors

Abstract

To give high school students the most involved paleontological experience, the Big Horn Basin Foundation in Thermopolis, Wyoming, established the Dinosaur Academy (DA) in 2007. This one-week program immerses participants in paleontology using fourteen excavation sites located near the Wyoming Dinosaur Center (WDC) to focus on the primary elements of geology and paleontology to develop skills in scientific inquiry, a national graduation standard. This week also allows students to earn two college credits through Central Wyoming College. The program blends lab and field activities to build life skills. Students are allowed to explore many aspects of this interdisciplinary science with exposure to major concepts in geology, biology, chemistry and physics leading up to a cumulative final. Detailed dig site descriptions are written using information and fossil evidence including sediments, site maps, specimens, and trace fossils. By the end of the week students are able to combine observations and data to build a scientific story of the dig sites.

During each summer, morning excavations take advantage of the cool temperatures to practice field techniques, examine geology, and learn about specimen preservation at different sites. When conditions outdoors are unfavorable, the program moves indoors where students work with scientists to prepare specimens for museum research and display. Working with scientists allows a hands-on learning experience that is hard to match in a classroom.

The DA also uses field trips to expose students to concepts of geologic time and processes. In the Wind River Canyon, they identify rock layers from the Precambrian to the early Phanerozoic. The canyon trip focuses on geologic concepts like superposition and fault identification. Other trips are taken to show students both the formation of local hot springs and the seaward progression that covered the area during the Mesozoic Era.

By the end of the academy, the participants understand how paleontology works, and how it can act as a springboard for future science education. The DA stresses the usefulness of environments outside the classroom as an alternative for student learning.