The best part of teaching is learning something new. Dinosaurs are a great intro to geology, science concepts and processes, and Earth science. Still room for evidence and interpretation, the art of observation. The Mesozoic is more accessible than the Paleozoic - lots happeing of interest in the Cretaceous. Students at ease learn better.
Course deals with skills needed beyond school.
Students are often not motivated - must instill an attitude of the need to know. Must make science relevant - an active, inquiry based process. Local questions make it relevant, though not usually in the textbooks. Home Page N.B. - Entries in the Notes sections above are my own summaries from the presentations. The notes are probably most useful for giving the WWW links context, and are not necessarily complete summaries of the talks.