Wednesday, April 15th: Great Fossil Find Day 3- Paleontologist Process

A Paleontologist’s Process

         Have you ever wondered how paleontologists go from bones collected from a rock to pictures or models we see in books, movies or museums? How do paleontologists know what prehistoric creatures looked like?  How do we know what color they were or what kind of skin they had?  How do they know where they lived?  How do they know what they ate? 

         These are really great questions.  The fact is, for organisms that are extinct, we can’t know any of those details for sure.  Scientists make inferences, which are educated guesses about what dinosaurs looked like, ate, and where they lived.  They don’t make random guesses and it’s not just being creative, paleontologists collect evidence from living animals and rock layers to put together their best inferences.  Today, let's find out about the processes that paleontologists go through.

Directions:

1.  Read the article “How Do Scientists Know What Dinosaurs Looked Like?” to learn about the processes paleontologists go through to learn about organisms from the past.       

If you'd like to follow along while Ms. Dolan reads the article out loud, you may watch this video:

2.  When you've finished reading, answer these questions to review key details of the text.  You can print the question page or write the numbers 1-6 on any sheet of paper with your answers. 

1.   Describe how our understanding of dinosaurs has changed over time.  (hint: look in paragraph 3)

2.   Identify the 6 reasons given in the text for why studying paleontology is important. (Hint: look in paragraph 5)

3.   How do paleontologists figure out the geologic time period of their fossil? (hint: look in paragraph 7)

4.   Explain why paleontologists try to figure out a fossil’s place in the “family tree of life”?  (Hint: look in paragraph 8)

5.   Describe what a paleontologist will do if there isn’t very much fossil evidence. (Hint: look in paragraph 10)

6.   Explain the job of a paleoartist.  Where might a paleoartist work?

Send your answers to Ms. Dolan: adolan@hccs481.org    ms.dolans_science