Lessons from the Classroom: A Teacher’s Suggestions for Improving K-12 Archaeology Outreach

Summary

Archaeologists committed to public outreach are typically motivated by the hope that helping individuals appreciate how archaeology contributes to understanding the past will in turn encourage citizen stewardship of the archaeological record. Archaeologists working with children in particular have the best chance of making an impact in this area since their audiences can in turn act upon and help spread messages of site preservation and other matters of archaeological ethics for many years to come. Unfortunately, many K-12 outreach efforts fall short of satisfactorily reaching this overarching objective, usually because archaeologists do not understand how to design resources and activities that effectively reconcile their own objectives with the very different goals of K-12 teachers and their students. This poster and accompanying handouts summarize lessons learned by an archaeologist-turned-classroom-teacher and offer practical suggestions for professional archaeologists involved in K-12 public outreach. Topics covered include finding appropriate audiences in and outside of the classroom, designing curricula and activities that will appeal to those audiences, and evaluating the effectiveness of educational resources and programs with respect to meeting the objectives of all participants.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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