Moorpark Mammoth goes Hollywood with new DVD

Five California Lutheran University students are creating an interactive DVD and Internet site to educate students and the public about the 2005 discovery of the Moorpark Mammoth, the second most complete southern mammoth skeleton in North America.

The remains were discovered during construction of a housing development. The city of Moorpark donated the mammoth to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. The DVD and web site are part of the city's plans to help promote the mammoth.

John Atkinson of Newbury Park, Josh Banday, Bret Bays, Chris Meierding and Joey Lang of Simi Valley are creating the multimedia educational tools for the city under the guidance of Tim Hengst, director of CLU's Multimedia Department. The students are working with Amuseum, a science education company in Orange County.

The project will feature games, activities and information presented with threedimensional animation and video clips.

Working with CLU education professor Michael McCambridge to tie the program to state standards, the students are designing the DVD for use in middle school classrooms. It will incorporate math, biology, geology, geography, art and debate skills.

The activities can be done on the computer, or adapted for hands-on use. Examples include the "Mammoth Extinction Game," a lab simulation called "Microfossil Detectives" and "Grandma M, What Big Feet You Have," which challenges students to determine the size of a mammoth based on the circumference of its foot.

The project will also include a gallery of photos taken during the excavation and preservation processes as well as a fictional account of the mammoth's life written by Amuseum President Curt Abdouch.