Dinosaur Daze. Junior Primary. Adelaide Botanic Garden Education Service

Transcription

1 Dinosaur Daze Junior Primary Adelaide Botanic Garden Education Service

2 This Outreach Education publication for schools is made possible by the partnership between the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide and the Department of Education and Children's Services. Outreach Education is a team of seconded teachers, managed through the Open Access College, who are based in public institutions The State of South Australia, Department of Education and Children's Services and The Botanic Gardens of Adelaide. This publication is protected by copyright. It may be reproduced by South Australian teachers for use with their students. For all other uses contact the Open Access College (copy@oac.sa.edu.au).

3 Dinosaur Daze A self guided trail in the Adelaide Botanic Garden Junior Primary For school visits, bookings are essential. Contact the Bookings Officer, Adelaide Botanic Garden tel: fax: Content: Rebecca Short and Steve Meredith Plant Illustrations: Gilbert Dashorst Revised: January 2007 Adelaide Botanic Garden Education Service

4 Teacher Information Purpose This trail is designed for students of years R-3. On the trail students will encounter the kinds of plants that existed when dinosaurs roamed the earth. This includes four main plant groups that existed between 100 and 300 million years ago, in the Jurassic and Triassic periods. cycads made up an important food source conifers tall forest trees ginkgo an unusual, ancient remnant ferns and mosses soft, leafy ground cover, Students can touch and look at parts of the plants, and use the activities to make their own deductions about dinosaur life. There are questions that require written answers, others are for general discussion. Planning The plants listed in this guide are numbered and may be found by referring to the map of the Adelaide Botanic Garden and by looking for plant name labels. They may be visited in any order. The material in this booklet should be photocopied so that each student has a copy of student activity materials. This excursion is outdoors; students will require sun protection. Guidelines for School Groups In the garden students must be supervised at all times. Before starting your walk please remind your group that: Gardens are peaceful places for people to relax and enjoy. Walking slowly and talking quietly ensures everybody and everything will enjoy the gardens. Plants are fragile, touch them gently. Flowers, leaves, bark, seeds etc. growing on plants or lying on the ground are there for all to enjoy. When finished with plant material found on the ground always return it to the garden. Keeping to paths and not walking on beds or borders avoids damage to plants. The garden is a special place. Please leave it as you find it.

5 Teacher Guide This section is designed to assist teachers with background information on each plant in the trail. The student section encourages students to observe and record information and, in some cases, use their imagination to respond to questions. Some student responses are suggested here, however open-ended sections allow for a variety of answers and discussion. The curriculum areas for Band A (years R to 3) covered in this trail include: Strand Strand Organiser Outcomes Life and Living Living things and their parts can be assigned names and labels There is great diversity of living things Time, Continuity and Change Time and Change Interpretations and perspectives Classify time into such broad categories as present, immediate past and distant past Imagine themselves in the past Maths Numbers Use whole numbers to count and order. Shape and Structure Comparing and classifying objects and figures Key ideas on the trail Plants of the dinosaur era did not have flowers. Their reproductive parts were inside male and female cones or primitive spores. Most flowering plants appeared after the dinosaurs became extinct. Ancient plants had different defences against animals. Dinosaurs may have used plants in many ways, not just for food. Notes At each station (except number 6), students are required to look for flowers and tick YES or NO. One suggested approach is to form the class into a circle around a tree when you arrive at the station and all look up together. Tick the answer, and move onto the other activities. (Hopefully no one will see any flowers!) The leaf match-up activity is for the first four stations on the trail.

6 1. Cycad, Encephalartos altensteinii The cycads appeared about the same time as the first dinosaurs, 225 million years ago. They were one of the main plant groups around 150 million years ago, found in abundance all over the world. Today, they are found only in tropical and subtropical areas. The small, remaining groups are sometimes called living fossils because the plants appear relatively unchanged from the Jurassic period. The palm-like leaves were generally near enough to the ground to be the food of most planteating dinosaurs such as Apatosaurus, Rhoetosaurus, Camptosaurus, Hypsilophodon, Stegosaurus, Triceratops and Ankylosaurus. The trunks and seeds contain edible starches that may have been part of these dinosaurs diet. The tough leaves, sometimes protected by spikes, would have been difficult to eat. All cycads contain toxins (cyasin and macrocamin) which can be fatal to humans. These plants were very common when dinosaurs roamed the earth. They were a dinosaur food source, but difficult to eat. Things to look for. In the cycad garden, crouch down and face East (along the path towards the large lawn). Looking up to the tops of the tall pines can give an impression of a much older landscape. The cycads make the lower layers, and the trees on the trail would have been in magnificent forests during the Jurassic period. 2. Queensland Kauri Pine, Agathis robusta This tall, straight tree which grows to 50m in height could have been grazed only by the larger, long-necked dinosaurs such as Rhoetosaurus. The leaves are tough and leathery. Most of the leaves will be out of the reach of the children but there should be enough on the ground for them to feel. For a forest tree, having a tall, bare trunk means that more of the canopy is exposed to sunlight. It is also has the advantage of being out of reach for smaller, plant-eating animals. The Kauri is a conifer or cone-bearing plant and parts of the cones might be found on the ground. The ancestors of this type of tree evolved before the dinosaurs. Only a very tall dinosaur with a long neck would be able to graze on this tree. The leaves are not quite as hard as the cycad s. Things to look for. Try to guess the height, even though you may look silly! Take some big paces away from the Kauri pine. Bend over to look at the tree from between your legs (your rear will be pointing at the trunk). Keep moving away from the tree until you can see the top of it from this position. When you can, you re standing roughly the same distance away as the height of the tree. Assume a JP student pace equals about half a metre. On the way to the next station, pause after crossing the path to look for the Bunya Pine. Can you see the giant, grey dinosaur foot partly hidden by the dark green canopy? Looking at the trunk form this position can give the students graphic picture of the size of a dinosaur.

7 3. Bunya Pine, Araucaria bidwillii Please do not allow your students to stand beneath this tree. It is a cone-bearer and its cones, the largest in the world, are very heavy. There should be plenty of old leaves on the ground, for students to carefully touch. They re very sharp! The spines are actually modified leaves, arranged in a spiral pattern around the stem. This Queensland tree is a representative of the Araucaria group which is now, and was during the time of dinosaurs, widely spread throughout Australia and the other southern continents. It is in the same botanical family as the Kauri Pine. The Bunya pine has a very effective defence against being eaten. Its spines are actually the leaves, they are green on the tree, and turn brown after falling off. Things to look for. Standing at a distance, you really have to crane your neck to see the top. Notice the overall shape of the tree. Its cones grow on the ends of long, radial branches. They would have spread above ancient, forest canopies. The spiny branches may also have protected the tender new growth of the tree form now-extinct dinosaurs. 4. Ginkgo, Ginkgo biloba The ginkgoes have a characteristic fan-shaped leaf. Its second name, biloba, means two lobes. A specimen from the Triassic-Jurassic is on display in the South Australian Museum. Today this group has only one living species, even though ginkgoes first appeared about 300 m. y. ago and were one of the dominant plants during the time of dinosaurs. The leaves are soft to touch and would have been easier to eat than those of cycads or pines seen before. They are very hardy plants and make good street trees in polluted cities. It is thought that the Ginkgo outlived its natural insect predators and diseases when their numbers dropped and large forests disappeared. It is long-lived, and can form massive trees, with a trunk circumference up to 9 metres! The leaves of the Ginkgo are very different to the other plants on the trail. These would make a much easier meal than some others. It may contain bitter-tasting chemicals as a defence. Things to look for Make sure students pick up leaves from the path without causing damage to the tree or garden beds. 5. Araucaria Avenue The trees that make up this avenue are related to the Bunya Pine seen earlier. They were a common tree in the southern continents, including Australia, during the time of the dinosaurs. Around the base of the trees enough dead leaf material will be found for the students to make dinosaur nests.

8 Many dinosaurs laid eggs, and they could have used the soft Araucaria leaves to protect them and keep them warm. Plants are important to animals for many things not just a food source. Making a baby dinosaur nest. Students can build nests at the base of the Araucaria trees. Nest considerations: Is it big enough? Does it have enough leaves to keep the eggs warm? Does it have walls and a depression in the middle to stop the eggs rolling out? Will it hide babies from egg-stealers? You may like to run this activity similar to the Glenelg sandcastle competition by dividing the class into four groups, with a time limit. Judge each nest by its usefulness to dinosaur parents. Everyone can be winner in some way. Please disassemble the nests when you leave, ready for the next group. 6. Cypress, Cupressus lusitanica Adelaide Gold The cypress group is another example of the cone-bearing plants. The small cones can be seen on this tree at close quarters. Unlike the pine trees seen before, cypress have softer leaves. Maybe this tree offered protection for the dinosaurs from the sun. It may also have been used to hide from other dinosaurs. Things to look for. The cypress provides an opportunity for students to role-play. How about a dinosaur ambush? Look out as Melissa, the flesh-eating Allosaurus* jumps out from under the canopy to scatter the grazing herd of Hypsilophodon! *a dinosaur whose fossils have been found in Australia 7. Fern House (Victoria Glasshouse) closed for renovations Open 10am - 4pm weekdays. On the walk to the glasshouse, notice the grass you re walking on. Its so common we hardly know its there. There were no grasses in the time of the dinosaurs, but the ground was certainly not hard or barren. The fern gives an overall impression of the land in the Jurassic and Triassic periods. Many of the plants here are ancestors of dinosaur food plants. The ferns are very primitive, they do not reproduce with hard seeds, instead they have spores under their leaves. Not all dinosaurs were large meat eaters, some may have been as small as a chicken. Many small animals, including birds, insects and small dinosaurs could call the fern canopy home. How do students picture the world without grass? There was no grass for dinosaurs to walk on, but the forest floors were covered in soft ferns and mosses. Gently turn the leaves over to find the spores.

9 Things to look out for. Gently turn over fern leaves or fronds. Notice the brown spore patterns. Different species of ferns display different patterns. Selaginella, a small light-green leafy plant, is abundant, mosses and liverworts can be found on the rocks. 8 Australian Forest Walking to the forest is like taking a journey back 300 million years into the present. The diversity of leaf shapes, and reproductive parts increased through the late cretaceous ( years ago) and the cainozoic periods (up to present). This radiation of plant families and species coincided with the explosion of mammals on all continents on earth. In Australia, the plants adapted to the unique marsupial fauna. This section of the trail is fairly open-ended. Students are encouraged to explore the surroundings (staying off the beds, of course!) and draw their choice of flower or other plant structure. The main message here is of the change in dominant plant (and animal) groups over time. There is greater diversity of leaf shapes and reproductive organs (flowers) today than there was in the time of the dinosaurs. In Australia, there was a great explosion of new plant species at the end of the Jurassic period.

10 Dinosaur Daze Junior Primary N Botanic Park Adelaide Botanic Garden Hackney Road Friends Gate Toilets Plane Tree Drive Bicentennial Conservatory 8 Toilets Toilets Restaurant Kiosk 7 (currently closed) Education Service 1 2 Toilets 5 6 National Wine Centre Take time to read about the Dinosaur Tree See stations 1 and 2 for activities here 3 4 Royal Adelaide Hospital North Terrace Main Gate

11 Dinosaur Daze 1 Bread Palm or Cycad FLOWERS? YES or NO Many dinosaurs ate cycads. Gently feel a leaf. Circle the words that describe these leaves HARD SHORT FLAT SOFT LONG ROUND 2 Kauri FLOWERS? YES or NO Find a green leaf on the ground. The leaf is HARDER / SOFTER than the cycad leaf.

12 This is Rhoetosaurus, an Australian dinosaur. To eat the leaves it had a long 3 Bunya Pine FLOWERS? YES or NO Do not stand under this tree. The leaf feels... PRICKLY / SOFT It would be... HARD / EASY to eat

13 4 Ginkgo FLOWERS? YES or NO Feel the leaf gently. The leaf feels... PRICKLY / SOFT It would be... HARD / EASY to eat. 5 Araucaria Avenue Dinosaurs laid big / small eggs. What part of these trees could dinosaurs use to make a nest? L V Scrape some leaves together to make your own nest.

14 6 Cypress FLOWERS? YES or NO Imagine Allosaurus. It was about the same size as the cypress. It ate other animals. How could it use this tree? 7 Fern House currently closed for renovations FLOWERS? YES or NO Millions of years ago there was no grass. Dinosaurs lived in forests with lots of ferns, like these. Would the ferns be easy to eat? Turn a leaf over. Can you find any brown dots or lines?

15 End of the dinosaur daze. COUNT the plants with Flowers No flowers So... Do you think plants with flowers came BEFORE or AFTER the dinosaurs. 8 Australian forest Take a walk to look plants that came after the dinosaurs. Draw your favourite leaf, tree or flower. (Circle One) Were there a lot of different plants to choose from? Adelaide Botanic Garden Education Service

16 Dinosaur Daze Leaf Match-Up Draw lines to connect each drawing of a leaf to its correct name. 1. Cycad 2. Kauri Pine 3. Bunya Pine 4. Ginkgo Adelaide Botanic Garden Education Service