The main goal that the Kindergarten classes at Avocado were trying to achieve through their dinosaur studies was to learn more about dinosaurs by using what they already felt they knew about dinosaurs, comparing that to what they were taught in class, and putting all of their new knowledge about dinosaurs into a visual demonstration of how they interpreted dinosaur life. A question and answer session produced these results:
Question
Were the dinosaurs real, or are they imaginary?
Answer
Most of the students believed that dinosaurs really did exist at one time. Because archaeologists have discovered large bone structures and put them together to form the entire skeletons of these beasts, we know that the dinosaurs really existed. The children were read books about how we know that the dinosaurs were real, and were shown pictures of what the dinosaurs were believed to have looked like.
Question
Did dinosaurs eat plants, other animals, or both?
Answer
Students all seemed to know that some dinosaurs were herbivores (plant-eaters), others were carnivores (meat-eaters), and others were omnivores (meat and plant eaters). However, they were not sure how to visually classify them. By viewing drawings and small models of different kinds of dinosaurs, they were able to see that meat-eaters had much sharper, pointier teeth and were generally larger in body size and stronger than the plant eating dinosaurs.
Question
Did dinosaurs live just on the land?
Answer
Land dinosaurs are the most well known, and some children had seen pictures of pterodactyl, but most students were surprised that there were actually dinosaurs that lived in the water. Several illustrations were shown to the students and they were in some cases able to relate the appearance of the water dinosaurs to modern-day sharks and whales.
Question
When did the dinosaurs live, and where?
Answer
The dinosaurs lived millions of y ears ago, and fossils have been found in almost every region of the world.
Question
What happened to the dinosaurs? Why are there none left?
Answer
Several theories about why the dinosaurs became extinct were explained to the children. Most of them thought that a big volcano or a drastic change in the earth's weather killed all of the dinosaurs. One student's theory was that since the dinosaurs were plentiful and very big, they ate up all of the food supply, and they eventually all starved to death. The students were pleased to learn that their theories were all considered scientific possibilities.