Digging Deeper: Engaging High School Students with Working Class Heritage in Northeastern Pennsylvania

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Communicating Working Class Heritage in the 21st Century: Values, Lessons, Methods, and Meanings" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Anthracite Heritage Project seeks to develop critical thinking skills in high school students through archaeological work at Eckley Miners’ Village Museum, located near Hazleton, Pennsylvania. At Eckley, students work alongside undergraduate and graduate students as they investigate the company-owned homes of immigrant workers. This allows them to learn about the history of the region, engage with the broader implications of working class heritage, and make connections between the past and the present. This type of thinking is important for exposing students to historical roots of inequality and expanding upon the curricula offered in schools. Yet, so few high school students in the Hazleton area participate in our field school. This paper reviews the results of the 2018 field season’s student participation, including highlighting pedagogical breakthroughs and identifying points for further development in future field seasons.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• Communicating Working Class Heritage in the 21st Century: Values, Lessons, Methods, and Meanings

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 263