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Classroom Archaeology
Students, in groups, receive a box of artifacts. They record their findings and discuss what the items would have been used for. They come together at the end of the lesson to share their findings.
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Dr. Dirt's Archaeology Lab Artifact Analysis
Students simulate analyzing artifacts in archaeological lab by using real techniques that archaeologists use. Students practice measuring skills, drawing, writing, and brainstorming, and make inferences based on evidence.
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Archaeology: Digging in the Classroom
Students explore how an archaeologist works and makes discoveries. In this archaeology lesson, students participate in a simulation in which they excavate broken pottery. Students use measurement, geometry, and observation skills during...
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Life in Ancient Mesopotamia
Students reconstruct and make drawings of vessels in the same manner as an archaeologist. In this archaeologist lesson plan, students each get a piece of a broken pot and they have to work together to put it back together. Once it is...
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Archaeology
Students read archaeology books, define it and discover how math and science help us learn about the past. For this investigative lesson students give a description of archaeology and two facts that they learned.
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Mapping the Bone Field: An Area and Scale Exercise
Here is an excellent cross-curricular lesson. Learners relate multiplication to area by making a grid on graph paper, and then creating the same grid in real space outside in the school yard.
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Making a Fossilized Egg
Students explore fossils by participating in an in class experiment. In this archaeology instructional activity, students utilize dough and classroom objects to create fossil imprints after hiding the toy/fossil in the dough egg....
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Inference Makes the Difference
Students explore how archaeologists make inferences from artifacts to explore what life was like in the past. In this archaeology lesson, students work in groups and make inferences about an imaginary household based on modern day...
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Excavating the Trash
Young scholars look at a day's accumulation of recyclable trash from first through fifth grade classrooms, not knowing which classes it came from. After setting up a collection sheet for data, students remove items from the receptacle...
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Grid Frame Mapping
Students map and describe small area of the schoolyard and discuss habitats.
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Big Bones, Little Bones
Students investigate archeology. In this archeology lesson, students research the process of excavation. Students participate in a mock-excavation and sort objects by physical properties.
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Gridding a Site
Students make observations of effigy mounds and record them in a notebook. In groups, they must determine the scale of measurement and create their own grid to scale part of the Effigy Mounds National Monument. They also practice using...
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Preservation Through Education: Activities and Programs
Students participate in different activities to help them discover the need for preservation. They pretend they are underwater archaeologists and create a sketch of a mock shipwreck in their classroom. They label the parts of the ship as...
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The Time of Man
Learners demonstrate visually Mankind's relative place on the earth's timeline. They familiarize themselves with the use of the metric system in measuring and producting a timeline.
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Kincaid Creatures
Students brainstorm a list of nocturnal and diurnal wild animals they see in their community and discuss how the animals would be different if they were living during the Ice Age. Using a handout, they discover how archeologists record...
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2 x 2
Middle schoolers work together to grid a 2 x 2 meter unit using the formula for the Pythagorean Theorem. After creating the grid, they identify the location of artifacts and create a map of their location. They develop a graph and table...
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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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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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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...
Smithsonian Institution
Watching Crystals Grow
Amazing science can sometimes happen right before your eyes! The class gets cozy as they watch crystals grow. They use Epsom salts, rocks, and food coloring to create crystals. They'll observe the entire process, documenting every step...
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Animal Poetry
Fourth graders write poems that use local wildlife as their inspiration. After a class discussion which produces a list of wildlife that pupils have seen in their town, a review of three types of poetry ensues. They look at how haiku,...
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Filling in the Picture
Young scholars study archaeological sites. They discover some of the problems inherent in choosing sites and what parts are chosen for excavation. They evaluate and explain their choices for study and articulate the process of...
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Plants and Animals: Partners in Pollination
Students describe the complementary relationships between pollinators and the plants they pollinate, identify adaptations that flowers have developed to "encourage" pollination, and create and draw their own "designer" flowers.
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Mineral Scavenger Hunt
Students complete a scavenger hunt worksheet as they find examples in their classroom, at home, etc., of minerals. Excellent worksheet!