XArch Project:School Workshops
The following is a list of workshops are taken into schools at little or no cost to the schools themselves. Each activity is the linked to the National Curriculum and introduces children to their local history and archaeology. The workshops can be adapted to suit the needs of individual schools remember, all events are free so if your school would like to be involved, then please contact the XArch project.
Recognising artifacts - Flints, pottery and various other artifacts (supplied from the teaching packs held in the Archaeology Department, University of Exeter) will present the children with a tactile link to art and the past.
Enacting excavation - recovering artifacts - A small, shallow portable sand pit containing sherds of pottery acts as an excavation site allowing children to use methods of archaeological retrieval and setting a situation for planning to scale (see below). Links to various history subjects can be created by asking the children to pre-decorate pots (garden pots or similar) in a style applicable to the period of history being taught e.g. Greek, Roman etc. Staff then break 3-4 of the pots (removing any sharp edges) and place in the sand for retrieval (once the pots have been retrieved they then discover how to reconstruct them using illustrative skills).
Basic off-set tape survey & triangulation - Very quick to learn and can be applied in school playgrounds/fields. This form of simple hands-on survey allows children to also apply planning to scale and at the same time offer the application of numaracy and technical drawing.
Planning to scale - As with tape surveys planning quick and easy to learn and the equipment can be re-used time and again. Planning to scale aids numaracy skills and can be applied in various formats.
Maps, placenames and photographs - What can be learned from maps the words on them and comparing them to photographs. Children learn skills relating to geography and gain a sense of understanding about where they live.
Pot illustration - After recovering there pots sherds children undertake reconstruction through drawing. This offers art and drawing skills along with an understanding to post excavation investigations.
Scanning & creating digital images - Today, as in many other fields computers play various important roles in archaeology. Here children gain further IT skills as they learn how to manipulate archaeological data.
Links to local studies - Local schools will be offered the opportunity to visit the Fieldwork Teams working locally and offered an educational tour/explanation of the survey techniques in progress.
Making a coil built pot - The purpose of this exercise is to teach children how to make simple coil built pots. Reconstructed pots from different prehistoric periods will be available for the students to look at and discuss. Once they have learnt the basic principles of making coil pots, they will be able to discuss how archaeological artefacts were made and decorated, and they will have the opportunity to make their own replica prehistoric pot.
Skelly in the Sand - A shallow portable sand pit forms the basis of this activity. Within the sand a life size human skeleton is placed along with a number of diagnostic artifacts. The children work together in groups to find out how the individual died, the period he/she lived in, what the environment was like and what the artifacts can tell us about the individual.
|
