CLASSIFYING DINOSAURS

What You Need

12 dinosaurs

1 ruler

What You Do

1. Draw a 6" circle at the top of the paper near the center.

2. Write the number "12" in the circle because you are starting with 12 dinosaurs.

3. Put the dinosaurs in the circle.

4. Draw two more circles as shown. Draw arrows from the first circle to each of the new circles.

5. Look at the dinosaurs and think of a rule to separate them into two groups. The rule should be a question that can be answered "yes" or "no". Some examples are:

Does the dinosaur have horns?
Does the dinosaur walk on 2 legs?

Do not use color as a way to group the dinosaurs.

6. Once you have thought of your rule, write it under the top circle between the arrows.

7. Label one arrow "yes" and one arrow "no" .

8. Separate the dinosaurs according to the rule. If a dinosaur follows the rule, put it in the circle pointed to by the "yes" arrow. If not, put it in the circle pointed to by the "no" arrow. When you're done there should be two groups of dinosaurs, one in each of the lower circles.

9. Count the number of dinosaurs in each group and write the number in the circle.

10. For each of the two lower circles, draw two more circles underneath, as shown. Add arrows like you did before.

11. Pick one group to work with. Look at these dinosaurs and think of a rule to separate them into two groups.

12. Once you have thought of your rule, write it under the circle between the arrows.

13. Label one arrow "yes" and one arrow "no".

14. Separate the dinosaurs according to the rule. If a dinosaur follows the rule, put it in the circle pointed to by the "yes" arrow. If not, put it in the circle pointed to by the "no" arrow.

15. Count the number of dinosaurs in each group and write the number in the circle.

16. Repeat this process of writing a rule and separating the dinosaurs for every group that has more than two dinosaurs in it.

Think About It

Let's call each group of dinosaurs a species and come up with a name for it based of its characteristics. Look at the dinosaurs in each group and the rules that put them in these groups. Write the name under the circle containing the species. Use the following chart to help.

Body Parts:		Numbers:
tail no tail arm head horn	caudia anuro brachio cephalo cerat or ceros	one two three	mono di or diplo tri
tooth	don or dont	Size:
jaw crest or ridge body claw face foot wing	gnathus lopho masso nycho ops pod or ped ptero	slender thick small large high heavy	steno pachy micro mega or hadro hypselo bary
spine	spino	Other Describing Words:
roof	stego	crooked terrible	ankylo dino
Types Of Animals:		backward	opistho
duck bird fish iguana king lizzard	anato avi or avis ichthyo iguano rex saur or saurus	ridged flat ribbon first slow fast tyrant supreme extreme	pacro plateo plesio proto segno veloci tyranno super ultra