Spring/Summer 1999
Ray Corbett explaining shell middens to teachers Anthony Graesch showing typical "dig kit"	Institute archaeologists and UES teachers were paired to develop modules on specific civilizations mandated by the State of California curricula. Ray Corbett and Anthony Graesch joined Sue DeBlasio and Jan Powell from UES to demonstrate the value that archaeology brings to an understanding of the Chumash and Gabrielino cultures of Southern California. Brendan Burke worked with Don Steiner in a session that focused on the ancient Mediterranean world, and Wendy Teeter collaborated with Raul Alarcon to produce a workshop that focused on the ancient Maya. Future plans include training in the basic use of the Virtual Archaeology CD-ROM programs being developed by the Digital Archaeology Lab. A page on the Institute website is being expanded for interactive use. We expect that enthusiastic workshop participants will take materials and ideas back to their individual schools and motivate other teachers to adopt them. Summer Institute This summer the most active, innovative, and interested teachers of those who attended the Saturday workshops will be offered access to an Advanced Archaeology Institute. The Advanced Archaeology program will provide ten to twenty teachers with an in-depth opportunity to work with UCLA archaeologists in the field and/or in the laboratory, learning about the process of scientific inquiry and the techniques of our discipline. This group of motivated teachers will act as seeds, becoming leaders in their own schools and assisting their colleagues in the development of archaeology-oriented lesson plans. Each teacher attending the Advanced Archaeology Institute will develop and test new curricular ideas for the presentation of archaeology within the classroom. These curricular ideas will be made available to other teachers in future workshops, as well as on the website. In addition, teachers who have participated in the advanced program will form a core of mentors as other teachers develop enthusiasm for including archaeology in their curriculum. Classroom Visits A collateral part of this outreach program are classroom visits within the region by UCLA archaeologists, graduate students, and knowledgeable volunteers. These classroom visits will allow students to talk to people who actually do archaeology. A teaching collection put together by the Institute and Wendy Teeter, the archaeological collections manager of the Fowler Museum, will allow children to look at or even touch real artifacts. This curriculum will set a new standard of educational collaboration and will create a new model for the flow of information. Creatively developed teaching modules, teacher training, classroom visits, and eventual new uses of interactive technology will introduce an exciting way to study the peoples and cultures of the past. As a result, students may learn and understand more about our society and today's world. The adventure of learning how archaeologists study and interpret our past can provide a pathway to basic skills, including critical thinking and cooperation. Moreover, archaeology and the study of ancient civilizations can provide a central point from which faculty and students examine the core disciplines of history, science, and geography. A History and Social Science curriculum that integrates archaeology and past civilizations with world history and social studies across the globe can lead students to an awareness of human cultural diversity and an appreciation of a common heritage. Rita Shepard is a Research Associate of the Institute of Archaeology and the coordinator of the Institute's outreach program. Like all Backdirt authors, she can be reached through the Publications email address (ioapubs@ucla.edu).
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