Brittany Vogel
UMBC
MD

Dinosaur Extinction, Early Childhood Style

Sun, Oct 18, 2015 3:11 PM
One question led to 8 months of inquiry!

This article starts with a teacher explaining that one question from a pre-schooler led to 8 months of inquiry-based learning! She then describes how this happened, how she encouraged students to keep this learning going, and the activities with which she helped to teach them about dinosaurs. There are a lot of great ideas in this article that worked for her classroom, and I think would work for many other kids, too. She outlines some really great, engaging activities that could be used in classrooms around the world. This article is a great resource for anyone who is looking for interesting ways to engage students during a dinosaur unit.

Primary Paleontologists: Students "dig in" to excavate buried "fossils"

Sun, Oct 18, 2015 2:29 PM
Engaging activity for young science students

This article details a teacher's experience when conducting fossil 'digs' with her second grade students. She describes how the digs work, what materials are needed, and what the students do before, during, and after the dig. It seems to be a very engaging and rich activity that allows students to both have fun and learn. They use map, writing, and observation skills along with their knowledge about dinosaurs and excavations. When I become a teacher, I would love to engage the kids with this activity.