Robert Jones - Science Talk 2008
Teaching notes
In this resource there are a series of videos that answer questions about the process of fossilisation, Australian fossils and the career path of a palaeontologist.
Students ask Robert questions ranging from how his career progressed to why Tyrannosaurus rex has such useless front arms.
Teachers may find it useful to combine this resource with others listed in the Resources section to extend students’ learning based on outcomes from Stages 4 and 5 of the NSW Board of Studies Science syllabus and Stage 6 Biology Syllabus. The syllabuses can be found at: www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au
Syllabus outcomes Stage 5
Related syllabus content
Outcome 5.2: A student describes the processes that are applied to test and validate models, theories and laws
4/5.2 e) use examples which show that scientists isolate a set of observations, identify trends and patterns and construct hypotheses or models to explain these
4/5.2 Students learn about the nature and practice of science
g) identify that the nature of observations made depends upon the understanding that the observer brings to the situation
5.9.4 Students learn about natural events
a) identify that geological history can be interpreted from the formation, by sediments, of horizontal layers in which the oldest are at the base and the youngest at the top
b) describe conditions under which fossils form
c) relate the fossil record to the age of the Earth and the time over which life has been evolving
Outcome 5.8: A student relates the structure and function of living things to models, theories and laws
5.8.3 a) discuss evidence that present day organisms have developed from organisms in the distant past
Outcome 5.16: A student accesses information from a wide variety of secondary sources
4/5.16 d) summarise information from identified oral and written secondary sources
Quality teaching
This resource provides opportunities to incorporate the following elements of Quality teaching in NSW public schools by:
- how could dinosaur survive in a polar winter (Deep knowledge, Metalanguage, Knowledge integration)
- climate change has occurred in Australia , Australia was once part of Gondwana but has now drifted apart(Problematic knowledge, Higher-order thinking Deep understanding,)
- why dinosaurs no longer roam the Earth, why were dinosaurs so large (Problematic knowledge).