Cladistics for 10 year old pupils

[Libraraptor]

My best friend is a biology teacher. We started studying together, before I decided to listen to my feeling and study social work. However, he knows of my passion for dinosaurs and their figures and invited me to teach some lessons (!). I thought it would be cool to do a little cladogram project, teaching the pupils that man didn´t descent from the lizards, but that we both had a common ancestor. Dinosaurs play a big role in vertebrate history, so of course we used some figures as well as stuffed mammas and fish. And Bullyland fire salamander was with us, too
I´ve got six pictures for you. I´m the guy with the little hair and the blue pullover ;D

[roselaar]

Nice! I did a similar thing when I was still at elementary school, with the difference being I was educating my own class (I was like, eight years old. But I knew more than my teacher and not just about dinosaurs).

Hope the kids learned a thing or two!

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

That's pretty cool. I'm surprised no kids didn't try to snatch some dinosaurs!

[Libraraptor]

I was afraid of this, too. But luckily I was able to take them all home after the lessons.

[Griffin]

That looks like it was a cool activity. I bet you some of those kids went home and attempted their own charts with whatever animal toys they had.

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

Jan 29, 2010 22:00:22 GMT Griffin said:

That looks like it was a cool activity. I bet you some of those kids went home and attempted their own charts with whatever animal toys they had.

Or maybe they begged their parents for more dinosaurs ;D

[Griffin]

Jan 29, 2010 23:07:03 GMT [][][]cordylus[][][] said:

Jan 29, 2010 22:00:22 GMT Griffin said:

That looks like it was a cool activity. I bet you some of those kids went home and attempted their own charts with whatever animal toys they had.

Or maybe they begged their parents for more dinosaurs ;D

Probably that too

[stoneage]

Jan 29, 2010 21:10:12 GMT Libraraptor said:

I was afraid of this, too. But luckily I was able to take them all home after the lessons.

Good thing CT wasn't in the class! ;D

[Libraraptor]

Since the secondary school my best friend teaches at wants to acquire new pupils, today they invited primary school pupils and their parents to take a look around. Guess who resurrected the cladogram project?
The good thing about this time is that I probably acquired two new forum members - no primary school pupils, of course. ;D
But Simon and Dominik, who are pupil and teacher at the secondary school.
Simon is a really talented palaeoartist. Can´t wait to see his exciting work meeting public here!
Dominik is a shy teacher with the nearly complete old Carnegie collection. He wants to wake up from his big collecitng sleep. So I hope we´ll meet both of them here, soon

[Horridus]

Jan 22, 2011 14:47:43 GMT Libraraptor said:

The good thing about this time is that I probably acquired two new forum members - no primary school pupils, of course. ;D
But Simon and Dominik, who are pupil and teacher at the secondary school.
Simon is a really talented palaeoartist. Can´t wait to see his exciting work meeting public here!
Dominik is a shy teacher with the nearly complete old Carnegie collection. He wants to wake up from his big collecitng sleep. So I hope we´ll meet both of them here, soon

That's great! I really hope he uploads some pics of his Carnegies.

[stemturtle]

Libraraptor, what a wonderful lesson! Whose reward was greater, the teacher's or the students'? After you retire from social work, perhaps you will have a chance for a second career in teaching biology.

[mnemosaurus]

I think everybody - both pupils and students - in this classroom had a great time and I guess it must be so nice to use your collection for educational purposes!

Some time ago I arranged a display case with dinosaurs in the small library at my parents' village (and where I grew up) - it was a huge succes! The kids really liked them and it was even prolonged for a few months. My main goal was to teach them that all dinosaurs didn't live at the same time - there wasn't enough space to do more .

[Himmapaan]

Oh, how excellent!

And it would be great to see Simon and Dominik here too!

[Libraraptor]

Jan 24, 2011 17:05:55 GMT Himmapaan said:

Oh, how excellent!

And it would be great to see Simon and Dominik here too!

Yeah, as for Simon, he found his way to the forum. You can meet him in the art section where he presents his stunning work. Hm. No clue where Dominik is

[Himmapaan]

I've seen his work and figured that he must be the same Simon you mentioned.

[Libraraptor]

My biology teacher friend asked me again this year to make an offer for pupils! I´d like to bring some variety in there. Has anyone an idea for short palaeontological teaching interventions?

[stemturtle]

Nov 18, 2011 19:57:16 GMT Libraraptor said:

My biology teacher friend asked me again this year to make an offer for pupils! I´d like to bring some variety in there. Has anyone an idea for short palaeontological teaching interventions?

This idea is not about cladistics. An activity using index fossils can teach about biostratigraphy. If you do not have actual fossils, drawings can be used. You can introduce the law of superposition by having the students stack up newspapers, oldest on the bottom, newest on top. Ask questions about fossil correlation to help the students to reason like a paleontologist. I taught this to high school students, so I cannot say if a 10 year old could handle it. You would want to ask the teacher.

Link: www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/MunGun3.html