Lego-Sandbox Archaeological Dig
We have been studying archaeology, and as part of our study, we have been reading Archaeologist Dig For Clues by Kate Duke. One of the two-page spreads inspired us to make a sandbox archaeological dig.
One page showed how archaeologist use a map of where the items were found to provide them with clues as to how the people lived...
which they then could translate into a sketch of how the scene may have looked when the items were in use.
One student took the whole concept and worked backwards in order to make a Lego-sandbox archaeological dig for the youngest student. He decided on a historical scene in his mind and then translated that into what we would find at a dig site today, using Legos. He even added a bit of ruins on the top.
He roped off sections of the sandbox into roughly equal sections. He then put Lego items in the sandbox to make his archaeological site.
The student could even make a map of the site to compare with the map the excavator makes.
Now, it was the youngest student's turn to be an archaeologist and find clues.
We wanted to know if he had come up with the same conclusions as the student who made it had in mind.
He then drew a diagram of what he thought the site looked like from the evidence found.
If the students each made maps, you could then compare them. How do they differ and why do you think that was? What does this tell you about the science of archaeology?
The last piece of this project was the documentation. I printed out some of the pictures and had them arrange them and make a page for the project.
I encourage them in the beginning to just write a title and then captions for the pictures that answer the question, "what are you doing in this picture?" Later on I will require them to write more on the subject until they are writing full reports.
 |
| Student's (age 12) history notebook page |
 |
| a page from Student's (age 9) history notebook |
