Natural History’s ‘Movable Museum’ Brings Dinosaur Bones (and Fossilized Poop!) to P.S. 39
By Mary Frost
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
PARK SLOPE — P.S. 39 was buzzing with excitement recently when a big green RV full of dinosaur bones pulled up next to the cheerful brick schoolhouse on Sixth Avenue.
“It’s so cool inside,” said first-grader Finn Kleckner. “When you first come in, it looks like rocks all over. There’s all these bones — but they’re fake.” Stretching his arms wide, he said, “Their claws can be this big.”
It was the American Museum of Natural History’s (AMNH) Movable Museum, here to give P.S. 39 first-graders a taste of the heady world of paleontology.
“We saw glass on the floor and there was this big, huge dinosaur bone,” said Joie Sellers. “We saw two brushes; we saw a box full of different kinds of bones, and little bird bones in a little cage.”
“I saw a triceratops jaw bone. It was bigger than that shelf right there,” said Evan Sherman. His favorite part of the exhibition was a map that showed the world when the dinosaurs were around, “and the sea that is now the Indian Ocean,” he said. “North America looked weird – the Gulf of Mexico was the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean went right up to where Nebraska is now.
“We also touched poop,” he said, eyes full of wonder. “But it was fossilized and it wouldn’t make you sick.”
The museum’s converted 37-foot Winnebago transported the students to a recreated Gobi Desert dig site. Under the transparent floor of the RV, a Coelophysis skeleton lies half-buried in the sand. The walls around the dig appear to be outcroppings of rock; steamer trunks hold collections of trace and body fossils.
“My favorite part? I think probably this dinosaur skull,” said Milo Poniewozik. “It was about this big,” he said, holding his hands about 18 inches apart.”
“The thigh bone of the dinosaur was bigger than me!” said Ella Gates.
Kids Learn Paleontology
The rear half of the Movable Museum is a mockup of the paleontology labs at the Museum of Natural History, said Kevin Orangers, the AMNH’s Movable Museum manager. “The kids explore what scientists think led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, see iridium, make a footprint impression, and see a giant T-Rex jawbone,” he said. “Like museum paleontologists, the students try to reconstruct the lives of dinosaurs based on skeletal and environmental clues.”
“We saw trace fossils,” said Sullivan O’Connor. “A trace fossil is a fossil but it’s like a mark in the mud, but it has to dry for 2,000 years. It’s like a print.”
P.S. 39 teachers had visited the museum after school hours, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the week before for professional development, said Donna Baker, Administrative Assistant at P.S. 39.
“The first-grade teachers were given many materials to prepare the students for this visit,” she said. “Everyone is still talking about it — the teachers have had their classes make prints and fossils. We even had a real archaeologist visit with us this week to talk about his work.
“So you see, the visit didn’t stop when the van pulled away — the students are still exploring what they learned.”
“I might dig for dinosaur bones after school,” junior paleontologist Sullivan O’Connor.said. “I haven’t planned a place for it yet; I might borrow some digging tools.”
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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