By Mike|2023-09-15T07:50:26+01:00February 3rd, 2018|General Teaching|Comments Off on Everything Dinosaur Helps School on Twitter
Little Leigh Primary Sets Up a Twitter Feed
Whilst on a school visit to a primary school in Cheshire, Everything Dinosaur team members spotted a dinosaur museum. The museum had been erected in one of the classrooms to help inspire the children with their term topic.
Everything Dinosaur provided a dinosaur workshop for the Year 1 class at Little Leigh Primary (Cheshire). Prior to our workshop with the eager, enthusiastic children, we had a short meeting with the class teacher. Being briefed by the teacher on the learning objectives helps our dinosaur expert to tailor the session to meet the learning needs of the children. We were informed that the school had recently created their own Twitter feed. As part of our support for the Little Leigh Primary, we volunteered to take some photographs of the various dinosaur and prehistoric animal displays around the school and then we could “tweet” these pictures to show parents, guardians and grandparents, what the children had been studying.
The Little Leigh Primary Dinosaur Museum
A dinosaur museum spotted at a school.
Picture credit: Little Leigh Primary/Everything Dinosaur
Involving Parents, Grandparents and Guardians with the Dinosaur Museum
By posting up information about the children’s activities on Twitter, mums, dads, guardians, carers and grandparents can gain almost instant access to the children’s work and see what their charges have been up to throughout the day. We posted up pictures of the dinosaur museum. Using social media in this way can help parents, grandparents, guardians and so forth to feel involved and to help them stay connected to the school. We “tweeted” a picture of the dinosaur museum that had been created in the Year 1 classroom. The dinosaur museum area will provide an excellent facility, enabling lots of topic work to be displayed.
Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning and child-friendly website: Everything Dinosaur.
At Everything Dinosaur, we are always keen to receive pictures from our customers of their model collections. Many of the models and figures are displayed in dioramas and prehistoric scenes and it always amazes us when we see these fantastic creations. We have concluded that there are a lot of very talented people who collect prehistoric animals. Take for example, Elizabeth, an enthusiastic collector who commissioned Martin Garratt of UMF Models to customise her recently purchased Schleich Psittacosaurus figure.
The New for 2018 Schleich Psittacosaurus Dinosaur Model
New for 2018, the Schleich Psittacosaurus dinosaur model.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Schleich Psittacosaurus
The new for 2018 Schleich Psittacosaurus has a lot going for it. The pose is quite dynamic and, in addition, the model has plenty of carefully crafted skin texture. Schleich deserve considerable credit for creating a figure that reflects the latest scientific thinking when it comes to this early member of the Cerapoda. Martin Garratt was able to repaint this little dinosaur and he has produced a beautiful diorama influenced by the recently published research into Psittacosaurus that indicated that this forest dweller probably had countershading to help to keep it safe.
The Customised Schleich Psittacosaurus Model
A stunning Schleich Psittacosaurus dinosaur diorama.
Picture credit: Marilyn (UMF Models) by permission of dinosaur model collector Elizabeth
Psittacosaurus and Countershading
Everything Dinosaur team members have been lucky enough to have viewed up close the remarkable fossil specimen that formed the basis of the research into the colouration of Psittacosaurus.
The study was published in 2016 in the academic journal “Current Biology”. The authors of the paper, including researchers from the University of Bristol, concluded that this plant-eating dinosaur was light underneath but darker on its back. This pattern is known as countershading and is a seen in a number of animals today. To help illustrate the team’s conclusions, talented palaeoartist and model maker Bob Nicholls was asked to create a life-sized model of the creature so that the effectiveness of the camouflage could be tested.
Psittacosaurus Demonstrates Countershading
Psittacosaurus photographed in the Bristol Botanic Garden.
It is great to be able to view a customised dinosaur model that has been influenced by actual scientific research. Ironically, thanks to copious fossil specimens from Asia, the Psittacosaurus genus is perhaps, the most studied of all the dinosaur genera. Martin’s composition certainly mirrors the very latest thinking with regards to this two-metre-long dinosaur.
The Psittacosaurus Model with Carefully Selected Foliage to Mimic an Early Cretaceous Forest Environment
The Schleich Psittacosaurus diorama.
Picture credit: Marilyn (UMF Models) by permission of dinosaur model collector Elizabeth
The Skilfully Painted Replica Reflects Scientific Research into Countershading in the Dinosauria
The Schleich Psittacosaurus dinosaur diorama.
Picture credit: Marilyn (UMF Models) by permission of dinosaur model collector Elizabeth
Thanking an Everything Dinosaur Customer for their Schleich Psittacosaurus Pictures
Our thanks to Elizabeth for giving us permission to post up Martin Garratt’s work and for allowing us to publish Marilyn’s photographs. Elizabeth tells us that she has more pictures of this excellent and beautifully composed diorama and we look forward to being able to put these on-line too in the very near future.
The Countershading Concept Demonstrated in a Dinosaur Diorama
A view of the Schleich Psittacosaurus dinosaur diorama.
Picture credit: Marilyn (UMF Models) by permission of dinosaur model collector Elizabeth
To view the new for 2018 Schleich models as well as the rest of the Schleich range available from Everything Dinosaur: Schleich Prehistoric Animal Models.
By Mike|2023-09-16T06:08:57+01:00February 2nd, 2018|Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on Key Stage 2 Showcase Their Science Skills
Year 5/6 Showcase Their Science Skills
Children in Year 5 and Year 6 at Carlton Primary School in West Yorkshire were keen to show one of our team members their science displays. Everything Dinosaur was visiting the well-appointed school to conduct a dinosaur workshop. After a short meeting with the teachers to identify learning objectives, our fossil expert had the opportunity to admire some of the marvellous displays in the spacious corridors. Year 6 children had been learning about evolution and the life of Charles Darwin and the scheme of work incorporated dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals to help provide a context for their studies.
Key Stage 2 Scientific Working
Scientific working demonstrated by Year 6 pupils. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A Dinosaur Workshop as Part of a Wider Term Topic
The topic permitted the children to indulge their non-fiction writing skills and the written work was supported by some excellent prehistoric animal illustrations. Studying Darwinism, natural selection and evolution is a core element in the science curriculum for Upper Key Stage 2 and there was plenty of evidence of working scientifically posted up onto the walls of the corridors. Everything Dinosaur took time to admire the children’s work. The posters and illustration were extremely impressive.
Upper Key Stage 2 Showcase Their Artwork
Year 6 pupils demonstrate their art skills as part of a themed teaching project. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Three Dimensional Fossils
The Key Stage 2 classes had also created some three-dimensional fossils using various materials, the children had been exploring the properties of materials and considering the use of perspective in their prehistoric animal artwork. Although the lesson plans were focused on science, the creative teaching team had incorporated a range of cross curricular activities. Our dinosaur workshop was incorporated into the scheme of work to provide more insight and teaching support.
Researching Tyrannosaurus rex
Researching dinosaurs including Tyrannosaurus rex. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Researching Tyrannosaurus rex
As part of a challenging and varied scheme of work the schoolchildren were asked to research Tyrannosaurus rex and to consider how this famous Late Cretaceous predator was adapted to its environment. What were those tiny arms used for? Could the Upper Key Stage 2 children formulate some theories?
It was great to see how the children in Year 5 and Year 6 at Carlton Primary School had studied dinosaurs as part of a wider scheme of work looking at the work of Charles Darwin and evolution. In addition, the artwork and posters produced brightened up the classroom.
Second Specimen of Wahlisaurus massarae to be Described
A rare 200 million-year-old specimen of a “fish lizard” has been discovered in a private collection twenty-two years after it was originally found. The fossil is only the second example of Wahlisaurus massarae, a species of ichthyosaur, to have been described. The new species was established in 2016, by University of Manchester palaeontologist, Dean Lomax following his detailed assessment of a fossil specimen that had been found in Nottinghamshire many decades ago.
Wahlisaurus massarae
An Illustration of Wahlisaurus massarae
An illustration of the ichthyosaur known as Wahlisaurus massarae.
This second example of Wahlisaurus was originally found in 1996. It has now been donated to the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, an institution that houses several examples of marine reptiles, including a specimen of Excalibosaurus, which, until the naming of Wahlisaurus two years ago had been the most recent species of ichthyosaur from the British Isles to have been scientifically described.
Ichthyosaurs in the Limelight
The Ichthyosauria clade has been much in the news of late. For example, earlier this month the discovery of a large ichthyosaur fossil in the cliffs close to Lyme Regis in Dorset, was the subject of a BBC television documentary, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
Dean Lomax named W. massarae in honour of two vertebrate palaeontologists who had spent much of their lives studying marine reptiles (Professor Judy Massare and Bill Wahl).
Dean commented:
“When Wahlisaurus was announced, I was a little nervous about what other palaeontologists would make of it, considering the new species was known only from a single specimen. As a scientist you learn to question almost everything and be as critical as you can be. My analysis suggested it was something new, but some palaeontologists questioned this and said it was just variation of an existing species.”
In this new research, Dean teamed up with Dr Mark Evans, palaeontologist and curator at the New Walk Museum, Leicester, and fossil collector, Simon Carpenter from Somerset. The study focused on a specimen Dean identified in Simon’s personal collection, which is an almost complete coracoid bone (part of the shoulder girdle, otherwise referred to as the pectoral girdle). This bone had exactly the same unique features of the equivalent bone in the holotype of Wahlisaurus described in 2016. Simon’s fossil specimen was originally collected twenty years ago, from a quarry in northern Somerset. Once the specimen’s rarity was realised, Simon immediately donated it to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.
Dean Lomax, Simon Carpenter and Deborah Hutchinson with the Coracoid Specimen
Dean Lomax, (left), Simon Carpenter (centre) and Deborah Hutchinson from the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (right) with the coracoid specimen.
Picture credit: Manchester University
Dean added:
“You can only imagine my sheer excitement to find a specimen of Wahlisaurus in Simon’s collection. It was such a wonderful moment. When you have just one specimen, “variation” can be called upon, but when you double the number of specimens you have it gives even more credibility to your research.”
The new discovery is from a time known as the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, right after a world-wide mass extinction. For these reasons, the team have been unable to determine exactly whether the ichthyosaur was Late Triassic or Early Jurassic in age, although it is roughly 200 million-years-old.
A Better Understanding of the Skull Structure
As part of the research, Dr Evans cleaned the bones and removed additional rock from the first specimen. This assisted in a detailed re-examination of the original skull, which led to the discovery of additional bones helping scientists to better understand the morphology of the skull of this British marine reptile.
Finding evidence to help confirm the validity of a genus within a private fossil collection helps to demonstrate the important contribution that can be made to science by dedicated and responsible fossil collectors.
The scientific paper: “An Ichthyosaur from the UK Triassic–Jurassic boundary: A second specimen of the Leptonectid Ichthyosaur Wahlisaurus massarae Lomax 2016” by Lomax, D. R., Evans, M. and Carpenter S., published in the Geological Journal.
