Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
What Can We Learn From the Past?
What would future archeologists learn from your scholars' personal belongings? Have them bring in a box of "primary sources" from their home. Discuss the difference between observations and inference, using some of your own items to...
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Marine Archaeology
Students examine marine archaeology. In this archaeological data lesson, students see how archaeologists use data to make inferences about shipwrecks. Students read data and make their own inferences, write about marine life and...
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Archaeology
Students compare and contrast the role of scientists with that of archaeologists. They also describe the roles of observations and evidence in science.
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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
Young scholars examine how observations lead to investigations, and how archaeologists conduct their investigation.
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Archeology Lesson; Making Inferences
Students discover what an archeologist is and make inferences about societies and cultures based on artifacts. In this archeology lesson plan, students complete an array of captivating activities, guessing about what an artifact is and...
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Inference By Analogy
Learners infer the use or meaning of items recovered from a North Carolina Native American site based on 17th-century European settlers' accounts and illustration.
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Ping!
Using "mystery bathymetry" shoeboxes, young explorers simulate sonar action to map out the topography of an un-viewable landscape. This classic activity helps physical oceanography learners understand how sonar works. It would be...
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A Siouan Village
Fourth graders examine the artifacts obtained from an excavated Siouan village site. They make inferences about the people who once lived there based on the artifacts and complete a Research Team Report.
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Motel of Mysteries
Students determine that even though inferences are based on observations that does not mean they are always true or correct. They pull the topics and main ideas out of a piece of difficult text.
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Do You Have a Sinking Feeling
High schoolers determine how marine archaeologists use historical and archaeological data to draw inferences about shipwrecks. Students plot the position of a shipwrecked vessel, and draw inferences about the shipwreck from artifacts...
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Shipwreck Mystery
Students draw inferences about a shipwreck. In this marine archaeologist instructional activity, students examine historical and archaeological data to draw inferences about the age and identity of shipwrecks.
Statistics Education Web
Sampling in Archaeology
Compare different random sampling types using an archaeological setting. Scholars collect data from an archaeological plot using simple random samples, stratified random samples, systematic random samples, and cluster random samples....
NOAA
The Methane Circus
Step right up! An engaging research-centered lesson, the third in a series of six, has young archaeologists study the amazing animals of the Cambrian explosion. Working in groups, they profile a breathtaking and odd creature and learn...
Curated OER
Wreck Detectives
Students investigate shipwrecks. In this marine archaeology lesson ,students collect data and make inferences about the causes of shipwrecks. Students work in groups to create their own model of a shipwreck using clay. Students then...
Channel Islands Film
Once Upon a Time (Saxipak’a): Lesson Plan 4
How did the environment and natural resources found on the Channel islands influence the culture of the Chumash? Archaeology meets technology in an activity designed for middle schoolers. After viewing West of The West's documentary Once...
Curated OER
Transparent Shoebox Dig
Take this simulated archaeological dig one layer at a time with your young pupils to encourage observation, critical thinking, and careful attention. Using a transparent box full of layers of sand and artifacts, pupils examine the...
Channel Islands Film
Cache: Lesson Plan 3 - Grades 4-5
Should the excavation of what is believed to be the cave of the Lone Woman of San Nicholas Island be allowed to continue? As a practice exercise designed to prepare pupils for a timed writing exam, individuals read two Los Angeles Times...
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Excavate and Explore
Students simulate an archeological excavation to explain how archeologists identify, date, and make inferences about their findings. They explain the importance of spatial and stratigraphic contexts in archaeology.
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Artifact Identification-What is it?
Students observe an artifact and make an inference about the artifact's purpose. They are going to role-play as archaeologists by using artifacts to hypothesize about the lives of past people.
Curated OER
It's All in the Rocks
Young scholars think critically to determine fact or inference when examining sedimentary layers with embedded fossils. They are being introduced to geology as well as evolutionary biology.
Ocean Explorer
Looking for Clues
Upper graders become "shipwreck detectives" by studying the debris field from a shipwreck in the Aegean Sea which took place in the 700s. A website is accessed that gives specific information about the debris field, and pairs of...
Channel Islands Film
Cache: Lesson Plan 4 - Grades 4-5
After viewing the West of the West's documentary Cache, individuals craft either a newspaper article chronicling the discovery of the cache on San Nicolas Island, a historical narrative of the placement of the cache in the cliff side, or...