It was like any other Tuesday. I got up and came to school to do my GA hours and made my way downstairs to Dr. Kat's Science class. I'll admit, I was feeling a little sluggish from a long day of making my brain do things, but like any good grad student I chugged some caffeine and waltzed in ready to push through the fatigue.
After all, I was
really looking forward to our first science lit circle. Actually, it was my first lit circle ever! I was slightly apprehensive (had I wizarded the words correctly???), but it went so well! Everyone had such great ideas and thoughts to share, and the assigned roles assured that we discussed and considered the text from a million angles. Everyone's contributions were so valuable and
no one was doing the thing where they are thinking about what they are going to say next instead of listening. So rare in group discussions! Lit circles forever, amen.
On to the part where I became a paleontologist. Yeah, you heard me. I switched careers on Tuesday night. I'm not sure why you're so surprised. I mean, you know how much I love dirt, and being dirty, and sitting in the sun for hours, and animal remains, and things that take a long time, and wearing khaki, and dirt. Clearly this was a well thought out career move.
Anyway, my cool new paleontologist team and I set out on our first dig. Dr. Mangione guided us through our excavation adventure by reading passages aloud that described our journey and then allowing us a few minutes to discuss, arrange, and analyze our discoveries. Like actual paleontologists, we did not uncover all of the bones at once. Pulling them out a few at a time and studying them, we were more than a little confused as to what the animal might be. At first, mostly due to the shape of the head, we wondered if it might be some sort of prehistoric crocodile. Then we uncovered a foot and thought that it may be a water-dwelling dino. I assumed that the more bones we pulled out, the easier it would get. I was so wrong. Our guesses went from the possibly misguided but logical ones mentioned above, to "unicornasauras" and "flying dino with a cat riding on it's back." Okay, okay...those were my guesses. I am a horrible paleontologist and a burden to my otherwise skilled and noble team. Sorry, guys. After much thought and discussion (including exchanging ideas with our rival paleontologist group), the correct arrangement of the bones was revealed.
This is one of the most powerful and effective lessons that I've been exposed to since I've been in the ILP. There was so much anticipation, which means the lesson was exciting. It required students to form their own ideas and well as consider others'. It required teamwork, use of reasoning skills, patience. The ELA integration with the story of our dig was wonderful. There are so many extension possibilities (dinosaur footprint measuring for math, reading
"Stone Girl, Bone Girl: The Story of Mary Anning" for ELA and/or Social Studies, etc.). I would also love the opportunity to adapt this lesson into a sand table activity for much younger learners. Although I don't think I'll be dabbling in paleontology again anytime soon, I will certainly make sure that my students do.
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| Scaphognathus crassirostris, Senckenberg Museum |
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| my dreams after this lesson |
And just WHO can be a scientist? When I think scientist, I think of a serious-looking adult in a lab coat pondering various unknown colored liquids. In fact, I just google image searched "scientist" and this was the very first result, I swear! But if you have a question, want to gain knowledge, and seek that knowledge through a scientific approach, then are you not a scientist? Why can't the students in our classrooms produce scientific findings just a valuable and interesting as Lady Labcoat over there? Well, if you ask neuroscientist Beau Lotto, they can! I highly encourage you to take 15 minutes and watch this TEDtalk with Beau Lotto and Amy O'Toole that shares the story of the Blackawton Bees Project. Amy and 25 of her 12 year old classmates published the first peer-reviewed article by school children. You can read the article here. 
