Dinosaur renaissance

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/dinosaur-renaissance

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the period of scientific re-evaluation?Late 1960s to present, marked by a paradigm shift in dinosaur paleontology
2. What is the key scientific hypotheses?Dinosaurs possessed active metabolisms (warm-bloodedness) and were capable of sustained locomotion
3. Why did scientists change their view of dinosaurs?New fossils and clever ideas showed that dinosaurs had light bones, strong legs, and other features that made them look more like hunters, so scientists started to question the old idea that they were slow and cold‑blooded.
4. How did John Ostrom help scientists learn about dinosaurs?John Ostrom studied a dinosaur called Deinonychus and found that it had a light skeleton, powerful legs, and a big sickle claw, proving that it could run fast and hunt, which changed how people saw all dinosaurs.

Paradigm Shift: A fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline.
Endothermy: The physiological process of maintaining a stable internal body temperature, characteristic of warm-blooded animals.
Ichnology: The study of fossilized tracks and other traces of biological activity, providing insights into locomotion and behavior.