Lost-in-Time: The 2008 Science Teacher's Field Institute

Looking back in my journal, there's only one sparse entry from the first day - because I was so engrossed in the program - so here's a quick recap:

Working with Project Exploration in Montana has given me an entirely new appreciation of educational programs for educators. Science teachers have to deal with the ever changing classroom, advances in technology and new theories to work into their curricula, and the pressure of being a good role model for their students. Every once in a while they need someone to turn the tables and allow them to be the students for a little bit.

Project Exploration's Science Teachers' Field Institute is a two year program aimed to help Chicago Public School teachers excel in their field and it kicks off with a week of intense training and then a trip to the field. This is no ordinary field trip, it's a week on the Lost in Time Ranch in Montana where 10 CPS teachers essentially become paleontologists, geologists and astronomers. By the end of the trip, they not only have fossils, but also photos, video clips and an incredible amount of positive energy to take back to the classroom with them.

A few highlights of the trip were excavating a triceratops skeleton (pictured above), clearing off some of the hill top above the triceratops skeleton with a backhoe, prospecting for small invertebrate fossils, such as ammonites, looking for the K-T boundary, using the awesome telescope brought by Dr. Mark Hammergren (pictured below, right) to look at the stars in big sky country, and learning about the fossils and geology of the region from Dr. Paul Sereno (pictures below, left).















And the teachers aren't the only ones feeling inspired - all this has gotten me downright stoked about graduating college and beginning a career in the field of archaeology. I know it won't be easy, but I'd like to spend this upcoming year exploring all the possible occupations for an archaeologist - from digging in the field, to teaching, to working in a museum, to whatever else there might be. Wish me luck!

Science Teacher's Field Institute 2008 - Day 1

Lost in Time Ranch

On the first night of Project Exploration's Science Teacher Field Institute, Dr. Paul Sereno, along with myself and Jason, went to the excavation site ahead of the first day of fieldwork to prepare the site for the STFI crew. First, to open up the site, which had been identified on a previous visit, we cleared away tarps and dirt, and assessed what still needed to be done. It became obvious that this job was much bigger that the three of us, so Paul enlisted the help of Jim and Jared - the father and son team who work on the ranch - to use their back-hoe to clear away debris and about 10 feet of dirt over the dinosaur skeleton we are hoping to excavate.

Feeling that we were more likely to get run over by the back-hoe than to be useful, Jason and I went back to the house to prepare dinner. Earlier that day we had stopped in a town called Baker to buy groceries. We couldn't find a grocery store, and so I radioed to Jason's car about whether there would be another chance to stop at a grocery store. As luck would have it, we were not the only ones using the radio frequency and a gentleman informed us that his town does indeed have a grocery store and directed us to it.

Even our shopping trip was eventful. We ran into a paleontologist from Yale in Montana to look for fossil turtles. He was even excavating in the same formation, the Hell's Creek formation, as our crew!

Jason and I bought buffalo meat (after Jason was asked to pronounce our request several times in his British accent) which we cooked into bison burgers that night. We had dinner with Jim, Jared, and Mindy - an amazingly energetic ranch hand - and got ready to start excavating the next morning.

Jason and Ewan celebrate the excavation, note the back-hoe parked in the background