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09mar20 Teacherfest

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9/16/2009

Reminder

This is a reminder of the workshop for teachers on conducting a mammoth dig. We will meet in room 506 at Kamiakin High at 8:00 am on Saturday, September 26 th . We will finish at 3:00 pm. Participants will learn about life in the Mid-Columbia area during the Pleistocene Epoch (Ice Age) and how scientists use various scientific disciplines in the study the past. Part of the instruction will take place at the mammoth site which is southwestof Kennewick.

All teaching disciplines are welcome. We expect science teachers, social studies teachers, language arts teachers, art teachers and anyone else who might want to use the topic of the McBones Mammoth Dig in their classes. The options are as broad as your imaginations. Our goal is to prepare ourselves to engage our students in activities relative to the McBones Mammoth Dig.

Clock hours will be available.

Please contact me if you have questions.
Gary Kleinknecht

9/15/2009

Kamiakin Students:

We will have our first club meeting this Thursday after school in room 217.  We will be discussing plans to work on the McBones project, fund raising, organizing the club, etc.  Please mention this opportunity to students who might be interested.  Work on Mc Bones could generate community service hours, and an opportunity to learn more about Paleontology and how a fossil site is developed.  Time for the meeting is 2:30. 

8/25/2009

I just got my new work computer up and running email.  I’ve been without access to my email folder for the past few weeks and did not remind folks of the McBones meeting held last Wednesday.  We’ll fill you in on that meeting when we next meet on 9-26-09.   Here’s a quick update on the McBones Mammoth Dig.

During the summer Bax Barton has been spending a weekend a month working at the site.  We now have electricity, water and awning type covers for workers.  The site has been professionally surveyed and we are at a point where we can be thinking about establishing working grids.  A number of other initiatives are underway.  Cindy House has been putting in a tremendous amount of effort into securing help for this project and the results are showing.

The core group has decided to proceed to make this an environmental study project for the long term.  That is part of the reason that we have not moved as quickly as some may have wanted, but the hope is this will become a long term (many decades) long project to produce a teaching resource for schools and the community.  We are working on securing a grant and will need some help from teachers participation in this project.  We’ll deal more specifically with that later in September.

On September 26th we plan to have a teacher training session on the McBones dig.  Bax Barton of the Burke Museum and George Last of PNNL will be the featured presenters.  We plan to use a sort of “who dun it” approach for the workshop to examine questioning and problem solving approaches that are intended to connect teachers and students to the site.  We are hoping that all of you can attend and perhaps bring an interested colleague.  We want your ideas and questions.   We are hoping to offer clock hours.

Gary Kleinknecht
KAHS

 

August 12, 2009

Since school ended, the McBones Mammoth Project has moved forward with the plan to apply for grant money to develop the mammoth dig.  We are considering facilities needs and are working on a business plan.  Next we need to turn to teacher and student involvement in the project.

The teacher’s group will meet next on August 19th at 10:00 am in room 506 at Kamiakin High School.  The meeting should last no longer than 2 hours.  This will be an updating session and will be especially important for planning the September 26th teacher training session. 

Paleontologist Bax Barton, Burke Museum curator, and geologist George Last, PNNL - Battelle, will present to teachers on the 26th and they need you to tell them what teachers need to get out of the training.

If you plan to attend, please contact Gary Kleinknecht.  I know that this is the last week of summer break, but if you can come, please do.

June 21, 2009

Last Friday and Saturday(6/20 & 6/21)McBones, the nonprofit organization that was formed to manage the mammoth dig southwest of Kennewick, met to further discuss organizational issues.  Here is a summary of where things stand.

1. McBones is working to develop the site as a long term project to be used as a teaching tool for students.  It is frustrating for teachers who want to get their kids involved soon, but this is an opportunity for (potentially) a major resource for the Mid-Columbia Region.  We want to do this “right” rather than quickly.  Dr. Naomi Petersen is leading us in pursuit of an NSF grant that could make this a really neat facility.  We will need volunteers to help write portions of the grant proposal this fall, especially teachers who plan to bring students to the site.
2. Paleontologist Bax Barton, U of W and CWU, will be working with us during the summer and later on as the project progresses.  He plans to return to Kennewick on July 17, 18 and 19 to work on planning and on the site.  Please let me know if you would like to participate in the sessions with Bax and the McBones folks.  One topic that teachers should have some input in is the training session for teachers on the 26th of Sept., and if several teachers attend, we can do that planning then.
3. Since early June, volunteer Ivar Husa has created some maps of the 27 acre site.  Worley Surveying has donated their services and has surveyed the property.  We plan to begin laying out gridding for dig commencement soon.
4. Bax has loaned us an approximately 4 foot portion of a mammoth tusk and a donation has been secured to do a C14 dating.  However, to do this “right” we will hold off the dating until we have excavated more suitable bones and have more context information.
5. A discussion about building display cases has begun.

If some of you would like to do a little preparation this summer I recommend that you get a copy of Ice Age Mammals of North America by Ian Lange.  For used copies you can try an on line service like Amazon.com or a local book seller for new copies.

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