Improving Public Archaeology Through Educational Psychology and Pedagogy

Summary

Public archaeology is the means by which we as archaeologists demonstrate the value of our findings and research to our primary benefactors and supporters, the public. Public archaeology has been an increasingly important field within the realm of archaeology in recent decades with a constant desire and need for establishing new and effective ways of engaging the public and sharing with them the benefits of archaeological work. Recent efforts to improve the outreach programs at the University Museum at Kent Hall of New Mexico State University provides a case study of how archaeology can be taught and its value demonstrated to primary school age students. Whilst generating new ideas for outreach programs, the efforts at the University Museum have also taken into account the fundamentals of the psychology of teaching and the pedagogy employed at different stages of cognitive development. The subsequent results at the University Museum can demonstrate how being familiar with the fundamentals of educational psychology as well as age appropriate teaching methods can be beneficial to the efforts of archaeologists engaging primary school age students.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

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