ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS UNDERTAKE THE MASTODON MATRIX PROJECT: CASE EXAMPLE OF A RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP

The Mastodon Matrix Project engages school classes in searching for fossils from mud collected near the bones of excavated late Pleistocene mastodons. The project is adminstered by the Paleontological Research Institution as part of the joint PRI-Cornell Mastodon Project. In each of the past two school years Sandy Wasserman has run the project as an enrichment program with 36 third grade students in a gifted and talented program; the students came from six elementary schools in the Levittown Union Free School District on Long Island in NY State. Samples used by the class came from the Hyde Park mastodon excavation in Dutchess County, NY. Students in the second year prepared for the activity by watching a Discovery Channel documentary about the excavation; in this way students observe bones being found and removed from the peat and marl that they are investigating in the classroom.

The students were divided into four groups, each of which received a 1 kg bag of matrix to sort. Students followed procedures for sorting fossils and gravel from the sediment using standard protocols sent to all project participants. Fossils included freshwater mollusks, twigs, seeds, leaves, and various unidentified specimens. Materials sorted from the sediment were bagged, labeled, and returned with a data sheet by the end of the school year. It was unnecessary to purchase significant new equipment: scales and microscopes were borrowed from the high school, students brought tweezers from home, and paper plates and bags were purchased for sorting the materials. The project was used to meet a variety of curricular goals, from changing Pleistocene environments to vertebrate anatomy.

Student were extremely positive about their experiences. Authenticity of the materials -- including the possibility that some twigs had been chewed and digested! -- was an important aspect of the project. Many students were concerned about the fate of the materials they had collected, thus more feedback from PRI about the receipt of materials, possibly with scientific updates, will be a valuable addition to the project. The project had few expenses other than postage and inexpensive supplies, making it possible to run on a shoestring budget. This kind of project will be especially attractive to teachers willing to initiate open-ended hands-on science activities working within tight budgets.