Learning about the Past Through Contemporary Technology

By Evie Weinstein-Park, 4^th grade teacher at Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston, Newton, Massachusetts
 
A technology seminar at my school in 2013 prompted me to the Oriental Institute online educator resources. This seminar led me to rethink how to thoroughly incorporate technology and web 2.0 into a unit that I had already taught. I decided to turn to one of my old units on ancient Mesopotamia. I wanted to give my students a “mystery” about the ancient culture to solve with the use of the archaeological discovery. To achieve this, I set out to build a website (via Weebly.com) and a webquest (via Questgarden.com).

Incorporating the Oriental Institute’s “Ancient Mesopotamia: This History, Our History” Website

In planning my unit, I discovered the Oriental Institute’s Dig Into History – Ancient Mesopotamia: This History, Our History through Google search. This interactive website became our unit's real springboard into the ancient past. As an introduction, my students watched the introductory video by Dr. Gil Stein, archaeologist and Director of the Oriental Institute, and completed the “excavating a penny” activity. To enrich my students’ learning experience in archaeology, I invited my school’s former librarian as a guest speaker to describe her own experiences participating in a real archaeological dig in the Southwest. Building upon these experiences, we began our virtual archaeological dig with the Oriental Institute’s website.

The Process

Image Credit: Evie Weinstein-Park

First, we previewed the directions together, using our classroom’s Smart Board. My students were so excited that they couldn’t wait to begin! We used desktop computers in the school computer room, as the website required Flash to run the program. Then, I divided my students into three groups (one for each of the three different “archeological quests” that are offered on the OI website – agriculture, technology, and writing). They worked in pairs, so they could discuss the choices they were making about where to dig and whether the objects supported their respective quest statements or not. As part of their project, they would create a virtual museum exhibit with the Oriental Institute website. By working as pairs, they could also discuss what would go into their exhibits.


The Students’ Responses

My students enjoyed digging and discovering, as the website prompted them in both fun and educational ways. Seeing the layers and dating the items was a valuable activity, as were the discussions they had with one another. Incidentally, a number of them told me that they shared the archaeological dig on the Oriental Institute website with their parents at home.

Students as “Curator"After they finished the virtual dig, we began the museum curating portion of the website. Students looked at the objects they’d discovered and wrote complete descriptions that would be used for their “catalogues.” This activity tied in with the work we have done previously on poetry and art through the Visual Thinking Strategies. We printed out their catalogues, but we weren’t quite done yet.

Image Credit: Evie Weinstein-Park

Activity Extension

We extended this activity by having each student choose one “artifact” to investigate further. Using the iPad Keynote app (like Powerpoint, but for Mac), each student made a presentation on that one object. This included a written description and information that students gleaned from the wonderful “Learning Collection” section of the Oriental Institute website, all to be expressed in their own words. They would look up images of the artifacts from other websites, and finally, they would create a slide about the modern equivalent of that object. The goal of this extension is to engage them to “see the past in color,” and more importantly, to connect their work to people living today, and build critical thinking skills by posing a broader question – what would we use today to accomplish a similar task?

Another question that I wanted my students to think about was whether ancient Mesopotamia was a civilization or not. Having learned about the concept of GRAPES (Geography, Religion, Achievements, Politics, Economics, Social Structure) from a colleague, I asked students to determine if and how each artifact supported these criteria.

As each student presented his/her artifact by hooking up iPads to our Smart Board, the other students were listening, watching, and taking notes on their iPads on a table with sections for each of the GRAPES categories, and which they had downloaded from our class Google drive. I called this our Archaeological Seminar, and the kids loved the opportunity to take turns leading it and presenting their information. They especially enjoyed sharing their modern equivalents.

Project Documentation 
 

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Image Credit: Evie Weinstein-Park

Both my website and webquest include links to the Oriental Institute Museum online interactive, as well as other museum collections that have excellent resources. I would also recommend the British Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts website as they are also very interactive for students’ learning.

To paraphrase Dr. Stein in his introductory video, “The ancient past is like a murder mystery. You have to use all of these tiny clues to figure out what happened.” Using the Oriental Institute’s wonderful “Dig Into History” website has enabled my 4^th grade students to take a part in that process.


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About the Author
Evie Weinstein-Park has taught 4^th grade at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston since 1998. She is also a member of Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts Educators Advisory Board.