Film leads to fossil finds
Schools
The film Jurassic Park provided the inspiration for a fossil exhibition held at Our Lady of the Visitation School at Taperoo this month.
Year 4 student Mitchell Wadrop shared his collection of fossils with the school community as part of his participation with the Children’s University program.
Mitchell first became interested in fossils when he was five years old and watched the film Jurassic Park.
He decided he wanted to learn more about fossils and dinosaurs and began visiting the South Australian Museum, reading lots of books and searching the internet.
“Fossils tell us about the past, what creatures were like, what they ate,” Mitchell explained.
As part of his involvement in the Children’s University program – which is run at the school in partnership with the University of Adelaide – Mitchell has spent time researching and cataloguing the fossils he has collected.
The exhibition of 12 “interesting” items included his oldest fossil, a stromatolite from Strelley Pool in Western Australia.
“It is 3.4 billion years old and contains cyanobacteria,” Mitchell said.
And when it comes to dinosaurs, he has a definite favourite.
“The Spinosaurus! It has a big sail on its back and it’s a giant carnivore.”
Students discuss the fossils in the exhibition.
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