Teacher's tips

Level of education: Elementary School

Subject: Sciences

Age: 08 to 12 years old

Paleontology is a topic that delights all ages. Gigantic and frightening animals spark the imagination. In this game the child is taken to know a little about the history of the biggest animals that the planet Earth has ever had. Each piece on display has valuable information to explore. If possible, associate the game with a virtual or face-to-face visit to the museum closest to your city. [FIM-DICA]

Learner outcomes

Present the study of fossils and past biodiversity;

Understand the importance of studying the past in understanding the present;

Understand changes in the environment and in living beings over time;

Know some characteristics of dinosaurs: teeth, fossils, replicas, eggs, footprints;

Recognize the kinship between current living beings and others that are already extinct;

Recognize some species of dinosaurs and their characteristics;

Realize that living beings have a life cycle, that is, they appear and disappear;

Identify the periods of phenomena that occurred on Earth through the study of fossils;

Fix knowledge acquired in the classroom;

Teachers' goals

Offer the game as a didactic resource to fix the content worked in the classroom;

Work on content related to dinosaurs: Paleontology, fossils, replicas, eggs, teeth and footprints;

Expand students' initial knowledge about dinosaurs;

Fix all the content worked in the classroom;

Suggestions of approaches for the teacher

(Suggestion 1) Ask students to fill in a table based on the information obtained in the game. This frame will be a table with the items: fossils, replicas, eggs, footprints and teeth. Students should write the main information about each one. Attention! It is important to explain that they should not copy what is written in the game, but summarize it, writing it in their own words.

(Suggestion 2) Another important record is about the species that appear in the game: Triceratops, Pterosaurus, Titanosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Velociraptor and Uberabasuchus Terrificus. Students should register their main characteristics that appear in the texts of the game and then illustrate each of these species, complementing the study of other species in the classroom.

(Suggestion 3) Use the texts and activities in the book “Paleontology at School” as a reference.

(Suggestion 4) Build fossils with styrofoam, paint or modeling clay.

(Suggestion 5) Dinosaur painting.

(Suggestion 6) Elaboration of puppet theater using dinosaur toys.

(Suggestion 7) Ask the students to build a model going back to geological eras.

(Suggestion 8) Search for fossils: bury several plastic fossils in a large container of sand. Ask students to play paleontologists.

(Suggestion 9) Promote a conversation circle with the students and raise the following questions:

• Do you know what paleontology is?

• Do you know what a paleontologist does?

• Have you seen any dinosaurs?

• Did you know that close relatives of dinosaurs are still among us?

• What's your favorite dinosaur?

• Were all dinosaurs dangerous?

• Where did they live?

• What did they feed on?

(Suggestion 10) Build a wall with a timeline of dinosaur extinction events.

(Suggestion 11) Produce dinosaurs with plaster and biscuit.

More about the content

Teaching paleontology to children through games is essential to awaken their attention, curiosity and initial understanding of the subject. For this, it is important to carry out a clear and objective activity, using accessible and didactic language, so that the dynamics and the recreational aspect of the activity are not lost. Films, documentaries and animations are great suggestions to complement the content.