Chicago Public School Social Science Academy: A Student's Perspective

In the 2013-2014 school year, the Oriental Institute partnered with the Chicago Public School Department of Literacy for the Social Science Academy, a year-round professional development program for classroom teachers. Through this program, we engaged three Chicago Public School teachers (from Orr Academy High School, Gage Park High School, and Alcott East Elementary School) in a project focusing on the theme “Defining Ancient Civilization and Connecting It to Today’s World.” Through an object-based approach, teachers learned how to incorporate primary-source materials, including maps, artifacts, and archaeological discoveries, and integrated them into classroom curriculum that focuses on ancient inventions such as writing, urbanization, and economy. Building upon the scholarship of the Oriental Institute and in alignment with the Common Core State Standards, teachers worked with Carol Ng-He, K-12 & Continuing Education Program Developer at the Oriental Institute, to develop and implement a unit tailored to the needs of their students. Students who participated in the program gained important twenty-first century skills, ranging from making global connections to developing critical-thinking skills.

The following is an excerpt from an essay by a student who participated in the program. In this essay the student reflects upon artifacts that were studied at the Oriental Institute, and the connections discovered between the ancient world and today’s government:

Gage Park High School social studies teacher Andrew Martinek led his students to visit the Oriental Institute Museum.
Image credit: Carol Ng-He. 2014.

Doctors: Past, Present, Future - Winning Essay of My Artifact/ My Future High School Contest

My Artifact / My Future High School Student Writing Contest 2013-2014 Winner: 
 
Merrick Fahrenwald
10th Grade, The University of Chicago Laboratory School

Essay Title: Doctors: Past, Present, Future
 

Medical Tablet. Iraq. ca. 750-500 BC.
OIM A3441.

            The manner in which we currently diagnose and treat diseases would have been inconceivable to doctors in ancient times.  Nevertheless, there are medical insights we have today that would not exist without the ideas developed by ancient physicians and healers. By looking at Mesopotamian doctors in their cultural context, I realized that many ancient medical practices that seem primitive today are more advanced than I realized, some being surprisingly similar to those today. This suggests that hundreds of years from now, people will look back at our medical procedures and view them as primitive, unless they too take a closer look at our cultural context. It is fascinating how times can change so much that something that seems natural during one era can seem incredibly odd or primitive years later. In the course of my research, I have learned that some of the medical knowledge we have today would not be possible without the foundation laid by the physicians of the ancient Near East.

Kipper Family Archaeology Discovery Center Program

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.

Teaching with Museum Collection: Ancient Egyptian Language, Culture, and History

In this post, our guest, Rozenn Bailleul-LeSuer, PhD candidate in Egyptology, shared her recent teaching experience with the Oriental Institute Museum's collection for her summer intensive high school course "Ancient Egyptian Language, Culture, and History" offered by the University of Chicago Graham School of General Studies.

Photo credit: Tom Maday

As a PhD candidate in Egyptology in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, I have had the opportunity these past four years to teach a summer course for the Graham School of General Studies entitled “Ancient Egyptian Language, Culture, and History.” This course is designed to introduce junior and senior high-school students to these aspects of ancient Egyptian society.

This year, I experimented with a new addition by incorporating the permanent exhibition in the Oriental Institute Museum into my core curriculum. Working with the Institute’s Public Education and Outreach Department, I developed a museum-inspired journaling project. It is my hope that writing about objects they encounter in the museum will help my students connect to what they have learned about ancient Egypt on a deeper and more personal level.