Connecting the environment of the ancient past with the natural and cultural history of yesterday and today.

Field Paleontology Institute

Details

June 19 - 21, 2012, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Fee: $30

18 hours

Instructor: Alan Goldstein, Interpretive Naturalist

Limit: 20 educators

$30 registration fee payable in advance

Checks should be made out to the Falls of the Ohio Foundation and sent to 201 West Riverside Dr., Clarksville, IN 47129, insert a note that it is for the FPI three day workshop.

- OR -

Call Alan at 812-280-9970, ext. 403 to pay by credit card, Monday – Friday 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM.

When you arrive...

Get a pay-to-park envelope, tear of the part for your dashboard and bring the envelope in to the receptionist. (No fee is necessary.)

Please check in at the reception desk in the lobby. We will meet in our library / classroom at the far end of the exhibit gallery. The first day we will spend a good part of the time in our library / classroom. We will be outdoors Tuesday afternoon as well as Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

What to wear...

On days we go collecting, long pants are recommended to reduce the risk of scrapes if you slip on the rocks. A short sleeve shirt is fine. Light colors are suggested as they reflect sunlight, will keep you cooler and make it easier to see ticks. Wear shoes that provide good support and completely enclose your feet - no sandals! Hiking boots or tennis shoes are fine. A hat is also helpful.

We will car pool...

to visit the road cuts where we will collect fossils. Let me know on the first day if you have a vehicle that can carry three or four passengers. We will need to take the fewest number of vehicles when we go collecting. Directions will be provided to all drivers.

Lunch break will be ~12:00 pm - 1:00 pm.

On the first day, lunch is on your own – you may go out to a fast food place or brown bag it. We will resume promptly at 1:00 pm!

Tuesday and Wednesday we will have options to eat at several restaurants in the collecting area or bring a sack lunch.

Keeping hydrated in the field...

You should bring a cooler or bottle for water or any non-alcoholic liquid refreshment to quench your thirst. While we do not permit food or drink in most of our building, they are okay in the library / class room for this program. We sell soft drinks and bottled water in our gift shop, or feel free to bring your cooler.

Supplies you should bring:

Notebook and pen or pencil

Work gloves, canvas bag(s) or cardboard box(es) with newspaper and thick-tipped permanent marker for our collecting excursions (we will discuss this in more detail on the first day)

Encouraged to bring (if you have it):

Rock hammer / masonry hammer / small hand sledge (do not bring a claw hammer), if you do not have a hammer, bring a large flat-head screwdriver for prying) for the second and third days.

10x magnifier (jeweler's loupe) or a magnifying lens (They are available from many sources on-line.)

You are welcome to bring any guides to fossils or geology from your own library to discuss ways to incorporate information into your curriculum.

We will provide:

Directions to the collecting sites

Art supplies

Additional fossils as needed

Additional reference books for examination and a list of useful books

Instructional Objectives

Educators will learn...

1.) use common field collecting techniques and tools in order to acquire fossils for the classroom.

2.) the regional geology and its paleontological implications.

3.) methods of paleontological interpretation.

4.) how to make and use fossils and models to interpret paleoecology by developing realistic reconstructions.

5.) how to identify fossils and rock types.

6.) of sources of free or low cost information and technical support.

7.) to apply mathematics skills with paleontology.

8.) to apply organismic biology methods to paleontology.

9.) use living marine aquariums and dioramas as interpretation tools.

All objectives will be directed with student applications in mind.

Planned session chronology

Tuesday:

9:00 am Meet in Interpretive Center library, introduction

9:15 What are fossils? Geological time and its implications

10:15 Rock type and implications

11:00 Fossil preservation activity

11:45 Lunch break

12:45 pm Resources (books) on fossils and local geology

1:30 Movie

1:45 Fossil “Museum to Go” Kit

2:00 Explore the fossil beds

3:00 Extinction activity

3:40 Collecting trip plans

4:00 Conclusion

Wednesday:

9:00 am Drive to several sites in Kentucky to collect Ordovician from road cuts. Eat

lunch at restaurant in area. (Car pooling will be necessary for field excursions.)

1:30 pm Fossil identification

3:30 Reconstructing an Ordovician fossil community / significant events in the

Ordovician period.

4:00 Conclusion

Thursday:

9:00 am Drive to several sites in Kentucky to collect Mississipian fossils. Eat lunch at restaurant in area. (Car pooling will be necessary for field excursions.)

1:30 Fossil identification

2:30 Who ate what: ancient food webs

3:00 Paleo-ecology: Reconstructing a Silurian and Devonian fossil community

3:15 Building a crinoid and other models

3:30 "Edible ecosystems" and "Why we aren't filter feeders" activities

3:45 Hand-out park material, Fossil Festival info

3:55 Institute summary and evaluation

4:00 Conclusion

Workshop summary

Day 1: What are fossils? - A hands-on review

Classification of fossils using modern methods / Linnean system

Rock type and its implications in finding fossils