Using NewsHour Extra Worksheets

Overview: NewsHour Extra worksheets can help students follow along and identify key points in NewsHour science broadcast pieces.

Warm Up: Introduce the topic of the broadcast piece and find out how much your students know.

Main Activity: Hand out the worksheet and have students answer the questions as they watch the NewsHour segment.

Need a DVD of the science segment?: Write to science@newshour.org.

Story: Pittsburgh Museum Reinvents Model of Dinosaur Exhibit, 2/21/08
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/jan-june08/dinosaurs_02-21.html

Worksheet Questions: (click here for printout)

1. How is the Carnegie Museum's new dinosaur exhibit more scientifically accurate than previous museum's dinosaur exhibits?

In most exhibits, dinosaur fossils are just placed side by side. In this exhibit, though, the skeletons are posed interacting with one another, in scenes replicating how scientists think the dinosaurs lived more than 100 million years ago.

2. What are some differences between the Diplodocus Carnegii's (or Dippy's) old pose and its new one?

In its old pose the dinosaur's tail dragged on the ground and its chest sloped forward, so it looked slow and loping. In the new pose the dinosaur is upright and its tail is off the ground, giving the appearance of forward motion.

3. Describe a scene in the exhibit that illustrates how dinosaurs protected their young.

In one scene, a mother Apatosaurus is swinging her tail, trying to protect her baby Apatosaurus from an attacking Allosaurus.

4. How much was the shipping bill for the Apatosaurus?

The shipping bill was $40,000.

For more NewsHour Science Reports, go to www.pbs.org/newshour/science.

For more science lesson plans and worksheets, go to www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/science.