Montana Project Archaeology: Best Practices from a Teacher--Student Field School Collaboration in Virginia City, Montana

Summary

Located in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Montana State University (MSU), Bozeman, the Montana Project Archaeology (MPA) program has hosted a variety of professional development courses, institutes and workshops for teachers in Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and Idaho since 2003. In 2013, MPA collaborated with MSU’s Department of Anthropology, the private archaeological firm InteResources, Inc., the Montana Heritage Commission and private landowners to conduct an archaeological field school in Virginia City, Montana. The field school conducted test excavation within an historic city block dating from 1863. The project provided field experience for all participants, academic credit for MSU students, professional development credit for teachers, and archaeological information vital for a proposed land swap. This collaborative enterprise, with a strong component of public outreach during the field season (blogs, newspaper interviews, daily public tours, etc), amplified the overall impact of the learning environment and benefited both the MSU students and the elementary school teachers. By contextualizing the field experience within a framework that involved local residents, elementary school students, teachers and the general public, all of the field school participants reported a more meaningful experience that left them with a better understanding of archaeology and its relevance.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Project Archaeology State Program Highlights: Celebrating 25 Years

Keywords

Spatial Coverage