Using Rock Art as a Medium for Teaching STEM Concepts

Summary

As budgets grow slimmer and curricula become more rigid, teachers are often faced with the necessity to either eliminate or limit the number of school fieldtrips. With tightened budgets teachers are compelled to choose which fieldtrips to retain and which ones to eliminate. These choices are often based on cost, availability of transportation, or are based on what the teacher hopes students will gain from the experience. The goals of the fieldtrip generally align with the educational guidelines provided by each state. This often means that archaeological modules or archaeology-themed fieldtrips are eliminated or reduced from curricula. Though archaeology-based curricula may not be a teaching priority, the multi-disciplinary nature of archaeology can be easily implemented for STEM concepts. Although most teachers are aware of this they lack the experience to implement these concepts in archaeology-themed modules. This paper describes how two rock art sites were used to teach Montessori students about scientifically-based classifications. First, students were introduced to the process of archaeological classification. Then working in groups students worked together to classify rock art figures. Students were then given an opportunity to refine their classifications through a peer review process and then implement what they had gained from the discussion.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20695