The Most Overlooked Component of Public Programming: Approaches to Educational Assessment

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology Education: Building a Research Base" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

As scientists, archaeologists collect data. Why don’t we often collect data on the effectiveness of archaeology education programming? Public archaeology is developing into an essential practice. However, our field lacks extensive comparative information about the outcomes of these programs, and we rarely assess what our participants learn or how effectively practitioners deliver programming. Building a library of such information would help contribute to the long-term success of archaeology education and more informed public stewards of cultural resources. This paper clarifies the need for archaeologists to understand the importance of assessment and evaluation. Through comparative case studies and learning research, the authors outline best practices for developing instruments, conducting formal and informal assessments, and using results to refine public programming. The goal is to lay a foundation for assessment tools that will improve archaeological education and communication going forward.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeology Education: Building a Research Base   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25823