St. Marys High School students take part in Carnegie Museum teleconference

St. Marys High School students visit campus to learn about dinosaurs via teleconference.

CONTACT: Violet Mosser, senior admissions counselor, 304-424-8213.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Twenty-six St. Marys High School students visited West Virginia University at Parkersburg Friday (April 7) to learn about dinosaurs via long-distance technology.

The students took part in a teleconference presented by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. Through the college's video link, the St. Marys environmental science students had an opportunity to view the museum's fossils with microscopic cameras via video conference and experience the interactions of a real time question and answer session.

WVU Parkersburg facilitated the video conferencing and also provided a forensic presentation for the St. Mary students.

The dinosaur program originated in December when 22 WV teachers met with staff from the Carnegie Museum, Fairmont State University, West Virginia University and the WV Geological and Economic Survey at NASA in Fairmont to talk about dinosaurs. Purpose of the workshop was to acquaint the participants with a free program, "Science Behind Dinosaurs in Their World," sponsored by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. The project includes resource materials for participating schools. Twenty West Virginia counties are partners in the program.

During a study of geologic time, students in Melissa Strickler's environmental classes at St. Marys used the project's kit materials to learn about the size of dinosaurs and methods of discovery and to view fossils and replica fossils in the context of their original organisms. The teleconference gave them the opportunity to further their understanding of dinosaurs.

St. Marys students who participated in the teleconference at WVU Parkersburg included Jonathon Taylor, Kari Pritchett, Amanda Thompson, Autumn Turley, Haley Washburn, Clinton West, Meghan Wiseman, Kevin Pinkerton, Carter Layfield, Jenna Lowther, Anthony Miller, Lindsey Moore, Eddie Poore, Maria McHenry, Andrew Childers, Daniel Decker, Larry Farson, Ryan Fickieson, Samantha Giboney, Jessica Kosut, Ancel Lester, Amanda Delancy, Jill Edgar, Alexis Munday, Jordan Masters and Tish Starkey.

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For additional information, contact:
Connie Dziagwa
WVU Parkersburg
Executive Director
Institutional Advancement
Office: 304-424-8203
Fax: 304-424-8315