+
Handout
University of California

Ucmp: The Dinosauria

For Students 3rd - 8th
The Dinosauria provides the latest information about dinosaurs, including debunking myths, early dinosaur discoveries, characteristics of specific dinosaurs, life history, and discovery of dinosaur fossils.
+
Interactive
Other

Clever Island: Dinosaurs

For Students Pre-K - 1st
This primary age website requires no reading to construct the jigsaw dinosaur puzzle out of six pieces. The instructions are all spoken by the cartoon characters. Children can then watch a cartoon where one character goes back in time...
+
Website
Ducksters

Ducksters: Dinosaurs for Kids

For Students 1st - 8th
Dinosaurs: Kids learn about these ancient animals that wondered the Earth thousands of years ago. We know about them from studying fossils.
+
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Geo Logic: The Big Five Mass Extinctions

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Using GEOLogic puzzles, learners are asked to match the five largest mass extinction events with their relative dates, approximate duration, and severity based on clues given from various perspectives.
+
Website
Other

University of Chicago: Dinosaur Extinction

For Students 9th - 10th
This theory from the University of Chicago of dinosaur extinction revolves around the concept of plate tectonics, the movement of the continents over a sort of liquid around the planet.
+
Website
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: News in Science: Piece of Dinosaur Extinction Asteroid Puzzle Recovered

For Students 9th - 10th
The first meteorite fossil discovered in this period when tests can be run on it, was found at Chicxulub in Northeastern Yucatan, Mexico. Scientists believe it is part of the meteorite which made the dinosaurs extinct.
+
Website
Other

Who Dunnit to the Dinosaurs?

For Students 9th - 10th
"One of the great mysteries in science is the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Mesozoic Era some 65 million years ago. Who (or more likely what) caused it is unknown and a subject of great debate." Many theories are touched...
+
Article
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: News in Science: Dinosaur 'Feathers' Are No Such Thing

For Students 9th - 10th
From ABC News in Science, this article explores the validity behind current findings and research on the dinosaur to bird theory. The research is conducted on the Sinosauropteryx, which is a turkey-sized dinosaur with "proto-feathers."
+
Website
Other

University of Bristol: The Kt Event

For Students 9th - 10th
This dinosaur site, containing eight different sections, includes topics such as: 101 crazy theories about dinosaur extinction, the pattern and timing of extinction, evidence for late cretaceous climatic change, gradual extinction and...
+
Website
BBC

Bbc Nature: Prehistoric Life: Jurassic Period

For Students 9th - 10th
Overview of the Earth in the Jurassic Period told by photos, news, videos, and external links with emphasis on what grew then, what lived then, the causes of mass extinction, types of fossils, and what life was like in general.
+
Website
Other

Scientists Say Star Collision Caused Dinosaur Extinction

For Students 9th - 10th
"Israeli scientists have a new theory on why the dinosaurs became extinct: cosmic radiation that bombarded the Earth following the collision of two neutron stars." This article discusses the details of the theory.
+
Website
Other

Dinosaurs' End, the Gravitational Hypothesis

For Students 9th - 10th
The author of this site feels that there are too many problems with the current theories for why dinosaurs became extinct. He believes that his gravitational hypothesis is the correct answer, the dinosaurs suddenly got too heavy.
+
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of Natural History: Paleobiology: Blast From the Past!

For Students 9th - 10th
Examine evidence of a deep-sea core that provides evidence of an asteroid impact sixty-five million years ago, which may have contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

National Park Service: Fossils in Time Unit

For Teachers 5th - 9th
For this lesson, students learn about the earth's past by studying clues that have been left behind, such as fossils and rocks. Students will find the answers to many questions: What is paleontology?, What is geological time?, What can...
+
Website
Other

Catastrophism and Mass Extinctions

For Students 9th - 10th
An overview of Walter and Luis Alverez's theory that a large meteorite crashed into earth causing huge tidal waves, showers of ash, and an enormous dust cloud.
+
Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History: O Logy: Fighting Dinos: New Discoveries

For Students 3rd - 8th
A virtual investigation surmising how two fighting dinosaurs died in the Gobi Desert.
+
Handout
University of California

University of California: The Age of Mammals

For Students 9th - 10th
This online chapter of a book studying biodiversity and conservation explores the evolution of mammals, from the extinction of the dinosaurs to the evolution of humans.
+
Website
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Berkeley Lab: The Fruitful & Inventive Mind of Scientist Luis Alvarez

For Students 9th - 10th
This article, reprinted from the fall 1979 LBL News Magazine, was written about Dr. Luis Alvarez and his part in the study of geological sediments and the great extinctions.
+
Graphic
Curated OER

Sedl: Extinction

For Students 9th - 10th
This second lesson in a course on dinosaurs is devoted to extinction. There are group activities, discussion of the idea, and a way to assess what the students have learned.
+
Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Episd: Cenozoic Era the Age of Mammals

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] The two periods of the Cenozoic Era, Tertiary and Quaternary, granted the mammals the time and space to evolve since the dinosaurs became extinct.
+
Website
University of California

Ucmp: The Cretaceous Period

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the UCMP Berkeley provides information about the Cretaceous Period, the last portion of the age of the dinosaurs and the continued break up of the continent of Pangaea.
+
Website
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Mammals Get Their Chance

For Students Pre-K - 1st
In this video segment adapted from NOVA, animations of an asteroid hitting Earth are used to illustrate this widely accepted theory of dinosaur extinction and the resulting conditions that favored mammals.
+
Website
Other

Black Hills Institute of Geological Research: Unearthing T. Rex

For Students 9th - 10th
Follow the steps of paleontologists as they excavate Tyrannosaurus bones. This project took place in 2004 but there is plenty of useful information on the website for learning more about the T. Rex. Such as, how do you tell a male from a...
+
Website
University of California

Ucmp: Welcome to the Dinobuzz

For Students 9th - 10th
Site details with the current topics concerning dinosaurs. Site covers dinosaur speeds, dinosaur extinction, warm-blooded dinosaurs and more.