Dinosaur Dig

Dinosaur Dig
Developed by Jerrie Cheek - Kennesaw State University
http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/Jerrie/WebQuest/dino.html

Introduction

Have you ever wondered about dinosaurs? Perhaps you wondered exactly how big a Brontosaurus was, or maybe you wondered about the eating habits of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, or maybe you wondered what use the Stegosaurus had for his spikes! There are many unsolved mysteries about dinosaurs because there were no people around at that time to observe them. One of the greatest unsolved mysteries is the demise of the dinosaur. However, with every new dinosaur dig, scientists are learning more about dinosaurs and the way they lived here on this Earth.

Task
You must discover everything you can about the dinosaur that your group has been given. There will be four people in each group and I will give you directions to follow, so that you know what your particular role is. Each team will be responsible for a poster presentation and each team member will be responsible for a written assignment.

1. Paleontologist - His/her role will be to explain how to do his/her job, and tell about digging for fossils.

2. Reporter - His/her role will be to report the findings of the paleontologist to the other members in the group.

3. Museum Director - His/her role will be to share important pictures and stories that could be used in a museum.

4. Science Teacher - His/her role will be to teach the rest of our class what your group has learned about your dinosaur.

Resources
Each person on your dinosaur team will read 3 dinosaur books, which will give them some background knowledge on the subject of dinosaurs.

Digging Up Dinosaurs by Aliki
Dinosaur Story by Joanna Cole
Dinosaurs by Gail Gibbons

After reading the three books to acquire some background information, use the Web sites below to complete your research.

Zoom Dinosaurs - http://www.ZoomSchool.com/subjects/dinosaurs/toc.shtml
The Life and Death of Dinosaurs - http://www.dinodon.com/dinosaurs/jurassic_fs.html
Dinosaur Extinction - http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/dinosaur.html
The Dinosaur Museum - http://www.dinosaur-museum.org/
Dinosaur Exhibit Tour - http://www.nmnh.si.edu/paleo/dino/tourfram.htm
Sue: This Inside Story - The largest, most complete T-Rex - http://www.fmnh.org/sue/
The Fossil Hunter - http://www.iwaynet.net/~mperona/
FAQs from the Museum - http://www.clpgh.org/cmnh/discovery/dinofaq.html
DinoScience - http://www.clpgh.org/cmnh/discovery/dinoscience/
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis - http://www.childrensmuseum.org/dino.htm

Process
Your team is responsible for a poster presentation explaining what you have discovered on your "dinosaur dig". Each person on your team should contribute to the poster, and each person is responsible for a writing assignment.

The Paleontologist will tell about what scientists have discovered about your dinosaur, and write a one-page journal entry about a dig.

The Reporter will summarize the Paleontologist's comments and write a one-page newspaper article.

The Museum Director will describe artifacts that would be needed for a good dinosaur museum, and design a one-page brochure advertising the museum's dinosaur exhibit.

The Science Teacher will tell what 4th grade students need to know about this dinosaur, and write a one-page textbook chapter for 4th graders.

After each team member has gathered information (from the dinosaur books and from the dinosaur Web sites), come back together with your team (with all your notes) and talk, talk, talk! Each person on your dinosaur team should share what he or she has learned, simply by telling the other people in the group. Remember your jobs, and stick to your area of specialty. The paleontologist tells about dinosaur digs and fossils, the reporter tells about what the paleontologist
found on “the dig,” the museum director explains what artifacts would be good for an exhibit, and the science teacher explains what most 4th graders need to know about dinosaurs from a textbook.

After you share information, now begin your writing assignments, (see directions above). You may talk about your writing assignment with other members of your group, but remember to stick to the assignment for your specific job.

As a team, design a poster that will show our class the most important facts, details, and pictures or drawings of your dinosaur.

Give a short presentation about your team’s dinosaur. Each person should talk a few minutes about what you have learned, from the point of view of your special job.

Evaluation

Category	Exemplary 4	Accomplished 3	Developing 2	Beginning 1	Score
Research & Gather Information	Collected a great deal of information - all relates to the topic	Collected some information - most relates to the subject	Collected very little information some relates to topic	Did not collect any information that related to the topic
Poster Presentation	All group members took part in the report to the class and each person was fully prepared.	Most of the group participated in the oral report.	Two people shared responsibility for the class presentation.	One person gave the entire report.
Written Assignment	One-page report that was well-written, well-organized, and contained no grammatical errors.	Half-page report with few errors.	Two paragraphs with many errors.	No written assignment.

Conclusion
Wow! You have learned a lot about dinosaurs! What do you think is the most important thing that you learned on your WebQuest? Did you like using the WWW to do your research? Did you like working in a dinosaur team? Write at least one page in your journal about this new experience.

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