Next Up: Are You Smarter Than A Yale Paleontologist?

On March 4 the town of Wilton showed up in record numbers for the event “”? Next up: “Are You Smarter Than a Yale Paleontologist?” The Wilton Library Dinosaur Club is seeking students entering 4-6^th grade to participate in a Science Competition at Yale University held annually in November.  

In preparation for the competition, the club will explore dinosaurs, fossils, paleobiology, geology and more, through presentations, discussions and demonstrations. The program will include experiments, model building, field trips and hands-on creative activities. Non-residents are welcome. The club meets weekly, Mondays in June 4:00-5:30 p.m. and Wednesdays during July and August 4:00-5:30 p.m. The first meeting is Monday June 6 when parents are invited to stay for a brief program overview during which we will provide details about the competition.

The launched the Dinosaur Club for the first time in the summer of 2010. Katherine Fennell, Michael McElroy and Ian Sanders (pictured) represented Wilton Library at the 13 annual Paleo-Knowledge Bowl. The team won third place in the first year the library sponsored the program!  The three Wilton residents all attend different schools. Katherine Fennell attends The Montessori School, Michael McElroy is a student at Cider Mill School and Ian Sanders attends New Canaan Country Day School. The trio met at the library through the Dinosaur Club and joined together to form a team led by coach Darrell K. Fennell. 

The event is held at The Yale Peabody Museum in mid-November. The Paleo-Knowledge Bowl is an oral competition in which students in grades 4, 5 and 6 from the state of Connecticut and surrounding areas work in teams to answer challenging questions about paleontology, with a focus on dinosaurs.  The questions are written by Yale Paleontologists. Each team is composed of two or three students who work together to earn points for correct answers. Teams with the highest number of points advance in the competition. The final round is held in The Great Hall of Dinosaurs and is open to the public. 

Each year this unique contest receives rave reviews from teachers, parents and students. This is an excellent opportunity for students with an interest in science to join together with their peers and be rewarded for their knowledge.

All contestants receive a specially designed Paleo-Knowledge Bowl T-shirt and a certificate of participation. Members of the winning team are presented with family memberships to the Yale Peabody Museum, a trophy engraved with their names to be displayed at their school/library, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Peabody’s vertebrate paleontology collections, and a special prize for each team member. Second place winners will also receive family memberships and a behind-the-scenes tour.  Third place winners receive genuine fossils and a copy of Rudolph F. Zallinger’s The Age of Reptiles mural. The mural occupies the full length of the east wall of the Yale Peabody Museum’s Great Hall, where it presides over the exhibition gallery built in 1925 to accommodate the skeletons of the massive Apatosaurus and other dinosaurs discovered and named by the museum’s founder, O.C. Marsh.

For more information or to register, please visit www.wiltonlibrary.org/events. Please contact Andrea McElroy at amcelroy2@optonline.net with questions.