Fossil Workshop for Year 6 Pupils - My Work Life

Today, Ryan and I have been busy assisting with a year 6 workshop which focused on fossils and the subject of palaeontology. The workshop was held in our outreach laboratory. The Year 6's were taught about palaeontology by a geologist. Everything from the scientists involved with palaeontology, ideas of the different organisms which have/can fossilised to the special fossil which is from the local areas.
For those not aware terms, I will try to define them;

• Palaeontology is the study of fossils. 
• Palaeontologist is just a scientist who studies fossils.
• Geology is the study of the earth

I'll have many favourite parts of the workshop. One of those parts was when the children learned of an early, female palaeontologist called Mary Anning. Mary was an English fossil collector from Dorset in the early 1800's. Her work was well known as she had quite a some important finds along her local cliff edge. Mostly for a fossil from an organism called Plesiosaurus. Obviously, the year 6 weren't expected to know all of these facts. We just told them, her name, age of her best discovery (which was 12) and that she just found them on her local beach. I was mostly impressed by the way the presenter linked in the commonly known nursery rhyme - She Sells Sea Shells on the Seashore. This nursery rhyme stems from Terry Sullivan, who wrote the words, along with Harry Gifford who composed the music. The lyrics come from the fact that Mary would sell the fossils to make money for her family.

The children also learnt of other children of similar ages who had also found fossils. They were impressed by how these children had changed the world of science. Especially of a 6 year old boy who had found a footprint (Science terminology: Trace) fossil. After this was mentioned, I had a delightful conversation with on of the year 6's about her discovery of an ammonite.
Another favourite from the workshop was the mention of the Dudley bug. This a well known fossil which comes from the neighbouring town of Dudley. The Dudley bug or Dudley Locus is the nickname for the fossilised version of an organism called Calymene blumenbachii. Its so well known that the Dudley's coat of arms has an image of this creature upon it. This was my favourite part from one reason - Only some of the year 6 had actually heard of this creature. So it was seeing their faces light up.

After the explanations, the children were asked to make their own fossils! And no, they didn't have to wait centauries for them to develop. It would be a 30 minute session with just some simple items, 2 plastic cups, plaster of Paris (powder with water), some sand, Vaseline and a seashell. The method was simple as well to follow. Only required minor assistance occasionally. This was when the children were unsure on the consistency of the plaster of Paris. Or they accidently put water into the cup with sand and shell, rather than the white plaster powder.

It was really interesting to watch the workshop and be apart of the practical aspect. Not only because it was an interesting subject to hear about. But also because this experience will be valuable when we eventually run our own workshops for schools. Both Ryan and I loved the experience. Especially when I loved when I actively engaged with the year 6's. They asked us loads of questions. Some asked myself about more general things such as the university and what I studied. Most of them jumping to the conclusion that I must have studied Geology or Palaeontology. They were shocked when I explained that I did Biomedical Science (and what that entails), just have an interest in fossils - like most things in science.

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If you want to follow Ryan, his blog posts are below;

Ryan's First Week at Work
Ryan's Second Week of Work