We have designed several hands-on paleontology activities for middle school and high school students. These activities have been tested with two age groups: 6th graders in an intensive summer science program and 9th graders in a semester-long program that surveys a variety of scientific disciplines.

These hands-on activities can be used in the classroom, and they are especially effective as preparation for a field trip to a natural history museum. Many museums have exhibits depicting prehistoric life, and more recent exhibits incorporate the concept of geologic time and the history of life on earth into their exhibits. The museum experience naturally builds on the concepts covered in these activities and is an extremely effective complement to the classroom lesson.

Our experiences demonstrate the effectiveness of using dinosaurs to teach concepts such as evolution, geologic time, and the interpretation of the fossil record. These concepts are crucial for a comprehensive understanding of paleontology and earth science. Students must possess sophisticated thinking and interpretation skills in order to learn these concepts successfully. We realize that many state educational guidelines call for studying fossils in elementary school. However, these important concepts cannot be taught in depth to elementary students, and we recognize the need to address these topics in middle school and high school.