From Dinosaurs to DNA: Building a Full STEAM Week Project With a Little Help From AI

📅 February 22, 2026

Every year we run a STEAM Week at school — a dedicated stretch of time where we step away from the regular curriculum and dive deep into something thematic, hands-on, and genuinely exciting for kids. This year’s theme: Prehistoric Times.

As the K–6 technology teacher, STEAM Week is my Super Bowl. It’s the event I look forward to most, and also the one that requires the most upfront planning. Because it’s not just about picking a cool topic — it’s about building something that works across grade levels, ties together science, art, math, and design, and actually sticks with students after the week is over.

This year, I wanted to push beyond the usual “build a dinosaur diorama” territory and tackle something that would get older students — grades 4 through 6 — thinking hard, arguing with each other, and genuinely wrestling with a question that doesn’t have a clean answer.

That question: Should we use DNA and genetic technology to bring extinct prehistoric animals back to life?

And to build it out, I leaned heavily on AI.

Why De-Extinction?

The prehistoric theme could go a hundred directions. Fossils, geology, ancient ecosystems, the five mass extinctions, the asteroid impact, early humans — all great. But de-extinction sat at a unique intersection that made it perfect for upper elementary STEAM:

Where AI Came In

Here’s something I say to my students all the time: a tool is only as useful as the person using it. AI is the same way.

I knew what I wanted this project to be. I had the pedagogical instincts, the knowledge of my students, and the understanding of what makes a good STEAM project for this age group. What I didn’t have was time. Turning a strong idea into a complete, print-ready, educator-ready resource — with appropriate reading levels, scaffolded questions, differentiated extensions, and enough variety to fill five days — is a big lift on top of everything else a teacher is managing.

So I used Claude as a thinking partner and a production engine. I’d describe what I was going for, push back when something wasn’t quite right, ask for more hands-on angles, request harder questions for advanced students — and it would build. Fast.

What came out the other side:

That’s a complete week of structured, cross-curricular content. Built in an afternoon rather than spread across multiple weekends.

The ideas and the judgment were mine. AI handled the blank page.

The Activities I’m Most Excited About

📊 Population Modeling — Real Math, Real Stakes

Students start with 20 mammoths released into Siberia. The population doubles every 10 years. Each mammoth needs 500 km² of land. How long before they run out of space?

They fill in a table, plot the growth curve on a graph, and then face a committee decision: introduce predators, relocate herds, or shut the program down entirely. It’s multiplication and graphing — but it lands because the context makes it feel like a real problem worth solving.

🦎 Creature Design Challenge — Science Meets Creativity

Students invent a fictional de-extinct animal by combining DNA from two or more real species. They draw it, label each feature with its DNA source, design its habitat and diet, and then argue before a mock ethics committee whether it should be released into the wild.

This is my favorite activity for reaching students who don’t always shine in traditional science tasks. Give a creative kid permission to invent a mammoth-eagle hybrid with sabre-tooth cat adaptations and suddenly they’re writing three pages without being asked.

🔍 The Lazarus File — Research as Detective Work

Students build a case file on one extinct animal: vital stats, cause of extinction, closest living relative, scientific feasibility of de-extinction, and a final verdict. They present it to the class as a detective briefing.

The framing is everything here. “Write a research report” gets groans. “Build a case file and present it like a detective briefing to decide whether this species gets a second chance” gets buy-in.

📰 De-Extinction in the News — Media Literacy With Real Stakes

Students research what Colossal Biosciences has actually achieved versus what the headlines claim, sort statements into fact / in progress / science fiction, and write their own balanced news article complete with quotes from both a supporter and a skeptic.

This one connects directly to what I teach in technology class — understanding how information is produced, who produces it, and why. A press release from a company trying to raise money reads very differently than a peer-reviewed research paper. That’s a skill worth building early.

Making It an Experience, Not Just a Worksheet Pack

The content is only part of it. Here are some low-cost things that transform a good project into a genuinely memorable week:

Rebrand the space. A sign on the classroom door reading “Colossal Biosciences Research Division,” printed ID badges with each student’s scientist name and specialty, a wall display called “The De-Extinction Files” that grows throughout the week — none of this costs anything, but all of it signals that this week is different.

Do the strawberry DNA extraction. Crush a strawberry with dish soap, salt, and cold rubbing alcohol. Within about 30 seconds, white stringy DNA strands float to the surface. Students can scoop them out with a toothpick. It’s 20 minutes, costs almost nothing, and directly answers “but what actually is DNA?” in a way no explanation can match.

Run a Day 1 / Day 5 vote. On Monday ask: should we bring back the woolly mammoth? Record the results publicly. Ask again on Friday. The shift — or the lack of shift — becomes its own discussion. Did learning actually change anyone’s mind?

End with a tribunal, not a test. Assign students roles — lead scientist, farmer near the release zone, conservation biologist, government budget officer, Indigenous land community representative — and run a mock ethics committee hearing on the final day. There’s no right answer, which means everyone has to actually think rather than remember.

Reaching Out Beyond the Classroom

One thing I’d strongly encourage for any school doing this project: try to bring in an outside voice. You don’t need someone who works specifically in de-extinction. A university biology or genetics professor, a local vet, a zookeeper, a wildlife conservationist — anyone who works with animals or genetics can speak to the real science, and students asking actual experts actual questions is often the moment that makes science feel like something they could do someday.

If you’re in Connecticut, there are some great options close by:

And honestly — consider emailing Colossal Biosciences directly. It’s a long shot, but their communications team might respond to a school project built specifically around their work. The worst they can say is nothing.

The Honest Take on AI in the Classroom (and in Planning)

I think a lot about this, because I teach technology and these are exactly the conversations I have with students.

AI is an extraordinary tool for educators when used with intention. It doesn’t replace curriculum judgment, knowledge of your students, or the human relationships that make teaching work. But it can collapse the distance between a strong idea and a usable resource — and for teachers who are already stretched thin, that matters.

The way I used it for this project is also, I’d argue, a good model to show students. I didn’t just ask for “a STEAM project about dinosaurs” and accept whatever came back. I directed it, pushed back, asked for harder questions, requested specific formats, and edited what didn’t fit my students or my context. The thinking was mine. The drafting was collaborative.

That’s not so different from how we want students to use these tools — as an accelerant for their own ideas, not a replacement for having ideas in the first place.

Download the Project

I’ve packaged the full de-extinction STEAM project — teacher guide, 5 core worksheets, and 4 extension activity packs — as a Word document so you can open it, edit it, and make it work for your students.

Swap in different animals. Adjust the reading level up or down. Cut the activities that don’t fit your schedule. Add your school name. That’s the point.

👉 Download: De-Extinction STEAM Week Project (.docx)

👉 Download: De-Extinction Four Activities Pack (.docx)

If you use it — or build something better from it — I’d love to hear about it.

One Last Thing

The question at the center of this project — should we bring back prehistoric animals? — doesn’t have a right answer. And that’s exactly why it’s worth asking.

The best STEAM education doesn’t just teach kids what scientists know. It teaches them how scientists think — how to weigh evidence, hold two competing ideas at once, argue a position while staying genuinely open to being wrong.

If a student walks out of this week more curious about genetics, more skeptical of a headline, or just more comfortable saying “I’m not sure yet, but here’s what I think” — that’s the win.

A woolly mammoth walking the Siberian tundra would be pretty extraordinary. A classroom full of kids who know how to think about whether it should? That might be more important.

Questions, ideas, or adaptations to share? Drop them in the comments or reach out through the contact page.

— maker404

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