Title: An Introduction to Dinosaur Prints

Author:  Anita Oray, Magee Elementary School, Genesee Depot, WI

Grades:  K-1

Overview of Lesson: Children will compare the shape of common animal footprints to dinosaur footprints.  After measuring, they will compare the relative size of dinosaur footprints to their own footprints.  

Suggested Time:  60 minutes

Students' Prior Knowledge:  Students have already learned about the tracks of common animals, observing them in the sand or snow. They will have made plaster casts of various animal¹ footprints. Graphing, Venn diagrams and measuring will also have been used.

Background Information:  Colorado is very different now than it was 150 million years ago.  At that time, dinosaurs (like the big sauropods) roamed the earth. In this lesson, videos and photos of the summer geological trip to Colorado will be shown.  The photos show actual dinosaur footprints in the stream bed.

Materials:
dinosaur footprint on plastic sheets
plaster casts of dinosaur foot prints
latex footprints
student shoes
tape measure or meter sticks
pencils/paper/crayons
                          
Student Activity: Divide the class into groups of 4 or 5 students. Place the plastic sheet with the dinosaur footprints on the floor. Have children suggest what the shapes could be. They estimate the size and then measure.  Have them estimate how much larger the dinosaur footprint is than theirs.  Then have them measure their footprint. Estimate how many of their shoes will fit inside of a dinosaur footprint. Make a tracing of their shoes, cut out and place inside of the dinosaur print.  Count how many fit inside the print. Discuss why each group got different or the same amount.

Teacher Notes:  This activity needs very little material.  A plastic sheet with dinosaur footprints would be sufficient to start. Much of this activity is related to math standards with good estimation and graphing possibilities. Also comparing the dinosaur tracks with the elephant tracks will give students a concrete way of seeing the difference in size with an animal that they know (the elephant) with an animal that they have not seen (the sauropod).

Vocabulary:  footprint, sauropod, trace ( as a verb), trace (as an adjective), fossil (a sign of ancient life without the actual organism being present, like a footprint instead of a bone)

Extension Activities:
* compare different types of dinosaur footprints to each other, ei. raptors to sauropods
*graph the lengths of various footprints.
*compare the tracings of parents¹ and siblings¹ feet to see how many will fit into a print.
*make a list, a poem or a story using imagination and senses about the dinosaur that made the footprints.
*copy and paint dinosaur footprints on the playground blacktop area with parents.
*compare plastic sheet copies of the dinosaur and elephant footprints.


Wisconsin State Science Standards:
A.4.1
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scia4.html
When conducting science investigations, ask and answer questions that will help decide the general areas of science being addressed.
A.4.3
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scia4.html
When investigating a science-related problem, decide what data can be collected to determine the most useful explanation.
B.4.1
Use encyclopedias, source books, texts, computers, teachers, parents, other adults, journals, popular press and various other sources to help answer science-related questions and plan investigations.
C.4.1.
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scic4.html
Use the vocabulary of the unifying themes to ask questions about objects, organisms and events being studied.
C.4.2
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scic4.html
Use the science content being learned to ask questions, plan investigations, make observations, make predictions and offer explanations.
C.4.4
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scic4.html
Use simple science equipment including rulers, balances, graduated cylinders, hand lenses, thermometers and computers safely and effectively to collect data relevant to questions and investigations.
C.4.5
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scic4.html
Use data they collected to develop explanations and answer questions generated by the investigations.
C.4.6
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/scic4.html
Communicate the results of their investigations in ways their audiences will understand by using charts, graphs, drawings, written descriptions, and various other means.