sightings – Ronald McDonald

Posted on August 22, 2012 by admin

He’s a lot taller than I remember.

And he was a fabulous participant in our recent dinosaur mini-museum. Here he is learning about coprolites – or fossilized dinosaur poop and what paleontologists can learn from it.

Lorie showing ROnald McDonald items from the Dionsaur Edukit

Lorie and Ronald with the Dinosaur Edukit photo source: Barb Magee

The kids loved helping Ronald with the activities including Futa-Ball (unrolling a 30 metre long ball of cord to see how long a Futalognkosaurus really was).

An additional sighting….don’t you love the shoes?

what size are these? photo source: Barb Magee

Making the cut

Posted on August 11, 2012 by admin

It’s a week now until the dinosaur mini-museum.

display from Ultimate Dinosaur exhibit, ROM photo source: Lorie Pierce

The event posters and sign-up sheet have been sent to the venue. Most of the materials we will need for the activities were readied at a ‘prep’ meeting last Wednesday. The To Do list is now a short one.

Now comes the time to consider whether all the activities will be included. The main concern is volunteer staffing for the activities. I have enough now but if anyone is ill, there will not be enough coverage.

So let me take a look at what is in the plans….

Edukit – touchable objects are at the core of the mini-museum – it stays
Dino Mask – kids love dressing up and these are easy to do for maximum carnivore effect – it stays
Vote for your new favourite southern dino – this can be an unstaffed, stand-alone station – it stays
Dino TV – this is our major take away item and has been prepped for easy assembly – it stays
Fossil Layers – easy to complete with minimal help – it could be converted to a take-away activity
Fossil Casting – this may need to be modified if staffing is short by moving this activity to the Edukit table – decision to be made on day of event
Futa-Ball – this activity can be stand alone with proper signage – it stays
Toddler’s Area – this is designed to be an approachable, non-staffed area for little ones – it stays
Videos – as long as someone is nearby to monitor the use of the laptop, it is basically a stand-alone station – it stays
Augmented Reality – we still have not resolved getting an iPad – leave for another time

So most of the activities will make the cut, as long as there are 5 volunteers available. If not, Fossil Layers can be added to the take-away activities and Fossil Casting may not be possible at this event.

UPDATE:

We have use of an iPad so the children will be able to see the dinosaurs come to life through Augmented Reality. Also another volunteer has joined so it looks like fossil casting is back in.

And the biggest news is that a mascot from the venue (a well-known clown) will be attending!

Enter Giganotosaurus

Posted on August 6, 2012 by admin

I try to include models in all the programs I develop. But when it comes to introducing the latest dinosaur finds, I found that all the plastic models I had were dinosaurs from the northern hemisphere (Laurasia). More of the same dinos that kids already know (and love).

I happened to be killing some time browsing in shops on the weekend and I spotted a display of Schleich dinosaur models. One in particular caught my eye as it appeared to be a new version of T-Rex. On closer inspection I noticed the three fingered forearms and the central skull ridge. Could it be Giganotosaurus, the terror of Patagonia in the mid-Cretaceous?

Giganotosaurus model photo source: Lorie Pierce

It’s hard to find the name on these figures. They are molded on the bottom and I needed a sales person’s help to verify. Giganotosaurus it was!

So now I am possession of at least one Gondwanan dinosaur. I will also take a Spinosaurus model to the event. It’s not in the new exhibit….its cousin Suchomimus is. But Spinosaurus is also from Gondwana – Africa this time.

Hopefully other models will appear soon of the amazing dinosaurs from Gondwana.

UPDATE : I had a chance to show this model to a paleontologist/teacher who made the following comments: To represent Giganotosaurus more faithfully, the head should be a longer and it is not known if there is actually a ridge down the mid-skull and back. That would be due to epidermal (skin) features which have not been preserved in this animal.

Dino mask – using artistic filters

Posted on August 1, 2012 by admin

I absolutely love the theropod mask from the National Museum of Scotland that I found on the show.me.uk.com website. Probably is a T-Rex, but with those blade shaped teeth, also could be Giganotosuarus. Just the right type of activity for our mini-museum event.

original colour mask, National Museum Scotland source: show.me.uk.com

However, to use the mask in this format will eat up a lot of expensive printer ink.

Fortunately the same source gives us a grayscale version of the mask.

grayscale version of mask (printed on buff coloured card stock)

So I printed this version off……after all, the kids at the event can colour it up themselves. Since no one knows what colours these animals were, we will provide a wide range of crayon shades to choose from.

But the mask still uses up a lot of black ink in this format so I went hunting to see if it could be printed in a different format. Here are the steps I took.

1. Trim the extraneous text off the mask template. This information (with credits) will be on a sign at the activity table.

2. Cut out the template just outside of the ‘cut here’ marks to reduce background shading.

3. Scan the remaining mask into a jpeg file.

4. Upload that image file into a Powerpoint slide. With the image highlighted, click on Format > Picture > Artistic filters

5. Choose the ‘photocopy’ filter and you will get an image that looks like this….

mask is now trimmed and filtered

Still the same wonderful artwork but with less black.

One more step…print as a grayscale image and you get this.

grayscale version of trimmed mask

Now to print some up on cardstock and find a spool of elastic cord to complete the masks.

My admiration goes out to the National Museum Scotland for providing such wonderful artwork for non-commercial use.

Sightings – ‘Dino’ or ‘Not-dino’

Posted on July 15, 2012 by admin

waiting for the Ultimate Dinosaur mini-museum event photo source : Lorie Pierce

What’s a dinosaur and what is not?

This team of prehistoric models is waiting to be sorted into ‘Dino’ or ‘Not Dino’ groups.

What’s your guess?

Hint : there are 5 dinosaurs

Adding video clips to your programming

Posted on July 15, 2012 by admin

New media is all around us and it is how a lot of people access information.

So I have been investigating how to incorporate selected video clips into outreach programming.

The first effort was to set up a WiFi connected laptop at the Medieval Europe event. Through this link, the participants could go online to play a jousting game and construct a motte and bailey castle.

I sensed that the Ultimate Dinosaur mini-museum would benefit from additional information specifically about the southern hemisphere dinosaurs featured in the exhibit. But how to do it?

Luckily I came across a web tool that enables the downloading of clips from YouTube such as this short description of Nigersaurus by the paleontologist Paul Sereno, produced by the Field Museum in Chicago. Click on the link below to open the video (MP4 format).

skull of Nigersaurus from Ultimate Dinosaur exhibit, ROM photo source: Lorie Pierce

Nigersaurus clip.mov

Now this video clip and several others can be loaded on a laptop for participants to access during the event. The clips feature paleontologists in the field showing the realities of fossil hunting in Antarctica and in the lab explaining the details in the bones that lead to the classification of the unique species, Nigersaurus.

Here’s how to use this tool.

1. Find a suitable YouTube video and copy the URL.

2. Go to keepvid.com

3. Paste the URL in the blue box and press the Download button on the same line.

4. Allow the download when asked.

5. Choose the file type (eg.MP4) and where to copy the video (eg into a folder on onto your desktop)

Now you have your own copy of the video.

Remember to check copyright restrictions before use.

musings – a sad loss

Posted on July 8, 2012 by admin

It is sad when paleontologists have to protect their new finds from damage by human hands.

A recent hadrosaur find near Grand Prairie Alberta was smashed to bits by vandals.

According to the Canadian Press, Rob Drinkwater, Edmonton

The group says it is at least the fourth act of fossil poaching and vandalism in the region in the last month and a half.

At Pipestone Creek Park in the region, a bone bed has been harmed, and in late May, a Plexiglas cover protecting and showcasing several fossilized bones was smashed.

In later incidents in June, a vertebra and several rib bones were stolen………….

Bell said the Hadrosaur would have warranted a major exhibit in a new museum that’s planned for the area, scheduled to open next summer in Wembley, Alta.

“It’s a tragedy not only for our science but for the whole community that will benefit from the new museum,” he said.

Up until now, I must admit that I have been fairly blase about hadrosaurs. We have so many of them on display at our museum that they do not feel as ‘special’ as unusual finds like the Gondwanan Cryolophosaurus, Repetosaurus or Suchomimus. But every fossil’s destruction is a loss for all. Every find can give some more information about the state of the world way back when.

Dino TV

Posted on June 29, 2012 by admin

On a visit to the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, I got the idea for a panorama craft. Theirs was based on a train trip through the mountains with scenery rolling by. The paper used was from an adding machine roll and the children would draw the landscape, attach straws and then twirl to see the scenery go by. I popped the idea away in a drawer until now.

panorama box with straws photo source: Lorie Pierce

But how to adapt this craft to the Ultimate Dinosaur theme? The main problem is to source small boxes.

The only way that would work was to use larger boxes that were easy to obtain. Regular sized tissue boxes seemed to fit the bill. Now, what to use as the turning posts? Here’s what I have come up with as a prototype.

empty tissue box with gift wrap roll cut in two photo source: Lorie Pierce

rolls inserted into box as posts photo source: Lorie Pierce

Holes are cut for the posts so that they sit parallel to each other. The holes should be snug so there is a bit of friction to turn the posts.

Now to create the paper roll. The object of this mini-museum event is to introduce the new Southern Dinosaurs – recently new finds from south of the equator. So the content will feature a few of these animals.

printed sheets with illustrations of dinosaurs and blue whale for comparison photo source: Lorie Pierce

The animals are shown roughly to scale, including a blue whale for size comparison. Since the window opening in the tissue box is 3 inches, these pages will be cut in half lengthwise and then taped together to form a long roll.

paper roll attached to end post with images taped together photo source: Lorie Pierce

As the back is still on the tissue box, it is necessary at this point to open one end to insert the paper roll. Tape the left margin firmly to the left end post. Turn the post clockwise to roll up the paper until the end is within the box. Tape the paper roll firmly to the right post.

end of paper roll taped to right post photo source: Lorie Pierce

Seal up the box end….and you have Dino TV !

finished prototype for Dino TV photo source: Lorie Pierce

I’m still not sure if this will be an appropriate craft for our event. How much would we prep and how much would be done by the families? Can I collect enough materials in time?

I like the idea that the activity reuses materials.

ensuring content quality

Posted on June 28, 2012 by admin

When it is available, a museum Edukit is reserved for use at our events – in this case the Ultimate Dinosaur mini-museum. This can be tricky as the kits are rented out during the school year and some, like the Dinosaurs Edukit, are extremely popular. However, the event is during the summer holidays, so this time there is not a problem.

This kit will form the core of the mini-museum program with crafts and activities to support it. Take a look at the contents.

dinosaur artifacts and manuals photo source: ROM

Yes, that’s a replica T-Rex tooth in the centre. In addition, there is documentation in English and in French. All in one sturdy carrying case. What an amazing resource for our Outreach program.

another view of the Dinosaurs Edukit showing manuals photo source: ROM

Sightings – Red-tailed hawks now fledglings

Posted on June 20, 2012 by admin

In a return to the Cornell University website allaboutbirds.org , I have discovered the nestlings are now grown up and fledged. What incredible cameras they have trained on these three birds. Here is one of the youngsters on the eve of summer.

source: Cornell Lab of Ornithology webcam

Birds – the only known living descendents of dinosaurs.

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