Stacey
Murrell, a first-year graduate student at the University of Chicago and an
Educational Programs Facilitator of the Oriental Institute’s Kipper Family
Archaeology Discovery Center (KADC) Program, shares her experience teaching
middle- and high-school students in the program.
“Whoa cool!
Are these things real?”
–T.S., fifth grader
The
Kipper Family Archaeology Discovery Center Program is an interactive hands-on
program that teaches students the process of archaeology through a simulated excavation
and artifact facsimiles. It allows students of multiple ages (specifically
middle- to high-school grade levels) to engage in learning about ancient Near Eastern
civilizations, as well as modern archaeological practices. In addition to the
hands-on component, the program includes a guided tour through the galleries to
further reinforce the message that ancient people had real lives and
participated in the same activities we do today: worship, work, writing, cooking
and eating, trading (and use of receipts), art, and many others. Part of the
program is also geared at challenging the common assumptions about lives of
ancient people, such as the application of makeup for women AND powerful men in
ancient Egypt.