Wombat Rex: FOUNDATION - HASS- Explore

One night, Nanna teaches Little J, Big Cuz and Levi about the star constellations through stories of the past. At school, Ms Chen encourages the students to investigate the evidence of dinosaurs. Little J and Levi set out to find evidence of dinosaurs themselves, happening upon the fossil of Diprotodon, also called Wombat Rex.

Explore - Collect data and information from observations and identify information and data from sources provided

Theme - DINOSAURS

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 2 ‘Wombat Rex’, engage students with the following activities to support their understanding of continuity and change of, and about, living things; place and space; and perspectives.

Divide the class into pairs, and have each pair select one Australian dinosaur to investigate.

Ask students to develop a set of questions that they want to find answers to about their dinosaur. For example:

  • When did the dinosaur live?
  • Where did the dinosaur live?
  • What did the dinosaur eat?
  • How tall and long was the dinosaur?
  • Did the dinosaur have scales, horns, sharp teeth, etc.?
  • How big am I compared to the dinosaur?

Concept map

Have students download an image or draw an image of their chosen dinosaur; cut it out and place it in the centre of a large sheet of paper. The students, or the teacher, could organise the information they find under the headings– When? Where? What? How?, and positioned around the image. The pair could use this diagram to present their findings to the class.

Suggested resources

Have students play ‘Exquisite Corpse’ to design their own dinosaur:

In Exquisite Corpse, a sheet of drawing paper (portrait orientation) is folded horizontally into four sections. The first student draws the dinosaur head in the top quarter section, leaving a couple of marks on the top of the next section to indicate the edges of their drawing. Then this section is folded back so that it isn’t visible to the next student, except for the couple of marks. The second student draws the top half of the torso of the dinosaur and folds their section back so it isn’t visible, but leaves two marks in the third quarter section for the next student to use as their starting point. The third student completes the bottom part of the torso, folds their section to hide the drawing, and leaves two marks for the final section. The fourth student draws the legs and tail of the dinosaur. When completed, the imaginary dinosaur is unfolded, named and displayed.

If possible, play the online games available on the Melbourne Museum website, e.g. Prehistoric Fun – Build your own dinosaur to build knowledge and familiarity with dinosaur names and how they lived in the past. Discuss the various parts of the dinosaur and which parts became ‘fossils’ when the dinosaur died.

Encourage students to discover more about dinosaurs through their own investigations using,