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EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING AND RESOURCES FROM THE FOSSIL INVERTEBRATE COLLECTION AT THE FIELD MUSEUM
Programming
Using social media and a variety of different videoconferencing platforms educational programing is presented live to museum members, volunteers, staff, K- 12 and undergraduate students, and the general public. These programs include
- Answering questions about paleontology
- Identifying fossils and rocks from submitted images
- Presenting PowerPoint talks on the paleontology of the Chicago area including Silurian reefs and Mazon Creek fossils such as the Tully monster
- Conducting live tours of the collection area, highlighting local fossils and fossils that fluoresce under UV lighting.
Resources
Digitization efforts for the Fossil Invertebrate Collection began in the 1987 with an NSF grant to digitize the Mazon Creek fossil collection. In 2012 to the present eight different digitization projects including two multiyear IMLS projects in partnership with the Milwaukee Public Museum have been implemented. These projects have doubled the number of fossil invertebrate digital records in our EMu database which now stores nearly 85,000 specimen records with links to nearly 80,000 images. Most of these records are available on GBIF and the Field Museum Website at:
https://collections-geology.fieldmuseum.org/list?f%5B0%5D=ss_CatCatalog%3A%22Fossil%20Invertebrates%22
Created in 1996 at the Milwaukee Public Museum, the Virtual Silurian Reef Website is an educational site designed for K to 12 students (focused on eight graders). This website has been redesigned and updated as part of the IMLS Silurian reef digitization grant. A companion website on the Ordovician fossils of the Midwest is currently being developed.
Original Silurian Reef Website:
https://www.mpm.edu/content/collections/learn/reef/
New Silurian Reef Website:
https://silurian-reef.fieldmuseum.org/narrative/392