(Photo courtesy of the Royal Tyrrell Museum)
Learning about dinosaurs from the comfort of home. That is what the Royal Tyrrell Museum has begun to offer for those children who are home schooled.
The program, called “Experience Palaeontology” is an interactive distance learning course that has been developed for children aged eight to 11.
Distance Learning co-ordinator Megan McLauchlin said the program began in September 2014 and is now entering its second year.
“This course was designed specifically for home school students aged eight to 11 and they connect for three sessions. Each session has a little bit of different information all centred around palaeontology. Our first session is called the bare bones so it is the background information of palaeontology. It is there to establish and get everyone on the same page,” she said.
“Our second session looks at museum careers and how we dig up dinosaur bones and fossils and put them on display. And our third session is more about the science of investigating a dinosaur bone bed, so looking at what you can learn from fossil sites and looking at the bones in the ground. They get to learn a lot and the topics that we cover in (this) program are not generally covered in our other programs. They are a special content that is available to these students,” she told The Mail.
McLauchlin said the students connect online through a meeting room at the museum. Only three different students can connect per course.
“Those sites can be from anywhere. Last year we saw lots of home school students within Alberta and British Columbia (BC). We saw a group from Ottawa, Ontario, and we even saw a student from the Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago,” McLauchlin said.
The courses run at 3 p.m. Mountain time on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
“What I really enjoy about the program is that it is such a small group,” McLauchlin said. “We have one educator working with three sites and at each home we can have up to three kids. It is a very small group and the students get a lot of individual attention,” she said.
The sessions run for one hour each, and McLauchlin said this is a great amount of time for the students.
“What we’ve incorporated is a dinosaur stretch break about half way through so we can stand up and get out our wiggles,” she said.
The course offers a workbook with post session activities that allow students to keep learning on their own outside of the weekly session. She said the students who complete the course also receive a certificate that acknowledges that they completed the course.
McLauchlin said it doesn’t have to be just home schooled students though, the course is offered for those in public school as well. Last year, a student from BC wanted to complete the course who attends public school, and his parent allowed him to leave school early to complete it.
“We have specifically developed it for home schooling students, but it is still just information and content that any student that is interested in palaeontology can still take,” she said.
For more information, visit www.tyrrellmuseum.com/programs/distance/experience_palaeontology.htm.
