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Can you outrun a dinosaur?
Animals Through Time Unit | Lesson 3 of 3

Can you outrun a dinosaur?

Animals Through Time Unit | Lesson 3 of 3
Lesson narration:
Scroll for prep
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DISCUSS: What can you figure out about these two animals, just by looking at their footprints? (For hint, see next slide.)

footprints

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Hint: Can you notice how many legs the animal walks on: two or four? How many toes it has? What shape feet it has?

Here's what we noticed

footprints

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DISCUSS (1 of 3): Which ostrich do you think was moving faster? How do you know?

OstrichFootprints

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DISCUSS (2 of 3): Look at this image and decide: Where was Pat walking? Where was Pat running? Why do you think that? (Answer on next slide.)

MapWalkingQuestion

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Answer:

Map-AnswersToDiscussionQuestions

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DISCUSS (3 of 3):

Dinosaurs died out a long time ago. You can’t race a living one. How could you figure out if you could run faster than a dinosaur?

Dinosaur-Skeleton-and-Fossil-Footprints

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Slide Image
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Slide Image

dinosaur


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a type of animal that lived long ago and that shares traits with modern birds and reptiles
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Slide Image

fossil


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the remains of a plant or animal that lived a very, very long time ago
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trace fossil


3 of 5

a type of fossil that shows an animal or plant was once there, such as footprints
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measure


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to describe something using numbers that can be compared
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experiment


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a test used to discover new information about a question
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Lesson narration:

Grade 3

Fossils & Changing Environments

Fossil Evidence, Trace Fossils, & Animal Behavior

3-LS4-1

Activity Prep

Print Prep

THIS LESSON WAS REVISED ON AUGUST 21, 2019. Here is a link to the previous version.
In this lesson, students will learn about how fossil dinosaur tracks reveal how quickly a dinosaur was running. In the activity, Outrunning CeeLo, students figure out if they could have won a race with a dinosaur that was just their size. To determine the winner, students will compare the length of their running steps with the dinosaur’s steps.

Preview activity

Exploration

20 mins

Grade 3

Fossils & Changing Environments

Fossil Evidence, Trace Fossils, & Animal Behavior

3-LS4-1

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