Biology teacher Martijn Haans from Gemert was actually looking for fun fossils for the classroom. Until he saw a kit on the internet for a baby T-Rex, full size. Reluctantly, he went to the director of the Commanderij College, who still had to think about it for a while. The idea was to assemble the dinosaur with the students. A year and a half later, the baby T-Rex is almost ready and the students are very proud.
Roel Sauer and Jennifer van de Valk belong to the ‘hard core’ of students who built the T-Rex from start to finish. “I joined because we were also allowed to go to Naturalis and I was interested in dinosaurs,” says Roel. “So I thought: I can’t miss that, super fun.” After school, the students put on their dusters to assemble the T-Rex. They do not receive credits for it. “If only it were true,” laughs Jennifer.
The bones of the T-Rex are not real, otherwise it would have been very expensive for the school. “We bought the kit from a company in England,” explains Martijn Haans. “The parts are cast in molds that are made with bones from a real T-Rex. The company had sold ten of them worldwide. The T-Rex is actually delivered ready-made, but we thought it would be fun to build it ourselves with the students.”
They knew that in Gemert. The company in England had no construction schedule, so the students had to figure everything out themselves. “When they heard in England that we wanted to build it with students, they had to swallow a few times,” says Martijn Haans. “They really wondered what we were getting into.” The teachers also had to get over ‘a bit of fear’. “But we figured it out together with the students.”
The painstaking work began when the boxes with all the bones arrived. “It was very rough material. With all kinds of pouring edges. We had to putty and sand before we could start painting and building,” says Haans. “We had to see whether a bone went on the left or the right,” says Jennifer van de Valk. “I found it difficult to assemble and glue the legs together. Lots of small loose pieces, which we sometimes also lost,” says Roel.
The kit cost 3500 euros, so it was quite an expense. But Martijn Haans can advise every school to do this. “You have to be patient and that is also a good lesson for the students. Patience, concentration and puzzling together.”
The school is happy with the result. “Suddenly you see the dinosaur come to life. Then you can see the pride among the students,” says Haans. The dinosaur is given a central place in the school, so that everyone can see it. “We then go there from the classroom to teach.” Roel and Jennifer are also proud of ‘their’ dinosaur. “I’m going to show this to my children later,” says Roel.
The construction group no longer turns their hands around to assemble an Ikea cabinet. “I’ve really become more handy,” says Roel. Or maybe there is still a bone swinging through the school somewhere? “I hope not,” laughs Roel. “But we put it together so well, I don’t think so.” The baby dino doesn’t have a name yet, but it should be. “A friend suddenly said Bennie,” laughs Jennifer. “So that name is already going around.”