Students doing scientific research at Boyd Christian

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Boyd Christian biology student Chase Hard concentrates as he removes organic and inorganic matter from 9,000-year-old “matrix,” or peat, collected around a site of mastodon bones found near Hyde Park, New York.

Though it’s been extinct for 10,000 years, the American mastodon has biology II students at Boyd Christian excited as they are currently assisting New York paleontologists in studying a section of peat found near the remains of one of the ancient woolly mammoth-like creatures.

The project, known as the Mastodon Matrix Project, is sponsored by the Cornell University affliated Paleontological Research Institution. It gives high school students the opportunity to take part in research by letting them examine and catalog a sample of “matrix,” collected from around the bones of the Hyde Park Mastodon. In addition to teaching students the basics of scientific research, the project also helps the paleontologists who would not otherwise have the time to study the 20 odd tons of peat excavated.

“This is authentic science, not a simulation” said Institution director Warren Allmon. “The students taking part in the Matrix project are getting an explanation of how science works and a feeling of what real paleontologists do.”

Boyd biology teacher Twan Majors said she came upon a website explaining the project when looking for materials to prepare her students for the newly instituted biology Gateway exam. She stressed neither she, nor the school, are supporting the evolutionary theory by taking part in the project. “We are simply showing the students the scientific process and the meticulous work needed in scientific research,” she said.

Senior Quenton Huskey said he has learned several things from working on the project. “I learned I don’t want to be a paleontologist,” he said with a laugh, explaining the work done by the students, while educational, was quite mundane.

Majors and her students received a one kilogram bag of matrix. In this matrix are organic matter, such as twigs, leaves and shells, and inorganic matter such as rocks. Everything contained in the matrix is at least 9,000 years old and is well preserved due to its being buried in an acidic bog since the Ice Age.

The students’ job has been to isolate the organic and inorganic material from the clay and dirt, identify and catalog it, and send it back to the paleontologists so they might incorporate it into their findings.

To complete the project, the students have split into groups and broken the process, which requires a good deal of time and patience, into several steps. First, they must break up the matrix by using water to filter it. Then, they must use tweezers and tooth picks to remove the organic and inorganic objects from the smaller chunks of matrix. Next, they must identify, weigh and bag what they have found.