Dino Discovery - Museum comes to children

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Students in preschool through first grade from the Parrish School took a field trip into prehistory recently, and they didn't even need to board a bus to get there.

"A lot of kids don't get to go to museums," said Dino Discovery guide Dan Stone. "So we bring the museum to them."

Dino Discovery is a dinosaur-based three-dimensional display of artifacts and realistic replicas that brings the age of the mighty dinosaurs to life in a way a flat-screen or even a book can't. It is a mobile museum owned and operated by Dan and Janice Stone of Taylor, Mo. The crown jewel of the exhibit is a replica of a mastodon skull and tusks from a find in Ohio that served as the catalyst for Dino Discovery.

The Burning Tree Mastodon, as the original behind the replica is known, was discovered in 1989 by Janice Stone's brother when he was building a pond for the golf course he operates in Newark, Ohio. Though the excavation of the prehistoric mammal was not conducted under ideal archaeological conditions, the find was a significant one for the scientific community.

Not only is the Burning Tree Mastodon, at 95 percent intact, the most complete found; it is also the largest.

"It was such a huge event," Dan Stone said. "The discovery was written up in every scientific journal in the world. We realized that children wouldn't know anything about it, so we decided to bring it to the children."

In 1996, the couple, both former educators, began touring elementary schools with their exhibit. Though a mastodon is what started it all, the Stones chose to emphasize dinosaurs rather than Ice Age mammals.

The displays bring the age of dinosaurs into the present for the children. The life-size head of tyrannosaurus rex, generally the most popular dinosaur in the display, gives children an up-close look that puts the extinct carnivore in a new context.

"The measurements are based on the T. rex at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh," Stone said.

Stone said he is able to capitalize on the students' knowledge of dinosaurs and archaeology from popular fiction, including the blockbuster "Jurassic Park" movies, to teach them scientific facts.

"Everything here has a story," he said. "If children don't have someone to highlight things for them at a museum display, they really don't know what they are looking at. So we give them a presentation, and then they have the chance to look at the things close up."

Stone said he and his wife want to use their exhibit as an appetizer for children, to whet their appetites to learn more.

"Humans have always been interested in dinosaurs," he said. "As educators, we try to tap into the interest everybody has and tune it so they want to know more."

Stone said there is something for everyone in the exhibit. Parrish School first-graders proved him right by their diverse favorites.

Matthew Martinez and Christian Dabney both liked the T. rex. They were impressed by the "dinosaur" noise that accompanied the display.

"I wish it was real," Dabney said. "I would want it to be my pet and for it only to eat what I want it to eat."

Both boys enjoyed the mastodon skull replica, too, because it was big and had no eyeballs.

Holly Furby liked the amber with the bug trapped inside. She said she doesn't like bugs, but did like the way the amber looked in the light. Lulu Abou-Jabal liked the maps best, so she could see where dinosaurs used to live.