Resurrect the past and a love of stem with Palaeontology Teaching Kits!
Once upon a time, giants walked the Earth. From beavers the size of bears to sloths the size of giraffes, to mammoths and mastodons and saber-toothed cats, Canada was home to creatures far larger — and stranger — than any living here today. To the people who lived alongside them, the Pleistocene megafauna represented danger and survival all in one hairy package. But then something happened: the Ice Age ended, and 38 different types of mega-mammals went extinct. What happened is clear—why has been hotly debated by scientists and the media alike!
Through the Pleistocene Teaching Kits, your students will discover fascinating extinct creatures, explore the latest thinking on why they disappeared, and apply these lessons to urgent conservation issues facing the natural world today. The Kits are available free to teachers across Canada!
Features of the kits
- Fossil casts of mammals that lived in Canada during the Pleistocene
- Supporting materials such as magnifying glasses, graphs, and charts
- Teacher’s Guide containing
- ALL the information needed to teach core concepts
- Suggestions for hands-on learning and independent inquiry
- Glossary, further reading lists, and bibliography of sources
- Content vetted by experts in palaeontology, education, science communication, and Indigenous issues
Kits are made possible thanks to the continued support of Research Casting International
Junior Edition
Best for Grades 4-7
- Habitat
- Evolution and adaptations
- Biodiversity and classification systems
- Food chains and energy pyramids
- Competition and predator/prey interactions
- Climate change
- Extinction
Senior Edition
Best for Grades 7-12
- Habitat and geographic range
- Evolution and adaptations
- Competition and predator/prey interactions
- Trophic cascades
- Heredity and ancient DNA
- Climate change
- Extinction
- De-extinction: biotechnology & bioethics
- Correlation vs. causation
Borrowing Instructions
PHYSICAL KITS
How to find the physical kits:
The kits are on Floor 1 of the Queen’s Education Library in the Teacher Resource Collection.
Borrow the kit:
Use your Queen’s Library Teacher Card to borrow the kit.
Need a teacher card?
Contact the Education Library staff to request a teacher card:
email: education.library@queensu.ca
phone: 613-533-2191
Note that you will need to show your OCT card when you pick up your Queen’s Library Teacher Card.
Loan period:
2 weeks with unlimited renewals (unless someone else requests the kit)
DIGITAL KITS
Access the digital kits online:
The Pleistocene:
Using ice age mammals to explore climate, habitat, and extinctionJunior Level (Best for Grades 4-7)
Link: bit.ly/3NLnzZU
Conservation Palaeontology:
Using ice age mammals to explore climate change and extinction
Senior Level (Best for Grades 8-12)
Link: bit.ly/3wXPEYd
Classroom visits to Miller Museum of Geology for hands-on pleistocene workshop
Contact:
Linda Tsuji, Museum Curator
email: linda.tsuji@queensu.ca
phone: 613-533-6767
Sample of physical kits
For more information:
Contact Dr. Lynda Colgan at
Lynda.Colgan@queensu.ca
