Over the past 9 weeks, we have looked more closely at dinosaurs than you have likely ever done before! We have learned basic concepts and information from our text and have tried to keep up with some amazing new discoveries that have supplemented and/or challenged our views.
How much has your perception of a "dinosaur" changed? What have you learned that has surprised you the most? What concept or information or research news has perhaps changed your understanding of dinosaurs forever? Or... maybe your basic knowledge of dinosaurs hasn't been drastically altered, but hopefully it has been enriched.
Please share what you have experienced in these ways! Are dinosaurs "different" now? :)
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Just learning about dinosaurs has changed my perception of them quite considerably. Before taking this course, I had little previous knowledge of paleontology beyond knowing that (non-avian) dinosaurs were extinct and that we can find their fossils in the ground (in fact, I took this class based on solely on it being a course called 'Dinosaurs'). So this class has provided me with a wealth of knowledge that I previously didn't have (all while being an exciting all the way). Perhaps the most interesting thing for me was learning about how birds are dinosaurs. I had heard somewhere that they were, but I hadn't really know why or if that was even true. But after taking this class, I know for a fact that it is an accurate statement, but I can now explain the why and how as well. All in all, I have learned so much and I am very glad that I took this course - it had been so much fun!
Some of the concepts such as they could have been warm-blooded, and that more and more of them are thought to have feathers---are really fascinating---my burgeoning paleontologist, Ruby, has been keeping me updated on new dino discoveries for years---but this has been the first time I have really taken an active look (other than at museums and Discovery or National Geographic shows) into the world of dinosaurs...and I have to say I am hooked.
Learning about cladistics---the concept of common ancestory through derived shared characters has really opened my eyes to looking at history in a whole new way---and I think that is really cool.
My conversations with my daughter about dinosaurs now have such greater depth---I am really happy she was in my Advisor's office with me when I was signing up for classes---"take the dinosaur class---take it! take it! take it!" Really glad I did.
My perception of a dinosaur has changed a great deal I now look at dinosaurs more like humans. Learning about their brains and body functions made me think of them like that. It also made me realize the concept of evolution and how we are products of the evolution process. Learning the names and all the bones and the functions of their skull was a great awakening. I thought they were all destructive but some seem to be nice creatures. I think dinosaurs are more than just the bones we see in the museum they are a great contribution to the world that we live in today. They are a lot more complex than one may think.
I have to admit that when I started this class I didn't know much about Dinosaurs. Right from the get go what little I thought I knew turned out to be wrong. For instance I thought that Pterodactyls were dinosaurs when in fact they were something different and uniquely special. Cladograms were another challenging aspect of this class. For the most part I think I have a good grasp on the concept. In fact I've found myself using the concept whenever I'm watching a nature documentaries and the like. One fact that surprised me was that birds are living Dinosaurs. I kind of knew it but I guess I never thought about the reasons why till this class. Now whenever I'm carving a chicken I kind of feel like a paleontologist when I see the wishbone.
What I will be taking from this class is a greater understanding of Dinosauria and appreciation of those who study the challenging field.
I have to admit that when I started this class I didn't know much about Dinosaurs. Right from the get go what little I thought I knew turned out to be wrong. For instance I thought that Pterodactyls were dinosaurs when in fact they were something different and uniquely special. Cladograms were another challenging aspect of this class. For the most part I think I have a good grasp on the concept. In fact I've found myself using the concept whenever I'm watching a nature documentaries and the like. One fact that surprised me was that birds are living Dinosaurs. I kind of knew it but I guess I never thought about the reasons why till this class. Now whenever I'm carving a chicken I kind of feel like a paleontologist when I see the wishbone.
What I will be taking from this class is a greater understanding of Dinosauria and appreciation of those who study the challenging field.
Learning about dinosaurs in class has helped me view them scientifically instead of through pop culture. The birds are dinosaurs in particular was something that I knew about but until this class it was not hammered in. otherwise my view hasn’t really changed much. This class helped fill in the blanks in some areas and shade in some detail in others but for the most part I had a pretty accurate view of dinosaurs even before I took this class.
My entire outlook on dinosaurs has changed as well as my knowledge on how to link organisms together. The concepts that have most influenced me would have to be the scientific discovery of the feathered dinosaur and the cladograms. The feathers was a totally new concept to me. To find out that birds are dinosaurs and that dinosaurs were feathered and colorful was a surprise, but makes total sense now. The cladograms are fantastic. They make sense and I feel like a novice could look at one and understand it. I wish that all the different fields of biology would categorize that way.
I echo those before me in saying that cladograms were a new, fascinating concept for me; I'm hooked and I won't go back to Linnean classification! I always liked dinosaurs, and so there were quite a few things I'd already learned a little about through documentaries or science news. There were some surprises for me though -- the T-rex soft tissue blew my mind, as did the degree of things we still don't know about familiar dinosaurs. Old Stegosaurus, for example -- I've known about him for ages, yet we don't know exactly how he ate, what he used his plates for, if he was a loner or a herder, or even exactly how his plates and spikes were oriented!
I was also impressed by how intelligent some dinosaurs may have been, especially theropods. I'd always considered all dinos to be dumb as posts, and while that's true for some (lookin' at you, Mr. Sauropod!) many were capable of rather complex behavior.
I think the biggest thing I've taken away, though, is the correction of my perception of the paleontology profession and how fossils are found and displayed. I always thought the fossil displays were always the real bones! I also thought fossil-finding was more of a "dig" and less of a "find and extract". Plus I actually know how to go about finding my own fossils if I were so inclined! I'd always wondered about that.
I'm very intrigued by our current study of endothermic vs. ectothermic dinos, too -- once again, something I thought we had figured out one way or another, but the debate is still ongoing. It's fun to be studying such a dynamic field!
Before I started this class I knew very little about dinosaurs. The only knowledge I had was from dinosaur movies or shows that I may have seen. Since I have taken this class I have learned a lot about cladograms which I never even heard of until this class. Besides cladograms I learned a lot about dinosaurs having feathers, and the fact that birds are extremely similar to dinosaur I never would have thought that
Yes, my perception has changed quite a bit. I had no idea how complicated cladograms, dinosaurs names, and fossils were. I was surprised how scientists are able to tell how old dinosaurs are from sedimentary rock. I'm sure I am not the only person in this class who signed up thinking it would be fairly easy. This is the toughest class I have taken at North...except math haha. I really feel like I have learned a lot about rocks and anatomy in the process. I give major respect to people like Dr. B who have gotten their degrees in geology fields. I guess I always used to think that dinosaurs weren't that complicated, because we grew up watching them in awesome cartoons. However, now that I have taken this class that is not the case for me anymore. I would say that above all cladograms, and the way dinosaurs are placed in different groups has been the most confusing. I wonder if the average person will ever think of dinosaurs as feathered creatures, rather than how they have been portrayed for years.
My perceptions of our friendly neighborhood dinosaurs have been altered forever. I'd have to say, if I take one thing away from this class, it's the scrapping of the Linnaen classification system. I had never heard of cladograms before this class, and now they're all I think about when I consider anything in the animal kingdom. They just may drive me mental, like the numbers got Hurley on "Lost". The concept of the feathered dinosaur had been kicking around for a while, but my lizard brain was stuck in "big reptile" mode, since that was the prevailing logic of the time when I was coming up. I have now let the feathered, colorful dinosaur into my heart, and it has become a welcome addition to my realm of knowledge. I'm excited and happy by a number of things from this class. It's been a great experience.
My perception of dinosaurs has been changed. I never thought they had feathers, and I still have a hard time picturing a feathery dinosaur. I also have changed my view of dinosaurs being smart senseless killers as the media would have you think. The things that most suprised me was probably the stegosaurs possibility of having a second brain in its hips. That attribute is very interesting to me, because I have never heard of a animal having two brains.
Cladograms have been an eyeopener, they are a interesting new concept of information that has changed my view of how dinosaurs are related to one another. I also thought that our textbook was very informative and if I had any questions it was not hard to find the answers in the text.
I think I learned alot of new and interesting things this quarter. I really like the way we had a bunch of questions instead of tests. I felt the homework questions forces you to really dive into the material. I think the depth at which we had to interpret and write data really gave me a better understanding of dinosaurs.
I think compared to before, I never really thought about dinosaurs too much.
I knew about them, and had a vague understanding of what they were/how they acted (only through media-related depictions). However, like outer space, they are forever intriguing, because we cannot see them now.
Or can we? That's one perception I had that's changed. Birds are dinosaurs, or at least some of the closest animals we see now that mimic original dinosaurs. Also, how difficult the science of paleontology truly is. How many times findings are different, changing, and edited. It truly is an art as much as it is a science.
Dinosaurs are definitely different to me. I am more interested in how they were, because just like us animals are inhabiting Earth now, there were others before us.
My perception has definitely change about dinosaurs. Starting the class I knew very little about dinosaurs besides what has been told through movies or television so my understanding of them has grown. I just had no idea how many different types of dinosaurs there are, and how many sub-categories there are under dinosauria. Learning that avian dinosaurs are birds blew me away. I enjoy being able to share fun dino facts with friends or family because they are surprised to hear things as well.
I never really knew much about dinosaurs except that they were big and scary and pretty mysterious. I'm glad I took this course because it opened my eyes to all the different kinds of dinosaurs, how birds are actually dinosaurs (I never knew!), and how much more there is to learn about dinosaurs. I know from now on, I'll be looking out for any dino news! And I'll be laughing every time I eat my dino-shaped chicken nuggets since I learned that T.rex tasted like chicken! :)
This class has definitely altered my perception about dinosaurs and how they lived. Before, I classified all dinosaurs together as dinosaurs. Just about every chapter had something that completely interested me and made me want to keep learning. From the different families of dinosaurs like sauropods and theropods, to how each one ate, to the social lives they lead and that stegosaurus is not the only dinosaur with spikes on its back! I think, by far, the most surprising thing I learned is not only how much we know by the physical evidence we are given, but also how much we don't know! Though I struggled in times with keeping up with the work load, it was well worth every homework question and page read. This will be one text book I keep for sure!
Dinosaurs are totally different now! At least my perceptions about them have been changed. I hadn't really thought about dinosaurs much since I was a kid, and it was the kid in me that decided to sign up for this class, but this class made me realize that: 1- I knew very little about dinosaurs to begin with; and 2- much of what little I did know has changed over the years. At first, it was very hard for me to wrap my head around the whole dinosaur-bird connection. I mean, I can get with the idea that some of them had feathers, but essentially they were still big lizards to me until I took this class. Now I am a total believer, and whenever I see a bird (especially big ones at the zoo) I can't help but think of dinosaurs!
As with many of my classmates, the most challenging aspect of the class would have to be the cladograms. I have to say that I still think in terms of the old Linnaean system, but I am finally starting to grasp the whole idea of cladograms (about time, in the last week!).
This class has also changed my way of thinking about online classes. The format is so unlike any other class that I have taken, and it really has kept me engaged. It has been really fun interacting on the discussion board and the blog, it really adds a whole different dimension to this format, I'm even kind of sad that the quarter is almost up! This class has been a truly enjoyable experience all around.
I would say my outlook of dinosaurs has changed dramatically since I started this class. Although I knew nothing when I started. One of the things that has been the most surprising is that dinosaurs have feathers and are probably many different colors. I was shocked to find that out. I always viewed dinosaurs as tanks with leathery skin.
One of the other surprises was that birds and dinosaurs go hand-in-hand. I had no idea. I also didn't realize how many different species there were. Researching a dinosaur that started with the first letter of our name made me realize just how many there are.
All-in-all, this class has been extremely eye opening. The conversation and learning has been great.
Thank you!
I tried to scroll down fast and respond before I saw any of the other responses. I have learned a lot about Dinos this class...the first of which is most definitely the feathers. I never had a single clue! And even now, after seeing the evidence...it is still very hard for me to believe. The (I know it is this chapter) hot blooded/cold blooded thing, for some reason, I never though of dinosaurs as warm-blooded. I guess I always had this reptile like mind description of them. There are lots of smaller details too, the differences in dinos...their pelvis, their eating, their breeding, their child-bearing. So, many different, new, and important things to learn. This has been, hands down, one of the best classes I have taken. And, I can take so much new information from it. Perhaps it wont benefit the degree I'm going towards, but just in general conversation among friends, and to my sons, I will have so much true information to share, not just what I learned from Land Before Time. Thanks, Tom!
One thing that really struck me is just how much we know about dinosaurs. I thought that much more was unknown, and while we certainly don't know everything, we have inferred a lot about the relationships between different dinosaurs. especially in the recent readings, the connections between dinosaurs and birds have been striking. I also wasn't expecting us to actually have specimens of the variety of dinosaurs that we do have.
My perception of the science of studying dinosaurs and different creatures has changed; cladograms, growth rates, EVERYTHING is so complex (but it really sparks my interest)! The biology/anatomy of certain dinosaurs really threw me but it's just so incredible. I know this is silly but the news that had the biggest impact for me was the fact that the tyrannosaurus was feathered. It makes them a little less scary in my imagination. Even though it's completely nonsensical, I'm still scared of dinosaurs magically appearing and squishing me as I'm sleeping.
I have to admit that before this class my understanding of dinosaurs was very limited to what I was exposed to in movies and TV. There has been quite a few concepts that we have learned that have, for lack of a better term, rocked my world.
Feathers on dinosaurs, wah??
The possibility of warm blooded dinosaurs? - crazy talk!
This class has certainly opened my eyes to the differences between scientific proof and the media "sexifying" things for movies.
The thing I will probably keep with me the most after the class is cladograms. They seriously fill the hole that family trees always left in my head. I wish these would have been taught sooner as the concept of a family tree never made much sense before and now cladograms are a much clearer idea.
Having watched Dinosaur Planet and other such programs, as well as having a heavy fascination to dinosaurs in general, I was surprised by how much I learned in this class. For example, I was surprised by simply the fact that the deeper a fossil, the older it is. I also now know that theropods were likley endothermic, as opposed to likley ectothermic stegosaurs and "in-between" hadrosaurs.
I think of dinosaurs as larger reptiles filling out the various roles of today's herbivorous mammals found in North American Taiga, Serengeti and elsewhere, while (especially in the Cretaceous) what can probably be decribed as prehistoric killer birds with teeth instead of beaks hunted them like wolves.
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