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.

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.

Women & Girls in the Ancient World/ PART 4: Cartouche of Hatshepsut

Kingship is one of the important subjects of study about ancient Egypt. In a patriarchal society like ancient Egypt, were women able to “play” in the royal realm? If so, how would they be represented? In this post, continued from the Women and Girls in the Ancient World Series, Megaera Lorenz, a PhD candidate in Egyptology at the University of Chicago, shares with us the story of Hatshepsut – one of the few female pharaohs known to the history of Egypt – and the brief history of how she rose to power. We will also explore the visual iconography that was used for legitimizing her kingship and divinity.
 
Cartouche of Hatshepsut
The Joseph and Mary Grimshaw Egyptian Gallery, the Oriental Institute Museum

Quartzite Cartouche of Hatshepsut (Ma’atkare)
New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Hatshepsut, ca. 1503-1483 BCE
Luxor, Medinet Habu, Excavated by the Oriental Institute, 1927
OIM 14384A

Women & Girls in the Ancient World/ PART 3: The Diyala Statues

The Diyala statues
The Edgar and Deborah Jannotta Mesopotamian Gallery, the Oriental Institute Museum 

How did the ancient Mesopotamians worship their gods? What do excavated artifacts tell us about religion in ancient Mesopotamia? What roles did women play in Mesopotamian religious life?
Dr. Kate Grossman, one of the presenters in the Women & Girls in the Ancient World: Their History, Our History May event, is taking us to ancient Mesopotamia. In this post, we will look at the Diyala statues, which are displayed in the Edgar and Deborah Jannotta Mesopotamian Gallery at the Oriental Institute Museum. Dr. Grossman shares her insights into the relationships between these artifacts and ancient religious life (especially that of women) in Mesopotamia.

Male and Female Statues. Gypsum. Early Dynastic period (ca. 2750-2500 B.C.). Iraq, Diyala Region.
Excavated by the Oriental Institute.