Cover story: Digging dinosaurs Cover story: Digging dinosaurs (January 25, 2006)

'Project Exploration' team connects Portola Valley students to science, scientists on two-day safari

By Marjorie Mader

Almanac Staff Writer

Flashing red taillights moved like a serpent along Alpine Road toward Portola Valley's Corte Madera School one rainy night.

Once their destination was reached, about 600 moms, dads, children and teachers emerged from the trail of vehicles to pack the school's multi-use room. They filled all the chairs set up on the gym floor and the bleachers. Some children sat on the floor in front of the speaker. For latecomers, there was standing room only.

It was "Family Dinosaur Night" in the Portola Valley School District, featuring Paul Sereno, the "Indiana Jones of Paleontology." He's the man who discovered SuperCroc, a 40-foot-long prehistoric crocodile in the Sahara, and Jobaria tiguidensis, which lived in central Niger 135 million years ago.

His January 11 talk, "Dinosaurs on Drifting Continents," was the culminating event of a memorable two-day visit to Portola Valley schools by a six-member Project Exploration team of scientists and educators.

During those days, the district's 670 students -- from kindergartners through eighth-graders -- cycled through one of three hands-on science labs at Corte Madera and Ormondale, learning about dinosaurs, fossils and bones.

Teachers participated in a discussion with project leaders on "Unearthing the Hidden Curriculum."

Dr. Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago and a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, and educator Gabrielle Lyon, his wife, co-founded Project Exploration in 1999.

Their mission: to reduce the distance between science and the public; to inspire kids to learn and achieve through innovative hands-on experiences; and to connect students, teachers and families with working scientists.

Dr. Sereno began his "Family Dinosaur Night" presentation by telling of growing up in Chicago, his lack of interest in school, and the journey that led him to become a world-renowned explorer, leading dozens of expeditions on several continents.

As a young lad, he said, "I liked dinosaurs, but never loved them." He didn't like math, but now uses it as an important tool in his work. His "memorable school moment" was playing Tom Sawyer as a fifth-grader in the school play. He enjoyed collecting butterflies and leaves and building a go-kart.

He reached a turning point when he discovered art and decided to be an artist. Interested in life drawing, he became fascinated with vertebrae. It was this discovery that led him to science, undergraduate studies in art and biology at Northern Illinois University, and graduate work in geology at Columbia University in New York.

He now teachers paleontology and evolution to graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Chicago, and anatomy to medical students.

Dr. Sereno's PowerPoint presentation illustrated his explorations, including discovering dinosaur fossils while working in the 120-degree heat in the Sahara, living in tents and on dehydrated food for four months, and wrestling a live crocodile from a murky river.

In a moment of high drama that evening, Dr. Sereno removed a cloth draped over a large object and revealed publicly for the first time his latest find -- an unusual dinosaur skull, yet unnamed.
Classroom explorations

Scientists from Project Exploration captured the interest of students during the hands-on science labs at both schools. They imparted information painlessly and in a down-to-earth, friendly manner.

Kindergartners sculpted from clay a model of Jobaria, the dinosaur discovered by Dr. Sereno and his team. Sculptor Gary Staab guided the children in their artistic endeavor. Mr. Staab specializes in prehistoric life sculpture, and created the sea monster models featured in the December 2005 National Geographic's article, "Scientists bring Godzilla back to life."

"Fossil/Not Fossil," another lab with geology professor Merry Wilson, challenged Ormondale students and some fourth-graders to learn about fossils by looking closely, observing the tiniest details, and finding words to describe what they saw. Then they applied what they learned by identifying "mystery" specimens of fossils, rocks, and fossil look-alikes.

They also made plaster casts of fossils -- trilobites, ammonites and a piece of a Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth -- to take home and paint.

Paleontologist Brian Kraatz, a team member from the University of California at Berkeley, arrived at the Corte Madera lab with 10 long boxes. Inside each were pieces of a dog's skeleton.

His challenge to fourth- through eighth-graders was to "think of a skeleton as a jigsaw puzzle," and fit the pieces in the correct place as they reconstructed the skeleton on the flat surface of a table.

"You did a fantastic job," Mr. Kraatz told the kids. "Was it fun?"

"Yeah, yeah" was their immediate response. "Cool."

"What did you learn?" he asked.

For starters: All four-legged vertebrae have the same bone structure. There's a ridge in the mouth that teeth hook into. Thinking of the experiment as a jigsaw puzzle and having a diagram of the skeleton made it easier.

Working in small groups, students said, was more fun and interesting because they were able to describe what they were thinking, talk about it and work out solutions.

"The totality of the two-day experience can't be communicated in words; it has to be experienced and absorbed," parent Linda Yates said.

She was instrumental in bringing Dr. Sereno and his team to Portola Valley after meeting him and hearing his presentation at a technology and entertainment design conference in Monterey last February.

After she joined Kim Brown as co-chair of the revised Portola Valley Speakers Series, she suggested bringing a Project Exploration team to the district.

"I couldn't have predicted the tremendous impact this program had," Ms. Yates said. "It definitely was worth it."

"Credit goes to Superintendent Anne Campbell, Ormondale Principal Eva Gal and Corte Madera Principal Joel Willen for taking a risk, trusting us and letting us mess up the school district for two days, Ms. Yates said

The team that brought the event here included PTO co-president Sallie DeGolia, Ms. Brown, Ms. Yates, and supporters such as parents Corrine and Bob Larson, who helped fund the educational adventure.

Gabrielle Lyon, educator, explorer and co-founder of Project Exploration with Paul Sereno, loves to look for dinosaurs in Africa and China.

She's participated in six international paleontology expeditions. A dinosaur has been named after her.

Her passion is "informal science education," inspiring kids and changing lives with science. The aim of the nonprofit Project Exploration is to make science accessible to all, with an emphasis on attracting minority youth and girls to science.

Ms. Lyon has developed a new model for teaching and personalizing science in which people can engage in hands-on projects and learn from scientists who do the research and teaching.

Basically, she says, this model gets kids interested in and curious about science, and equips them with skills they need to graduate from high school and consider a college education and a career in science.

Project Exploration works in three areas: youth development programs, services for schools and teachers, and public exhibitions and online initiatives. It offers the summer Junior Paleontology Program that immerses a dozen students in the world of paleontology and dinosaur fieldwork in the west.

Project Exploration leaders envision building a facility in Chicago that would be part museum, part laboratory, part botanical conservatory and part classroom.

For more information about Project Exploration, log on to www.projectexploration.org.

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