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"How to Think Like an Archaeologist" - Suggested Pre-Visit Activity For Historic Jamestown
Students examine how archaeologists use artifacts to explore other people and their cultures. They discuss types of artifacts, analyze receipts for clues, and discuss how what the items bought reflect about people.
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Mapping the Bone Field: An Area and Scale Exercise
Here is an excellent cross-curricular lesson. Learners relate multiplication to area by making a grid on graph paper, and then creating the same grid in real space outside in the school yard.
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National Marine Sanctuaries Shipwrecks
Junior oceanographers access the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Shipwreck Database and plot the locations of several shipwrecks. Shipwrecks are always an enthralling subject and this activity allows your learners to act as...
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Inventions Over Time
Explore the inventions of the past with a project on ancient tools. After reading an article about hunting during the Archaic period, the Late Prehistoric period, and the Historic period, kids fill in a cause-and-effect chart about the...
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Artifacts 1: What Can We Learn From Artifacts?
Sixth graders are introduced to artifacts and explore an online archaeological site to connect clues about how people once lived. In this deductive reasoning lesson, 6th graders participate in the stratigraphy game on Kids Dig Reed.com...
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Dig It Up
Students participate in an archaeological excavation to determine how archeologists make inferences about various cultures. They reconstruct the site using layers of drawings. They discuss the kinds of information they learned.
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Digging Into Science: Excavation Procedure
In this excavation procedure activity, students determine the roles of group members for an excavation of a sample box containing buried bones. They complete 9 short answer questions before beginning the excavation.
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Excavate and Explore
Students simulate an archeological excavation to explain how archeologists identify, date, and make inferences about their findings. They explain the importance of spatial and stratigraphic contexts in archaeology.
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Influential Scientists Vocabulary Multiple Choice Worksheet
In this science vocabulary worksheet, learners read the names of science professionals. From three choices, students choose the correct definition for each word.
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Influential Scientists Vocabulary Quiz
In this science vocabulary worksheet, students match the names of 19 science professionals with the definition. Example: Ichthyologist (studies fish).
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We Really Dig Archeology and Palentology
Sixth graders examine the differences between archeology and paleontology. Using the internet, they explore the tools and techniques used in each field. They must use the correct tools to uncover and record the objects they find. They...
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Bones: Reading and Quiz
Make no bones about it- this anatomy instructional activity is all about the human skeleton! Learners read a 2-page informational excerpt on bones and then use the information they learned to answer 9 recall questions, including 4...
American Museum of Natural History
Buried Bones
Patience is the name of the game. Using Plaster of Paris and chicken bones, learners simulate an archeological dig site. They excavate the chicken bones over a period of several days using tools and a large amount of patience.
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Inference Makes the Difference
Students explore how archaeologists make inferences from artifacts to explore what life was like in the past. In this archaeology lesson, students work in groups and make inferences about an imaginary household based on modern day...
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Layers of The Past
Sixth graders identify methods archaeologists use to date soil layers. They interpret soil profiles and discuss the examination of soil at a dig site. They discuss texture and color of soil.
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Lesson plan: History Underfoot
Students study Native Americans of Virginia. In this Virginia history lesson, students take on the role of archaeologists as they analyze a site and its artifacts. Students use the information to draw conclusions about the natives who...
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Indians in Georgia: How Do We Know What We Know?
Students discover archaeology by investigating the history of Native Americans in Georgia. In this U.S. history lesson, students participate in a mock archaeological excavation in their classroom by recovering artifacts and drawings...
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Methods of Collecting Information
Third graders examine a bag or box of soil containing items that they dig for. Their task is to become detectives to make conclusions about the area from which the items came as real archaeologists do.
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Looking At An Object
Students observe the attributes of an object, infer their uses, and discover how archaeologists use objects to explore the past.
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Sand & Water: Shape Search
Learners act as amateur archaeologists as they participate in their own "dig" to explore and record unusual shapes. In this shape exploration lesson, students use trowels and shovels to dig, and learn to sift the dirt with screens to...
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Forensics: Who Killed the Iceman?
Students explore how archaeologist examine mummies. In this research based lesson plan, students work in groups to research two mummies and report their findings to the class through role-playing and using a model of the mummy.
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Do You Have a Sinking Feeling?
Students explore how marine archaeologists use data to draw inferences about shipwrecks. In this marine archeology lesson students plot the position of a vessel, draw inferences about a shipwreck and explain the possible circumstances...
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What's in the Soil?
Second graders create stratified soil levels using pictures. In this earth science instructional activity, 2nd graders identify "artifacts" from 3 historic eras and divide them into 3 soil levels. Then they draw their own multi-level...
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Mending Pottery
Learners act as archaeologist and mend broken pottery to see what they can learn.