The Royal Tyrrell Museum kicks off autumn with two projects that link art and science - palaeo arts and DinoMechanics.
The museum’s annual Palaeo Arts contest is open for those from kindergarten to grade 12.
Entrants are permitted one entry into the contest.
“Each year we have a different specimen, fossil specimen, that students use for their inspiration or focus, and this year we’ve got a lambeosaurus skull,” said Earle Weibe, Head of Education at the Royal Tyrrell.
Lambeosaurus fossils were discovered in Southern Alberta, notably Dinosaur Provincial Park, and Montana, said Weibe.
It is a duck billed dinosaur, also known as a hadrosaur, that lived in the late cretaceous period 75 to 76 million years ago. The dinosaur was named after palaeontologist Lawrence Lambe who discovered it in 1898. It was the first crested duck bill dinosaur found in North America.
The skull is viewable in the museum or on the museum’s website under programs, school programs, then click on Palaeo Arts contest.
“The nice thing about this contest is that it combines art and science. It shows the connection between the two, that scientists work closely together with palaeo artists to be able to reconstruct and show what these animals and the environment looked like.”
And for school groups Wiebe said the museum is in the process of developing a new program for junior high students.
“DinoMechanics” will be a gallery program where students will be divided into groups, each representing a different dinosaur family.
The students will then go through the museum’s gallery of artistic displays, making observations and measurements, collecting data, then sorting through the data and analyzing it to come up with some conclusions.
“It’s helping them learn and discover what palaeontologists do and how they go about their research, and how important collecting data is,” said Wiebe.
The DinoMechanics classes can be scheduled during the less-busy times for the museum, such as fall and early spring, and are scheduled to begin this fall.
