Day 3 School Activities

Tracking Dinosaurs

Fossil footprints can be used to interpret the size and speed of the animal that made them. In general, the hip height of an animal is equal to four times its foot length. The speed of an animal can be calculated using the formula of stride length divided by the hip height. If the result is less than 2, the animal was walking. If the result is between 2 and 2.9, the animal was trotting (i.e. jogging). If the result is greater than 2.9, the animal was running. Let’s see if people fit this same formula.

Materials needed: measuring tape at least 10 feet long, a bucket of water, notebook and pencil.

• Step 1: Find a place outside where students can run at a full sprint.
• Step 2: Find three students to act as volunteers to make prints. Measure the leg length from the ground to the top of the thigh, where it rotates in the hip for each of the track makers. Record.
• Step 3: Have the first student wet the bottom of their shoes and walk at a normal pace. Measure the stride length for three steps toe-to-toe or heel-to-heel (stride is the length from one print to the next of the same right or left foot). Add these three numbers up and divide by three. This is an average stride length.
• Step 4: Repeat this process with the second student, but having them jog the three strides.
• Step 5: Repeat with the third student, except having them sprint the three strides.
• Step 6: Divide the calculated average stride lengths by the respective track maker’s hip height. Do the results match the general formula for animals?

Exercise 3 – Today’s Dinosaurs (Advanced School Activity)

An interpretation of our planet's fossil record is that there may be dinosaurs living amongst us today. What present day life forms might be descendants of dinosaurs? What features do these organisms have that may be responsible for allowing them to have survived? Are there factual pieces of information that support your proposal?