Oriental Institute, iPads, Webquests, Target, and Hogwarts. What Do They All Have in Common? . . . A Whole Lot of Learning!

The following post is written by Ms. Nashwa Mekky, 5th-grade teacher at Ivy Hill Elementary School in Arlington Heights, Illinois. She shares her field trip planning and the museum visit experience for her students at the Oriental Institute in January 2014. 


“Where is in the world can we find Mesopotamia?” I ask my fifth graders, only to receive blank stares back. I have a little more luck with, “How about Egypt? What continent can we find Egypt on?” Half the hands shoot up; all ready to answer. There would have to be ample pre-field trip learning before we embark on our class trip to the Oriental Institute. With proper planning, this field trip would be a valuable experience that my students would always carry with them in their schema of learning. But where to start… The OI website of course!
 
The last thing I wanted was to have my students walk through the museum like drones, looking at artifacts as if they were broken pieces of stone. Because I teach in a progressive school district that values 21st-century skills, like global awareness, technology, discovery, and integration of learning, I knew I would find all the resources and support I needed to make this learning experience an authentic one. After all, my school is WIRED, literally.

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.