I have always loved the American Museum of Natural History. My Anthropology professor in college (Social Science electives can be fun!) would take the class to the museum a couple of times a semester to use the exhibits in lessons.

I think it's fun to try and figure out the reason the wings started to develop in the first place.

Maybe a mutated pair of arms with some webbing allowed it to avoid predators at a greater rate, or glide that extra few inches to obtain food easier.

The imagination can run with it.

She was called in to meet with my teacher, who had concerns over my work. My exercise book, neat and tidy in the early pages, had declined to a scrawled, unreadable mess. My mum was understandably concerned, but my teacher had no doubt on what she considered to be the reason for such a downturn:

'He's bored.'

Between the two of them, they concocted a plan to assign long-term projects to each pupil by drawing subjects randomly out of a hat. I, in a moment of great fortune, drew 'DINOSAURS' as a subject (of course, there was absolutely nothing random about my pick - my mum knew that dinosaurs were my first love).

Two months later, I produced a scrap book including drawings and descriptions of as many dinosaurs as I could find. Moreover, my enjoyment in this project, rather than making me suffer in other areas, actually ended up jump-starting the rest of my school work. 

I mention this story because I remember this project so vividly (from 50 years ago!) but hadn't been aware of the back story until very recently. It also made me aware of a really great piece of teaching!

Dinosaurs, you gotta love 'em!