Kindling Curiosity: Assessing the Early Results of Educational Outreach and Archaeology in the South Lake Champlain Basin, Vermont

Summary

Members of the general public often view local prehistory from an artifact-based perspective, with a limited or incomplete understanding of the people who made and used such items. This view of the past is often paired with misunderstandings about both the nature of ancient settlements and the need to protect them as vital cultural resources. Initiated in 2016, the South Champlain Historical Ecology Project (SCHEP) has two goals: to study patterns in human-environment interaction along the southern Vermont shore of Lake Champlain, and to increase local knowledge of the substantial cultural heritage resources within the project research area. The SCHEP study area is remarkable in terms of both its ecological diversity and tremendous time depth of human activity, providing an excellent platform from which to kindle curiosity, engagement, and increased protection within local populations. This paper discusses one major component of SCHEP’s outreach activities: work with students in elementary, high school, and colleges in the study area. Using the results of surveys collected during a program of school and field visits, we consider the attitudes and impressions of youth and young adult participants towards local prehistory both before and after their work with SCHEP.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18878