This preschool science lesson teaches kids about dinosaurs while prompting them to draw conclusions based on visual evidence.
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Learning Objectives
- Students will compare and contrast features among different types of dinosaurs.
Introduction
(15 minutes)
- Ask your students to raise their hands if they have ever seen a dinosaur in a movie or on television. Great follow-up questions include: What are some movies or television shows with dinosaurs in them? Where can you see dinosaur skeletons or models?
- Next, ask your class if anyone has ever seen a real, live dinosaur—not a dinosaur in a movie or in a museum. Follow up with more questions, such as: Has anyone in the world ever seen a living dinosaur? Why or why not? What is left of dinosaurs that lived millions of years ago?
- Explain that dinosaurs lived so long ago that no human being has ever seen a live one. This means that we have to guess, or make theories, about what dinosaurs looked like and how they behaved.
- Let your class know that they will make guesses about dinosaurs, based on what they have left behind.
- Tell them that scientists who study dinosaurs are called paleontologists. Write this word on the board.
- Explain that paleontologists make theories about dinosaurs, and sometimes they're wrong. These paleontologists must use clues to develop theories about dinosaurs.
- Write the word fossils on the board, and explain that fossils include dinosaur bones, dinosaur footprints, dinosaur teeth, and even dinosaur eggs.
