Curated OER
Tree-ring Dating
Middle schoolers complete activity sheets and participate in discussions while they study dendrochronology. They determine a tree's age and recognize how the climate varied over time.
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Chronology: They Time of My Life
Students demonstrate the importance of intact information to achieve accuracy. They compare and constrast their timelines with the chronological information contained in a stratified archaeological site.
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Site Robbers
Fourth graders interview a Native American and write a newspaper article or letter that expresses concern about robbing archaeological sites.
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Pieces of an Artifact
Students review what an artifact is and discover what happens when only pieces of the artifact are found. In groups, they are given a picture of a small piece of an artifact found and they are to make the entire drawing of the artifact...
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Rock Art
Young scholars create replica symbols of rock are found in Wisconsin and work cooperatively to create a rock art panel. They observe rock art to find their meanings and reasons why they were created.
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Advances in Civilization: A Car or a Horse?
Fourth graders investigate the ways in which horses made transportation, hunting and agriculture much easier for the native peoples. They then compare advantages of a horse "back then" to the ease transportation (mainly cars) make on our...
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Discover Woodland Culture: Wisconsin Basic Pottery Techniques
Students take a field trip to a local woodland to find pieces of clay. Once they are back in the classroom, they dry the clay throughly and turn it in to clay slip. They watch a PowerPoint presentation on basic art terms and create...
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Archaeobotany
Students study pictures of seeds and the conditions in which they grow during their study of archaeobotany. They infer ancient plant use by looking at archaeobotanical samples. They determine the change of plant use by interpreting a...
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Artifact Ethics
Fourth graders examine their own values and beliefs about archaeological site protection and evaluate possible actions they might take regarding site and artifact protection.
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Decomposing Artifacts
Seventh graders participate in an experiment in which they calculate the time of decomposition of different materials. In groups, they fill bags with different materials and cover them in soil. After six months, they create a line graph...
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Does This Belong to You?
Fourth graders examine legislation that has been passed to protect the rights and religion of Native Americans. In groups, they discuss their feelings on others taking artifacts from Native American sites and what they do if they find...
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What a Site!
Fourth graders are introduced to how to properly create a grid site. In groups, they use Cartesian coordinates to establish the boundaries for the grid and photograph the location of artifacts. They exchange their photos with another...
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People of the Past
Students investigate the four groups of people that existed in the U.S. before the European settlers arrived. They predict how the people arrived in the U.S., then investigate their predictions to find out whether or not they are...
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Culture Challenge
Learners identify and classify characteristics of the four pre-European cultures in Wisconsin. They playing a game about the different characteristics that belong to each of the cultures studied.
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It's All In The Rocks
Students think critically to determine fact or inference when examining sedimentary layers with embedded fossils. Geology and evolutionary biology are introduced. They individually write a story about various diagrams and share their...
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Why is the Past Important?
Students explore, examine and study why it's important to study the past and connect this importance with reasons why we should learn from the past and how cultures have changed over the years. They bring an object, photograph or a...