LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Artifacts in Context

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?DocID=52

A lesson plan for Grades 3–5 Information Skills, English Language Arts, and Social Studies

Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science

About this resource

Appropriate grades
3–5
Subjects
social studies (anthropology)
Provider
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Legal

Creative Commons License

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The purpose of this lesson is to hypothesize how people lived during a certain time, based on archaeological sites and artifacts. It puts students in the role of archaeologist, using the mysterious city of Catalhoyuk to explore how artifacts can give us clues to how people once lived. Students will explore an archaeological mystery that demonstrates the importance of context in learning from artifacts. Factors such as the artifact's location, its proximity to other artifacts, and the number of similar artifacts found can provide strong clues about the possible purpose and origins of the artifact, as well as the physical characteristics and behaviors of people responsible for creating it.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

Information Skills (2000)

Grade 3

  • Goal 3: The learner will RELATE ideas and information to life experiences.
    • Objective 3.02: Collect and compare information about diverse cultures, environments, and peoples.

Grade 4

  • Goal 3: The learner will RELATE ideas and information to life experiences.
    • Objective 3.02: Collect and compare information about diverse cultures, environments, and peoples.

Grade 5

  • Goal 3: The learner will RELATE ideas and information to life experiences.
    • Objective 3.02: Collect and compare information about diverse cultures, environments, and peoples.

Social Studies (2003)

Grade 3

  • Goal 2: The learner will analyze the multiple roles that individuals perform in families, workplaces, and communities.
    • Objective 2.02: Analyze similarities and differences among families in different times and in different places.
    • Objective 2.03: Describe similarities and differences among communities in different times and in different places.
  • Goal 3: The learner will examine how individuals can initiate change in families, neighborhoods, and communities.
    • Objective 3.01: Analyze changes, which have occurred in communities past and present.
    • Objective 3.02: Describe how individuals, events, and ideas change over time.

Grade 4

  • Goal 3: The learner will trace the history of colonization in North Carolina and evaluate its significance for diverse people's ideas.
    • Objective 3.01: Assess changes in ways of living over time and determine whether the changes are primarily political, economic, or social.
    • Objective 3.04: Compare and contrast ways in which people, goods, and ideas moved in the past with their movement today.
  • Goal 7: The learner will recognize how technology influences change within North Carolina.
    • Objective 7.03: Explain how technology changed and influenced the movement of people, goods,and ideas over time.

Grade 5

  • Goal 4: The learner will trace key developments in United States history and describe their impact on the land and people of the nation and its neighboring countries.
    • Objective 4.01: Define the role of an historian and explain the importance of studying history.
    • Objective 4.03: Describe the contributions of people of diverse cultures throughout the history of the United States.
  • Goal 6: The learner will recognize how technology has influenced change within the United States and other countries in North America.
    • Objective 6.01: Explore the meaning of technology as it encompasses discoveries from the first primitive tools to today's personal computer.
    • Objective 6.04: Determine how citizens in the United States and the other countries of North America can preserve fundamental values and beliefs in a world that is rapidly becoming more technologically oriented.

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 3

  • Goal 3: The learner will make connections through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.
    • Objective 3.06: Conduct research for assigned and self-selected projects (with assistance) from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people, libraries, databases, computer networks).

Grade 4

  • Goal 3: The learner will make connections with text through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.
    • Objective 3.06: Conduct research for assigned projects or self-selected projects (with assistance) from a variety of sources through the use of technological and informal tools (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people, libraries, databases, computer networks).

Grade 5

  • Goal 3: The learner will make connections through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.
    • Objective 3.06: Conduct research (with assistance) from a variety of sources for assigned or self-selected projects (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people, libraries, databases, computer networks).