Week 12

I had my last day at Dickinson yesterday, so the next few days will be dedicated to finishing up my lesson plans. I'm having trouble getting the poster together but I hope to contact my mentor about that right away. I can't believe summer is almost over, I had a lot of fun at my internship and learning so much about informal STEM learning.

Week 11

This week we spent our time finishing up picking out the coal from bags of sediment Dr. Steadman had for us. We also spent a great deal of our time working on our projects so that's coming along quite nicely. I'd say that the highlight of my week was on Monday. Monday was Sharon's birthday, so Shane and I decided to take Sharon out to Ginnie Springs. I sort of learned how to swim! During our stay there, we saw a lot of families just swimming in the springs and I'd hear children asking their parents all kinds of questions about fish and wildlife, which reminded me of some of the things we learn in class. It's been a pretty fun week, I plan on finishing my project within the next couple of days or so.

Week 10

Things at Dickinson Hall have been pretty slow. We've got a routine now where we pick out any identifiable fossils from the day before's screen-washes or pick out coal for Dave and in the afternoon we screen wash. I chose to do a poster for my project because technology is always a struggle for me, although I wouldn't consider powerpoint to be hi-tech or anything. A couple weeks ago Shane was asked to measure a screen-washing station at Thomas Farm. Once the budget is approved and we are able to buy wood, we'll be creating another screen-washing station at Dickinson which I'm looking forward to.

Week 9

Nothing out of the ordinary during the past week. I spent some afternoons screen-washing while my mornings consisted of coal picking. Dr. Steadman allotted us sometime to work on our projects. My fossil module is coming quite nicely, my first lesson will introduce paleontology and some of the things paleontologists do. I'm really tempted to start off the lesson with a Bill Nye video because he's pretty awesome and I loved watching him when I was in grade school. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend.

Week 8?

The past week Sharon has been away and we worked under Dr. Steadman. Apart from the usual, screen-washing and identifying of fossils, we took another trip down to Thomas farm to grab more bags for us to wash. Dr. Steadman had us spend some time picking out pieces of coal from bags to carbon-date. We took the challenge on not knowing how long and tedious would be, It took me and Shane about 4 hours to go through one bag. All in all, it wasn't too bad because Dr. Steadman always had really great stories to pass the time. The next project we have is creating a screen-washing station at Dickinson hall.

Week 6

This week was a little less eventful (apart from the Spurs winning the nba finals!) We spent some time screen-washing fossils as well as picking out identifiable fossils from Thomas farm but the majority of our time was spent labeling fossils from the Cedros site. I actually, just found out that the fossils from this site are the remains of what an ancient village cooked and ate at the time. That's so cool, to know that I'm holding pieces of bone that people ate off of long ago. We labeled all the mammal fossils from this site so we started labeling fossils and reptiles, It's pretty cool seeing how different the bones are and learning all the different characteristics that each one has. My project is going well, right now I'm struggling with how to transition the information from lesson to lesson because I want the module to flow well.

Week 5

Now this was a pretty eventful week for me. Earlier last week, I went to the FLMNH for the first time. I was not disappointed. I felt like a little kid every time my eyes lit up from the cool exhibits. My new favorite animal is the giant ground sloth. That thing is massive!
We also went out to Thomas Farm, the dig site of all the miocene fossils we've been screen-washing. There, we got to see what a dig site actually looks like. I even got to take a couple of fossils home. I also learned that there is another thing on earth that I should be terrified of, the Brown Recluse.

Week 3

Last week, we took some time away from screen-washing and labeled fossils from a different dig site. This week we got to apply some of the things we learned and actually identified a couple fossils. I'm still having a tough time recognizing the bones but it's really fun, almost like a puzzle. I find it really interesting to see the same bones look so different in each of these animals. Here's a picture of one of the skulls of the animals we used for reference when we identified bones, isn't it neat! (Collared Peccary)

This week we will actually be going to Thomas Farm, which is the dig site for all the Miocene fossils we've been screen-washing. I'm really excited to see what a dig site looks like and hopefully I'll be doing a little excavating of my own!

Week 2

The past week has been pretty fun. We continued to screen-wash miocene fossils but in addition to that, we labeled a bunch of different mammal fossils from a different site and throughout the labeling process we got to learn some of the names of the bones as well as some unique characteristics that mammals have. I still have a difficult time keeping up with all the names of the bones and identifying which bones are what, but that just means I have more to learn! I can't wait for all the new things I have to learn from being at my internship.

Week 1

Last week, I finally got my internship settled. For the longest time, I was so worried about finding somewhere I can work. I couldn't think of a place where I can apply mathematics to. I'm pretty thankful that I was backed into that corner, because after spending my first day at my internship, I can't be any happier. I'm definitely out of my element. I know next to nothing about paleontology but that only means I'll have something new to learn everyday.