Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Building a Dinosaur From a Chicken

For Students 9th - 10th
Renowned paleontologist Jack Horner has spent his career trying to reconstruct a dinosaur. He's found fossils with extraordinarily well-preserved blood vessels and soft tissues, but never intact DNA. So, in a new approach, he's taking...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Learning Lab: Digging Up Dirt: How Paleontologists Bring Dinosaurs Back to Life

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Teachers can download this teaching package that introduces students to the science of paleontology. Fossil formulation and details about the work of paleontologists are discussed. Find out how paleontologists discover, stabilize, and...
Article
University of California

Ucmp: Dinosaurs, Movies, & Reality

For Students 9th - 10th
A very good review of how "movie science" can present an inaccurate or incomplete picture of actual scientific knowledge and methods.
Website
Other

University of Bristol: What Were the Dinosaurs, and How Did They Live?

For Students 9th - 10th
Answers to a series of nine questions related to dinosaurs. There are a number of links to other informative sites as well.
Activity
Natural History Museum

Nhm: From Bodies to Bones and Back Again

For Students 9th - 10th
Can dinosaurs be recreated like in the movie Jurassic Park? This resource describes the reality of re-creating a genetic blueprint of dinosaurs.
Primary
University of California

Ucmp: Are Birds Really Dinosaurs?

For Students 9th - 10th
A great essay that illustrates how science is done as well as the relationship between dinosaurs and modern birds. Includes a picture to illustrate this concept, and contains many links to related sites.
Article
University of California

Ucmp: Name a Dinosaur Activity

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
This article shows how scientists put together the scientific names of dinosaurs using Greek and Latin roots.
Lesson Plan
University of California

Ucmp: Dino Facts a Unit on Dinosaur Behavior

For Teachers 6th - 8th
For this unit, students look at what is known about three dinosaurs - Maiasaura, Troodon and Orodromeus - and learn how paleontologists develop hypotheses about their behavior.
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Geo Logic: The Three Stooges and Their Pet Dinosaurs

For Teachers 9th - 10th
With GEOLogic puzzles, students are asked to match each of the Three Stooges with their favorite group and species of dinosaur based on clues given from different perspectives.
Website
University of California

University of California Museum of Paleontology: Understanding Evolution

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource presents extensive information for learning about and teaching evolution including an in depth course "Evolution 101", teaching materials, and a resource library.
Handout
University of California

Ucmp: Evolution: Theory and Science

For Students 9th - 10th
An introduction to Darwin's theory of evolution with hyperlinks to other topics on evolution, including a timeline of evolutionary thought.
Website
American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History: Paleont O Logy: The Big Dig

For Students Pre-K - 1st
This colorful and inviting resource houses tons of paleontology activities to explore. Play the Layers of Time puzzle game, create your own make-believe dig site by burying chicken bones in plaster of Paris, learn how to draw dinosaurs,...
Handout
University of California

Ucmp: The Dinosauria

For Students 3rd - 8th
The Dinosauria provides the latest information about dinosaurs, including debunking myths, early dinosaur discoveries, characteristics of specific dinosaurs, life history, and discovery of dinosaur fossils.
Graphic
Burke Museum

Burke Museum: Paleontology

For Students 9th - 10th
This collection of artifacts and information on Paleontology from the Burke Museum includes online exhibits and access to pictures from various collections.
Article
Other

Prehistoric Planet: Robert T. Bakker: Legend of Paleontology

For Students 3rd - 8th
Robert T. Bakker is a paleontologist from Wyoming, known for his enthusiastic approach to understanding the behavior and lives of dinosaurs. He has propounded many controversial ideas about dinosaurs, some of which are described here.
Handout
Utah Education Network

Uen: Utah History Encyclopedia: Dinosaurs of Utah

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn why Utah is known as a prime location for the discovery of dinosaur fossils and why, in 1988 the Allosaurus was named Utah's official state fossil.
Website
Other

Dinosaur Extinction: One More Hypothesis

For Students 9th - 10th
"The survivals and extinctions at the close of the Cretaceous are such as might be expected to result from intensely hot winds such as would be generated by extra large meteoritic impacts." This article suggests that this theory should...
Handout
University of California

Ucmp: Early Dinosaur Discoveries in North America

For Students 9th - 10th
This survey of early dinosaur discoveries in North America discusses the first dinosaur specimens and the scientific debate that they inspired.
Handout
ArgentinaXplora.com

Argentinaexplora.com: Paleontologia en Argentina Dinosaurios

For Students 9th - 10th
Offers a look at dinosaur paleontology in Argentina with accompanying articles about specific eras and regions of the country.
Handout
Other

Hartao: An Introduction to Plate Tectonics

For Students 9th - 10th
Introduces South African Alexander Toit as naming Gondwanaland and Laurasia.
Website
Untamed Science

Untamed Science: Biology: Evolution: How to Become a Fossil

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about what a fossil is, the different types that scientists use for study, and processes that form them. [2:57]
Website
Other

The Academy of Natural Sciences

For Students 9th - 10th
This site describes the museum. It shows the viewer what is currently on exhibit, interesting facts, and many links to other exhibits.
Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History: O Logy: Face to Fossil: Protoceratops

For Students 3rd - 8th
Questions and answers about Protoceratops andrewsi, presented as an "interview" with a museum's fossil. Learn about the dinosaur, the age of the fossil, and how the museum had it transported.
Handout
University of California

Ucmp: Birds Decendents of Dinosaurs

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the University of California, Berkeley contains general information and links to information about the fossil record of birds, the life history of birds, the systematics of birds, and the morphology of birds.