Guess what, Gobi kids love dinosaurs too!

Originally published in the annual newsletter of the Institute for the study of Mongolian Dinosaurs, December 2009.

In September of 2009, we launched the first paleontology-focused educational outreach for school children of the Gobi Desert.

Educational advisor Molly Ward watching a video on Mongolia’s “Fighting Dinosaurs” with a child from the Gobi town of Bulgan.

Molly Ward, our science educational advisor, volunteered to travel to Mongolia to lead the outreach project. Molly, with the support of Jack Horner of the Museum of the Rockies, created 3 traveling trunks for the project that contain activities on dinosaurs and geology for kids of 5 to 16 years of age. In addition to Molly, our team included Bolor Minjin, ISMD Director; Baaska, graduate student and Preparator; and Byamba, ISMD Driver. During our travels we were joined by journalists.

School kids from the Gobi learning about dinosaurs at the Flaming Cliffs, where the first nests of dinosaurs were found by Roy Chapmen Andrews in the 1920’s.

Danielle Nerman of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (see our website for her dispatch) and Khurlee of National Education TV. We traveled to the Gobi town of Bulgan, which is located near the Flaming Cliffs, where dinosaur eggs were first discovered. There we were joined by 32 enthusiastic school children and 4 teachers from the Gobi towns of Bulgan, Sevrei,  Gurvantes and Dalanzadgad. Our local host was Tumendelger Humbaa, creator of the “Club for Kids who Love Nature”. The educational outreach workshop lasted for three days, and its highlight was a field trip to the Flaming Cliffs and Turgrugiin Shiree, where participants learned how to recognize fossils, what to do if they find one, and what can be learned from its geologic context. Not surprisingly, we learned that like kids everywhere, Mongolian kids love dinosaurs too. Some of them showed a real aptitude for paleontology, and maybe a few will grow up to be Mongolian paleontologists of the 21st century.

Group of museum educators that attended our paleontological workshop at the Natural History Museum (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia). Behind us is Tarbosaurus, a Mongolian relative of Tyrannosaurus rex.

After the workshop, Munkhtsetseg, Park Ranger of the Flaming Cliffs, will loan one of the trunks out to 19 schools in the Gobi.

Another trunk was brought back to Ulaanbaatar, where the ISMD joined with the Arts Council of Mongolia and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science on a museum educational project. We ran a one day  workshop in the Natural History Museum right underneath the Tarbosaurus of the Dinosaur Hall! Throughout our outreach projects, we have discovered a great desire among Mongolians to learn about the dinosaurs of their country, and we look forward to reaching even more children and teachers next year.