On Friday, April 18, 2025, Project Exploration Explorers took a field trip to Paul Sereno’s Fossil Lab in Washington Park to tour the lab, engage in activities, and learn about paleontology from the lab’s director and Co-founder of Project Exploration, Paul C. Sereno.
“I watched kids listen in and get excited. I saw ones who usually hang back suddenly lean forward — digging, asking questions, making connections,” said Executive Director of Project Exploration Natasha Smith-Walker. “And the full-circle moment of being there with Dr. Paul, our co-founder, and Evan, a 2010 PE Alum, made the trip more meaningful, timeless even.”
The Visit to the Fossil Lab
On arrival at Paul Sereno’s Fossil Lab in Washington Park, students pose for a photo in front of a mural at the face of the building depicting the Spinosaurus. Photo by Project Exploration.
Explorers started with a walk through the halls of the laboratory past a glass closet of various animal skeletons and specimens used in Sereno’s courses. Wyatt, our guide and a volunteer at the laboratory, asked students to guess which animals the skeletons represented.
Wyatt, our guide, gestures to skulls of different animals used in Dr. Paul Sereno’s graduate courses explaining that form reflects function. Photo by Project Exploration.
The tour continued as the explorers entered the back of the laboratory to engage in paleontology activities.
Students sifted through sand for shells, pots, and spearheads which were tools of ancient humans. And chipped and dusting away at the matrix, a rock material, to reveal bones, being careful not to damage the specimens.
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Students use sifters and spades to dig through sand to find pieces of material from ancient humans. Photo by Project Exploration.
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Students use a different set of tools, a chisel and brush, to extract bones from the matrix. Photo by Project Exploration.
The tour concluded with a presentation about the laboratory from staff and reflections from the students on their visit.
Evan Johnson-Ransom, a graduate student from the lab who studies the anatomy and physiology of the Spinosaurus, took questions from the students and explained that he was a 2010 Project Exploration alum.
Evan Johnson-Ransom stands by a model of the Spinosaurus as he explained that from his research he knew that this dinosaur ate fish and not land animals based on the shape of its teeth. Photo by Project Exploration.
History & Connections to the Fossil Lab
Gabrielle H. Lyon and Paul C. Sereno co-founded Project Exploration in 1999 to bring science opportunities to city kids, especially Black and Brown students and girls, in Chicago.
In the past, students from Project Exploration engaged in fieldwork in collaboration with the Fossil Lab, according to a brief article from the Washington Post in 2017. And students were able to see models from those projects like the Nigerosauras (from Niger) in this latest visit.
A photo of Sereno in the field (Gobero 2011) carrying tools on a dig. Sereno travels to the heart of the Sahara to Jenguebi, Niger to study fossils. Photo from Paul Sereno.
“It’s always thrilling to see such engaged and inquisitive students across a range of ages in the Fossil Lab,” said Sereno. “Thoroughly amazed to be so close to ancient fossils from deep time.”
Sereno spoke directly with students as they touched a real Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex) fossil, explaining that the depictions of T. rex arms as chicken-like in Jurassic Park are misleading when you see the shape and size of the bones and claw.
Explorers reach out to touch a real T. Rex fossil of the upper body and arm as Sereno explains that based on the size of the humerus bone, these were no chicken arms as seen in the hit movie Jurassic Park. Photo by Project Exploration.
From the Classroom to the Field
Although these explorers learned a great deal from this visit, many already knew what a T. rex or Spinosaurus was before they stepped foot in the lab.
This spring in the Building Block Club, Project Exploration’s kindergarten through second grade program, María Fernanda Avila led a paleontology curriculum where students learned about bones, fossils and the physiology of dinosaurs. And this trip to the fossil lab was also meant to be a culminating experience.
From the STEM Learning Center at Bethel New Life in Austin, a student presents a Triceratops he recovered from a sand pit. Photo by Project Exploration.
“I was really proud that the students were able to recognize some of the tools that they saw in the presentation,” said Avila who spoke on the curriculum in this previous blog “And meeting a real paleontologist and looking at real fossils!—seeing that they were using their knowledge from the classroom was really nice to see.”
Upon completion of the curriculum, students were awarded a certificate as Jr. Paleontologists or Mini Paleontologos in Spanish and more tools to help them on their way.
In the Building Block Club, Project Explorations K-2 afterschool program, students receive certificates for completing their paleontology curriculum. Photo by Project Exploration.
For anyone else looking to learn about paleontology and eventually get their certificate, the Fossil Lab hosts open houses every second Thursday of the month from 3:30-5:00 pm at their location in Washington Park (5437 S Wabash Avenue, Chicago IL 60615). The next chance to visit will be May 8th and then again on June 12th.