What Would a Paleontologist Do?
Inquiry is a fundamental activity in science and therefore should be foundational when teaching science. Scientific inquiry is the process for developing an evidence-based explanation of some phenomenon observed in the natural world (Bybee, 2006). It includes using empirical evidence and logical reasoning, minimizing the role of bias, and presenting these explanations for review and critique by other scientists. Using inquiry as a science teaching strategy started with Conant (1947) and slowly became more popular in science classrooms since then. However, the definition of what counts as inquiry-based activity to science educators has become very broad, incorporating ideas like hands-on learning, experiential learning, discovery learning, and minds-on learning (Bybee, 2006).
Ironically, textbooks portray scientific inquiry very rigidly—scientific inquiry is a straightforward path from developing a question, researching background information, making a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis (usually through controlled experimentation), interpreting the data, and communicating results. To many, this outlines the monolithic scientific method. While this linear process may be reflective of how most science gets reported, it is not a reflection of how science gets done in real time. This is especially true for geology. Geology is not an experimental science like most of physics or chemistry. It is a historical and interpretive science (Frodeman, 1995), where geologists search for and interpret signs in the rocks, trying to discern causality (Cleland, 2013; Turner, 2013). This is not to say that experiments do not happen in the geosciences, but that the goal is to understand the earth’s past; the only way to do that is by assigning meaning to artifacts left behind from past causes. There is no way to experimentally test how dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago, or if Pangaea existed and broke apart over 200 million years ago.
In ERTH 305 (Introduction to Dinosaurs), there are 300 students. I use inquiry-based activities and experiential learning to help students better understand WWPD (What a Paleontologist Would Do). Two such examples are “Footprints in the Sand” and “Putting Bones Together.” I have created four sets of life-size dinosaur footprints that I lay in a pattern in some green space on the University campus (see associated images). Then the entire class enters that space with tape measures. In small groups they measure footprint length and stride lengths within the different sets of footprints. They also make a field sketch of the area recording the pattern of the tracks. With this data they can identify the dinosaurs making the tracks, how tall they are, whether they were running or walking, and also create a story explaining how the tracks came to be like that. It is a WWPD activity (what would a paleontologist do?).
Also, in “Putting Bones Together,” students take the set of bones they have been given and try to assemble them in a manner that makes sense in the context of some modern sample animals. Not only do they try to create the original organism, but they also reflect on the process of creating that organism. What caused them to make it this way as opposed to that way? What influenced their decisions? How confident are they in what they have created?
References
Bybee, R. W. (2006). Scientific inquiry and science teaching. In L. B. Flick & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Scientific inquiry and nature of science: Implications for teaching, learning, and teacher education (pp. 1–14). Springer.
Cleland, C. E. (2013). Common cause explanation and the search for smoking gun. In V. R. Baker (Ed.), Rethinking the fabric of geology: Geologic Society of America Special Paper 502 (pp. 1–9). Geologic Society of America.
Conant, J. B. (1947). On understanding science: An historical approach. Yale University Press.
Frodeman, R. (1995). Geological reasoning: Geology as an interpretive and historical science. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 107, 960–968.
Turner, D. (2013). Hisotrical geology: Methodology and metaphysics. In V. R. Baker (Ed.), Rethinking the fabric of geology: Geological Society of America Special Paper 502 (pp. 11–18). Geological Society of America.
