Paperbag Paleontology

Podcast

Paperbag Paleontology

Transcript

Performing Paleontology by mail. I'm Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

After collecting more than four tons of dirt, fossils, and plant matter from around two mastodons, John Chiment looked for help sorting through it all. But the Cornell Paleontologist didn't send it off to a team of his colleagues. Instead, he offered five pound bags of the stuff to just about anyone interested in helping him.

Chiment:
"We've got children that are five, and people that are in their 80's doing it, and we've got Boy Scout troops and Brownie posts, and, a couple of people that are in prison. So, lots of interests from all sorts of different groups."

Dr. Chiment recently found the two mastodon skeletons in a bog in New York state. After he viewed other collections of mastodons, he decided that his would be different.

Chiment:
"What they had when they had collected large skeletons like that, was just the mammalian skeleton. They had never thought to collect all the other stuff that's between the toes, all the little insects, the pine needles, all the other kinds of fossils."

But Dr. Chiment has. And after getting some elementary school classes to help him pick through a few bags, he decided to offer it to other groups as well. With their help, he's building more than just another mastodon skeleton-- he's creating a more complete picture of the world in which they lived.

For the American Association for the Advancement of Science, I'm Bob Hirshon.

Making Sense of the Research

One sure way to spark interest in science is to get actively involved in it. Humans are naturally curious about their surroundings. Everyone should have many opportunities to directly observe a variety of plants and animals, and be encouraged to share the information that they collect, using a combination of pictures, words, graphs or other representations. By sharing, discussing and comparing information, we can begin to develop some collective understandings about the natural world.

The Science Update you just heard could be used as an introduction to an in-depth investigation of local surroundings. In the story, a paleontologist enlists the help of citizen scientists to sort through material collected from one of his dig sites, illustrating the fact that everyone can "do science." This is an important understanding to develop, and one that can be reinforced through many of the online collaborative scientific investigations that are linked below.

You should become familiar with the following vocabulary, and may find Paleontology: The Big Dig and Finding Fossils, both from the American Museum of Natural History, to be useful resources.

• fossil (and examples)
• mastodon
• paleontologist
• mammalian

1. What did Paleontologist John Chiment collected from around the two mastodons? Why?
2. What did he do with the tons of dirt, fossils, and plant matter that he collected?
3. Who are the people who are helping Dr. Chiment sort through the material from his dig? What are they looking for?
4. Why does Dr. Chiment think it is important to study the area around the mastodons?
5. What do you think he might he be able to learn about the mastodons by looking at the dirt, fossils, and plant matter around them?

Going Further

If you're interested in joining a collaborative science investigation, try one of the following online projects at Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The lab sponsors several different projects, like Project FeederWatch, Project PigeonWatch, Classroom FeederWatch, and BirdSource. You can visit the lab’s site to get more information about how you can participate in these projects or see the results of the studies.

Journey North, sponsored by Annenberg/CPB, is an excellent site to use to engage users in the observation of nature.

For Science NetLinks lessons related to this topic, go to Investigating Local Ecosystems or Pond Life . In both lessons, students engage in direct observation of their local surroundings, document their findings and communicate them to others through words and pictures.

For more activities that engage users in the natural world, go to KinderGarden, produced by the Texas A&M University. This site contains ideas for gardening and using gardens to help teach about plants, nature, math, history, etc. Or, visit The One Inch Square Project from the Cool Science for Curious Kids site.