The Ancient Landscapes of South Texas Initiative and Augmented Reality: An Immersive Experience in Archaeological Education and Community Engagement

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

To educate and engage the community about archeological and geological resources available to the inhabitants of the Rio Grande Valley from Laredo to Brownsville, the Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley completed a multi-year initiative combining community engagement with the creation of TEKS-aligned lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school students. This is a first in STEAM education pedagogy in Texas wherein locally focused research in earth and social sciences is imparted across the curriculum. One aspect of this initiative is an augmented reality (AR) enhanced poster titled, “Lower Rio Grande Valley Projectile Point Types.” This educational tool highlights 65 common locally found projectile points and is organized chronologically from Paleo- to Historic. The AR components of the poster include 3D visualization of each point and a 90 second video elucidating the lifestyle and the climate of each period. The poster is printed in full color and the points are reproduced to scale to facilitate identification. The poster and related materials including a bilingual webpage, trail map, traveling exhibit, documentary film, book, and traveling educational trunks are distributed free of charge to area schools and interested community residents.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35995.0