The Value of 3-D Models in the Classroom

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This poster demonstrates the pedagogical value of 3-D models of ancient artifacts for teaching ancient history. I produced 3-D replicas of two examples of Herzog’s tesserae, with permission of the museums that hold the original artifacts, to teach classes about Roman material culture, ancient Mediterranean slavery, and Roman freed persons. The 3-D models were printed to scale and include the Latin inscriptions present on all four sides of the Roman tessera. I have adapted this exercise for the topic and audience. Nevertheless, when using the 3-D printed examples there was ample engagement from students at the high-school level, first-year students in undergraduate surveys, and students in upper-level undergraduate courses. The experiential learning exercise asks students to note their observations, hypothesize who used these artifacts, and what they were used for. In upper-level surveys, this paved the way for discussions of historiography in a way that engaged more students in the class. Students theorized the function that 19th and 20th century ancient historians posited for these artifacts. The 3-D examples would accompany the posters allowing viewers to engage with them. The poster will also include 2-D images of the original artifacts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40201.0