Teacher Support

Students watch the video on Step 1 of the investigation (1:20 minutes).

Direct students’ attention to the following before beginning the video:

In this video, Carrie Levitt, a paleontologist from the Natural History Museum of Utah, is going to talk about the purpose of this investigation and explain the first task. Listen for Carrie’s explanation of what we can learn from this investigation and how to get started on the first task.

Students make observations of Mystery Fossil #1, writing down detailed descriptions and comparisons to more familiar objects.

RESEARCH ASSISTANT NOTEBOOK (RAN): Page 1

Have a brief class discussion about the limitations of the model. For instance, you might discuss what types of data you can and cannot get from the 3D models.

Get a baseline reading of students’ observation skills using the Student Learning Assessment Tool.

Discuss how students can improve their observation skills.

Students watch the video on Step 3 of the investigation (2:56 minutes).

Direct students’ attention to the following before beginning the video:

Carrie is going to model how she gathered, analyzed, and interpreted evidence by making detailed observations of Mystery Fossil #1. Pay especially close attention to how Carrie’s detailed notes helped her identify evidence, and how she evaluated that evidence as she developed her claim.

Students continue on to Steps 4 & 5 of the website, gathering evidence through detailed observations, making inferences that are supported by evidence, and recording and evaluating the strength of that evidence in the RAN.

RAN: pages 1 & 2

Initiate a brief discussion and ask students to provide examples and non-examples of advanced- level observations using objects around the room.

Get a baseline reading of students’ interpretation skills using the Student Learning Assessment Tool.

Discuss how students can improve their interpretations.

In pairs, students answer four reflection questions presented on the Research Quest website.

You can view your students’ responses under the “My Account” tab when logged into the Research Quest website.

Note: If students’ reflections are consistent with Carrie’s they will be prompted to move on to the next step. If their reflections are mostly different, they will be prompted to go back and make more detailed observations of the Mystery Fossils.

In pairs, students discuss their evidence and construct an argument that addresses the following question: What part of the dinosaur do you think these bones come from and why?

Next, students share their arguments in small groups, offering respectful feedback to each other as they discuss their explanation and evidence.

Note: This step is an important warm-up to get students talking, sharing, and exchanging ideas. They will build on these skills as they continue through the rest of the investigation.

Encourage students to use the conversation hints posted in this step of the investigation. It may be helpful to review students’ responses to the reflection questions that followed Step 5 to see what concepts students might need clarified and/or modeled.

As students construct and share their arguments, facilitate small group conversations that draw out inferences with open-ended questions like:

Students watch the video on Step 7 of the investigation (2:50 minutes).

Direct students’ attention to the following before beginning the video:

Carrie is going to model how she came to her conclusions about what part of the dinosaur the Mystery Fossils come from. Listen for anything Carrie noticed about the Mystery Fossils that you missed and write these observations down. These detailed observations will be helpful in the next part of the investigation.

Students watch the video on Step 8 of the website (2:10 minutes).

Direct students’ attention to the following before beginning the video:

Carrie is going to provide instructions for the next task, which is making comparisons between the Mystery Fossils and other fossils from Cleveland- Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. Listen for how she makes comparisons.

Following the instructions on Steps 9 & 10 of the website, students look for anatomical similarities and differences between Mystery Fossils 1 & 2 and models of other fossils found at Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in order to identify what type of dinosaur the Mystery Fossils come from.

RAN: pages 3 & 4

Note: You may find it helpful to model and/or walk through the process of filling out this chart together as a class.

Combine student pairs into small groups to complete the investigation.

Ask students to model how to make strong comparisons. Using the Student Learning Assessment Tool as a guide, provide feedback that will help students make “advanced-level” comparisons.

Encourage students to keep their minds open to multiple ideas.

Students discuss and make a claim for what type of dinosaur (Ornithischian, Sauropod, or Theropod) they think the Mystery Fossils come from.

Prompt students to use the terms “strong,” “weak,” and “disconfirming” while discussing their reasoning and evidence. Note: In the charts on pages 3 & 4 of the RAN, rows with one check mark provide strong evidence, rows with two or more check marks provide weak evidence, and “x”s indicate disconfirming evidence.

On Step 11, students select the button that corresponds with the type of dinosaur to which the evidence from Mystery Fossils 1 & 2 led them. This will pull up the jaw library for that type of dinosaur, now annotated with species names, so that students can narrow down their claim to a specific species from that type.

RAN: page 5

Note: At this point students can benefit from additional class discussion. Building off their comparisons of the claw and femur for the type of dinosaur- inevitably the theropod- you may want to look at page 5 in the RAN together. Most students can use additional support orienting themselves to this next step in the investigation. If you have the investigation projected in the room you can point out where the species names are for each of the theropod jaws to which they will compare the Mystery Fossil jaw. These are the names they will write in the column headers. This and more is explained in the RAN.

Note: Some evidence may be strong as an answer for a particular question but weak for another question. Check for understanding of this key concept with a quick class discussion. Possible questions for discussion:

• What evidence was strong for identifying the type of dinosaur?
• Is that evidence strong or weak for identifying the species of dinosaur?
• What can we learn from this?

In pairs, students answer three reflection questions presented on the Research Quest website.

You can view your students’ responses under the “My Account” tab when logged into the Research Quest website.

Note: If students’ reflections are consistent with Carrie’s they will be prompted to move on to the next step. If they are mostly different, they will be prompted to go back and make more detailed observations of the Mystery Fossils.

Students watch the video on Step 12 of th investigation (2:08 minutes).

Direct students’ attention to the following before beginning the video:

Carrie is going to discuss how to evaluate the evidence you find. Pay close attention to what she says about how to discuss evidence with your peers.

In small groups, students discuss their inferences about what species of dinosaur the Mystery Fossils come from and go back to look at and analyze the evidence they have gathered and recorded in the RAN. They can begin filling out page six of the RAN, listing their disconfirming, strong, and weak evidence for what species of dinosaur the Mystery Fossils come from.

RAN: page 6

Remind students about your previous discussion of evidence strength and how the strength of a piece of evidence is dependent upon the question you are asking. At this moment, students are asking (and answering) the question, “what species of dinosaur did these bones come from?”

Model and clarify how to analyze and evaluate evidence, as needed.

Note: Step 13 of the website includes brief reminders of the definitions Carrie presented for strong, weak, and disconfirming evidence.

Students complete page six of the RAN, ex- plaining how each piece of evidence supports their explanation for the type and species of dinosaur the Mystery Fossils come from.

RAN: page 6

After students have evaluated their evidence, prompt them to move on to Step 14 of the investigation. This page provides tips for constructing an evi- dence-based explanation.

Evaluate students on the critical thinking skills you are targeting using the Student Learning Assessment Tool as a guide.

To emphasize strong argument construction at this point, distribute the Student Rubric for Presentation of Arguments, located under the “Teacher Support” tab of the website. Students can use this as a guide when constructing their argument.

On Step 15 of the website, students select the button with the name of the species of dinosaur the Mystery Fossils come from.

You can view your students’ responses under the “My Account” tab when logged in to the Research Quest website.

In pairs, students answer three reflection questions presented on the Research Quest website.

You can view your students’ responses under the “My Account” tab when logged in to the Research Quest website.

Students review the tips for communicating their arguments with their peers on Step 16 of the website, and prepare to present with their small groups.

Students may use the Student Rubric for the Presentation of Arguments to evaluate the strength of their argument and improve it prior to presenting.

Facilitate a group conversation about communicating arguments, or let students discuss these tips in their small groups.

This is also a good time to distribute the Student Rubric for Presenting Arguments if you have not already done so. Students can assess the strength of their group’s argument and make changes to strengthen it as needed. Note that they can also use this rubric to evaluate the strength of their peers’ arguments in the next step.

Students present their argument to their peers. This includes generating, receiving, and responding to respectful critiques and clarifying questions. This can be formatted several ways from informal presentations, class discussion, debate, etc.

Students may use the Student Rubric for the Presentation of Arguments to evaluate the strength of their peers’ arguments. Students should also be asking clarifying questions and/or offering respectful critiques.

Ask open-ended questions to draw out inferences.

Some students may benefit from using sentence stems to help facilitate discussion about their ideas.

Evaluate students on the critical thinking skills you are targeting in this section using the Student Learning Assessment Tool as a guide.

Students watch the video on Step 17 of the website.

It may be useful to direct students’ attention to the following before beginning the video:

Carrie is going to share her argument for what dinosaur the Mystery Fossils come from and explain her reasoning. Listen carefully for ways her argument was similar or different from yours.

Students may complete additional extension activities.

Optional extension activities are provided on the website to take student learning a step further.

The Student Rubric for Assessing Learning Outcomes is located in the support materials for each investigation. Using this rubric, students can reflect on the critical thinking skills they developed and practiced during this investigation and think about ways they can continue to use these skills in the future.

Reinforce critical thinking skills, vocabulary, and other target behavior during curriculum-aligned activities.