• Audience
    Secondary school
  • Learning stage
    Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6
  • Learning area
    English, Science
  • Type
    Learning unit, Learning resources

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Learning journeys offer a scaffolded approach to exploring a topic both in the classroom and at the Museum. Follow our learning journey to deepen your students’ knowledge and understanding of tyrannosaur dinosaurs. Tyrannosaurs – Meet the Family has now ended at the Australian Museum and is currently touring the world.



Prepare your students

  • Brainstorm ideas about dinosaurs
    Using secondary sources, such as the Australian Museum’s dinosaur fact sheets, ask small groups of students to identify 5 species of dinosaurs. For each species, ask the group to research its scientific name, size, age, sites of fossil discoveries, habitat in which it lived and the food it ate.

    Go around the room and ask each group to describe one of their dinosaurs.

    Are there any features, locations or habitats that the different species had in common? What were some of the common dinosaurs your class identified, and is there any link between them?

    Brainstorm why some features might be shared between different species.

  • What makes a dinosaur a dinosaur?
    Share a picture of a prehistoric lizard (eg. Megalania), a dinosaur and a marine reptile, and compare their stances. Notice that lizard legs extend out from the sides whilst dinosaur legs are directly underneath their bodies. Show this illustration to demonstrate all dinosaurs had a hole in their hip socket which allowed them to stand this way, and which distinguishes them from other reptiles.

    Thinking back to your brainstorm, categorise the dinosaur that each group shared as either a dinosaur, prehistoric lizard or marine reptile. How many were actually dinosaurs?

  • What is a tyrannosaur?
    See the ‘background information about the exhibition’ section for detailed information about features specific to tyrannosaurs. As a class, briefly think about what features make tyrannosaurs different from other dinosaurs.

    Some dinosaurs are instantly recognisable, no matter where you are in the world. They appear in movies, TV shows, books and comics. Tyrannosaurs, in particular, hold a fascination for many readers, watchers and museum-goers. Discuss why tyrannosaurs still hold such an interest amongst the thousands of biological and geological discoveries. What role do museums play in appealing to and catering for this interest for audiences?


At the Museum

  • Use our Dinosaurs conversation starters and exhibition insights, which offer an informal approach to learning that encourages your students to connect, share and reflect to the specimens and items on display.

    We recommend that your students work in small groups, however, it is up to you how you implement and manage the activities.

  • Visit and explore the Tyrannosaurs – Meet the Family exhibition. The exhibition is divided into five themes or sections:

    1. What’s a tyrannosaur? This area explores the features that define a tyrannosaur.
    2. Meet the Family. This area shows there were many tyrannosaurs and at least two families.
    3. Explore the Family. This area compares and contrasts tyrannosaur relatives.
    4. T. rex - The Ultimate. This area explores how T. rex evolved as the top-end predator.
    5. T. rex - Legacy. This area explores the evolution, survival and extinction of T-rex.


Back in the classroom

  • Bird or tyrannosaur?
    Ask students to reflect on their visit to Tyrannosaurs – Meet the Family and identify the reptile-like and bird-like features of tyrannosaurs. Justify why birds were included in an exhibition on tyrannosaurs. To get started, discuss some of myths and misconceptions that exist around birds and dinosaurs.

  • Looking back
    Ask students to create a geological time scale, placing the following tyrannosaur species in the correct period: Aviatyrannus, Guanlong, Tyrannosaurus, Yutyrannus, Dilong, Sinotyrannus, Xiongguanlong, Bistahieverson, Aviatyrannus, Tarbosaurus. Use the dinosaur fact sheets. As you work, think about what evidence has been gathered to determine this information.

    Once you have created your geological time scale, look for any generalised trends between the species. Can any statement be made about changes in the size and form of tyrannosaurs over time?

    Classification
    Palaeontologists determine which dinosaurs are related by looking for unique adaptations that animals share. Animals with like features are grouped together. This grouping helps us understand species diversity.

    Distribute a range of dinosaurs, prehistoric lizards and other animals to students. Ask groups to find creative ways to sort them (meat eater/plant eater, small/large etc.). Have groups compare their sorting methods and discuss the different ways they classified their dinosaurs. If you get stuck, think about what the animal does to survive or reproduce.

  • What do you do?
    A lot of science has been conducted to bring Tyrannosaurs – Meet the Family to life! Research a field of science from the following list and think about how that scientist may have contributed to understating tyrannosaurs, their relatives and the period they lived: palaeontologist; geologist; evolutionary biologist; geophysicist; biochemist; climatologist. You might like to start by looking at the evidence and data that these scientists collect.