Curated OER
Archaeology and Prehistoric Native Americans
Students study the terms paleontology and archaeology and examine how they can help us learn about prehistoric Native Iowans. In this archaeology lesson students discuss these terms and view a video on Native Americans.
Curated OER
Archaeology
Students explore purpose and process of archaeology, as well as demonstrate how it applies to their own lives, through a simulated archaeological dig.
Curated OER
Wreck Detectives
Junior archaeologists examine types of artifacts from the Bronze Age on the internet. In collaborative groups, they create a story about a ship from this period and then construct a model of the ocean floor after their ship has sunk....
Curated OER
This Old Ship
Junior archaeologists will be able to describe shipwreck artifacts and the information they reveal. They work in small groups to reasearch wreckage features of different period ships, making this not only a science lesson plan, but a...
Curated OER
Mapping the Aegean Seafloor
Earth science learners create a two-dimensional topographic map of the floor of the Aegean Sea. They use it to then create a three-dimensional model of the ocean floor features. This comprehensive resource delivers strong background...
Curated OER
Discover the science of archaeology
Students research archaeology. In this archaeology lesson, students conduct research about archaeology and one ancient culture. Students write a magazine article about an archaeological dig.
Curated OER
Lesson Design Archaeology
Students participate in their own excavation and measure and record as they go. For this archaeology lesson students divide into groups and solve the mystery of what they uncovered in their dig box.
Curated OER
Basics of Archaeology
Middle schoolers identify what and how to complete an Archaeological excavation is conducted. They identify the transition from one layer to the next more easily if the colors of the layers are different. When creating a dig, the...
Curated OER
Artifacts 2: Artifacts in Context
Young scholars role play as archeologists to determine how artifacts tell about how people lived. In this artifacts lesson, students look at pictures of artifacts of the ancient city of Catalhoyuk and tell what life was like there. They...
Curated OER
The Roving Robotic Chemist
Junior oceanographers and underwater geologists describe the four major steps of mass spectrometry. They compete in small groups to simulate the tracking of a deepwater methane plume using imaginary autonomous underwater vehicles. Give...
NOAA
The Methane Circus
Step right up! An engaging research-centered lesson, the third in a series of six, has young archaeologists study the amazing animals of the Cambrian explosion. Working in groups, they profile a breathtaking and odd creature and learn...
Curated OER
Interpreting the Evidence
Young scholars find out about the social changes that caused the collapse of important ancient civilizations in Central America, Mesopotamia, the southwestern United States, and western Africa.
Curated OER
Science in the Past
Students research the science of ancient Native American people. They compare native science to the present time. They create a project that they can present to their classmates. The project could be a report, poster, Power Point...
Curated OER
Leaarn to Think Like an Archaeologist
Students examine how to act as archaeologists by examining artifacts. The inquiry is meant to teach learners about analysis of ancient civilizations and scientific finds. Fossil evidence is also covered to make connection to the...
Curated OER
Archaeological Detectives
Students, in groups, examine in depth one aspect of forensic archaeology to determine the skeleton's age, gender, and possible cause of death. To do so, students must first explain what is involved in each aspect of forensic archaeology.
Curated OER
Fossils Lesson 4 - Who Are Some Famous Fossil Hunters and What Are Their Finds?
Students research and develop a presentation about a famous fossil hunter/archaeologist. In this fossil hunter/archaeologist instructional activity, students listen to a reading of Don Brown's, Rare Treasure: Mary Anning and Her...
Curated OER
What did I find?
Students excavate an artifact. In this archaeology lesson plan, students get a bucket filled with dirt and a broken up artifact. They work in groups to take it out and to find what its purpose was.
Curated OER
Life in Ancient Mesopotamia
Students reconstruct and make drawings of vessels in the same manner as an archaeologist. In this archaeologist lesson plan, students each get a piece of a broken pot and they have to work together to put it back together. Once it is...
Curated OER
Artifacts 2: Artifacts in Context
Students explore world history by completing artifact worksheets. In this archaeology instructional activity, students identify the importance of finding clues when researching historical information by utilizing artifacts. Students...
Curated OER
Back From the Future
Students pose as archaeologists, famous for their scholarly excavations, writing, and lectures about ancient cultures and are invited back to the 20thy century from the year 3000 to explore an archaeological sit, their classroom.
Curated OER
Protecting the Past: Give a Hoot, Don't Loot!
Students, in small groups, simulate an ancient civilization and the art they created, another group represents vandals, and the final group represents archaeologists who try to figure out what life was like for the "ancient peoples". ...
Curated OER
A Matter of Life and Death
Students research burial tombs of ancient Egypt and Acting as pharaohs of Egypt, students create burial plans to illustrate what items they would include in their own tombs and why. They then act as archaeologists and analyze other...
Channel Islands Film
Arlington Springs Man: Lesson Plan 4
West of the West's documentary Arlington Springs Man introduces viewers to the remarkable finds on Santa Rosa Island. Archaeologist have discovered on this small island that is part of the Channel island chain, human and pygmy mammoth...
Society for Science & the Public
Easter Islanders Made Tools, Not War
When studying artifacts, especially tools, how do archaeologists determine what the devices were used for? In what ways might researchers' previous experiences influence their perception of an artifact? An article about researchers'...