Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom

DOCUMENT Citation Only Christina Sampson.

This is an abstract from the "Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Open education (also known as open pedagogy) begins with the values of sharing and accessibility that have motivated the increased use of Open Educational Resources (OER) throughout higher education. Open education is not only about the adoption of OER materials; it also involves a shift in teaching orientation toward an emphasis on...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Aspen Kemmerlin.

This is an abstract from the "Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent trends in archaeological pedagogy include the adoption of active learning models as well as courses that incorporate community and public archaeology frameworks. These shifts have primarily been centered on archaeological field schools and on-campus excavations. In contrast, despite the growing concern over legacy and orphaned...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Aimee Miles.

This is an abstract from the "Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Ethical questions surrounding the social politics and disciplinary culture of archaeology—especially questions arising from the unequal power dynamics pervasive in fieldwork settings—have primarily been framed as professional problems and are seldom considered from a pedagogical perspective. In this paper, I argue that fieldwork (and...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Maureece Levin. Jenny Evans.

This is an abstract from the "Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Experimental archaeology is, by definition, a hands-on field. In the undergraduate classroom, students enrolled in experimental archaeology courses typically learn not only the theory and methods behind experimentation to better understand past technologies, but also engage in experimentation themselves. Experiments vary depending on...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Elizabeth Hoag. Riley Rist.

This is an abstract from the "Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pedagogical studies in higher education repeatedly underscore the importance and effectiveness of hands-on, deep learning as a means for student engagement and connection with subject matter. In this paper we outline several engaged activities and techniques employed in anthropology and archaeology classes at a college of art and...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Katherine Moore. Chantel White. Marie-Claude Boileau. Jason Herrmann. Vanessa Workman.

This is an abstract from the "Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Material evidence is the hallmark of archaeological investigations, but bringing the reality of actual materials to the classroom can be challenging. We observe that the multisensory impact of hands-on activities in the classroom conveys key information and is a valuable way to engage students at the first-year, advanced undergraduate...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Christopher Hernandez.

This is an abstract from the "Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the course of the twenty-first century, archaeologists have increasingly embraced digital technologies for research, data curation, and public engagement. Yet, like the practice of pedagogy as a whole, greater emphasis and systematic investigation is required on the role of new technologies in the archaeological classroom. Beyond...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kirby Farah. Benjamin Luley.

This is an abstract from the "Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper reflects on an archaeological field methods course designed for Gettysburg College and taught in fall 2021. This course, which we will continue to teach in coming years, represents a new offering at the college and meets a growing need to train anthropology majors who wish to focus on archaeology as a career. Students...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kara Fulton.

This is an abstract from the "Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Many universities focus on the idea of graduating students who are “career ready.” One of the pillars of career readiness is the emphasis on transferrable skills, those skills focused on the ability to do something (e.g., think critically), as opposed to content-based or discipline-specific knowledge. In a world where the average...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Margaret Helzer.

This is an abstract from the "Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. After three decades of teaching archaeology courses at the college level, students still ask me about my views on Sasquatch, aliens, and intelligent design. In fact, these questions come up more frequently now than they ever had in the past. Those of us who teach archaeology are faced with a paradox: while current advancements in...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Mairead Doery.

This is an abstract from the "Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Graduate students occupy a unique space in undergraduate archaeological education. We serve as teaching assistants, field school instructors, and trusted mentors to our undergraduate students, yet unlike professors, we are not viewed as commensurate authorities in the classroom. Simultaneously, we are positioned professionally as...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Katherine Patton. Krista Maxwell.

This is an abstract from the "Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Archaeology Classroom" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. For well over a decade, archaeologists such as Pyburn (2005) and Arnold (2005) have highlighted the need for teaching to engage with the larger, core issues that shape our research. Nevertheless, high-profile archaeological conversations about decolonization have tended to focus exclusively on research theory and practice. Yet Atalay...