Dinosaur Model Lesson

SCIENCE CONCEPT:

Dinosaurs once lived on the earth and observation of their models help us to understand science.

STUDENT OBJECTIVE:

The children will become aware of what the words "science" and "observe" mean in the context of looking at dinosaur models.

OVERVIEW:

The children will view various dinosaur models and discuss how observation fills a needed area in the realm of science in simple terms. Without observation we would not come to an understanding of different animals, occurrences in nature, and man himself.

PREPARATION TIME:

20 minutes.

LESSON TIME:

20 minutes.

TEACHER PREP:

Gather dinosaur models, particularly those that flew

WORDS TO KNOW:

dinosaur

pterosaurs

science

once living

origin

observe

TEACHER TEXT:

Flight by animals extends back in time to the very beginning of vertebrates (animals with a backbone), some 200 million years ago. However, our understanding of these flyers is not very complete and is very controversial in how good these animals were as flyers, what their origins were and what became of them. As with our understanding of most dinosaurs, the various beliefs held by some scientists today are challenged by other scientists. For example, were dinosaurs warm blooded or cold blooded? Were they fast or slow? Did these flyers fly or only glide?

Today it is believed that some species of dinosaurs did fly as much and as well as modern birds and bats. In addition, these flying dinosaurs, known as pterosaurs (flying lizard) spanned the whole time period of dinosaurs.

Web Hosting Provided By The National Business Aviation Association.

Explore Space ... Not Drugs!
Hear what astronauts have to say about staying drug-free.
Last modified: Sun Nov 16 11:30:02 PST 1997