Portals to The Past

 

It’s no surprise to me that teaching with tangible artifacts is an extremely motivational and thought-provoking teaching strategy. When I was in elementary school, my class went on a field trip to a historic house from the American Colonial period. I remember seeing and touching hard-tack and other artifacts that were passed around before my class explored the property. We participated in an activity that involved marching with wooden muskets from the American Revolution. At the end of the field trip, we were paid with replica currency from the time period. Today, that small, yellow copy of a colonial 5-shilling note sits in my dresser drawer along other replicas I have made myself! Next to my desk, mounted to my wall is a display case which holds real musket balls, a mini ball from the Civil War, my Grandfather’s Cold War army patches, medals and so much more! When I was about 9 years old, I started collecting coins, stamps and currency. So, I think it is reasonable to conclude that no one understands the excitement that real artifacts bring more than I do!

The bottom line is that artifacts inspire curiosity and an appreciation for different people and time periods. In my opinion, nothing connects us to the past better than artifacts do. They show us how studying history is like travelling to a foreign land. This is precisely why they are perfect tools for an inquiry lesson. As a future educator, I plan to use objects and artifacts often. But I believe the learning theory behind artifacts is incomplete. The truth is that hands on IS minds on learning. According to the theories explored in Building literacy skills across the curriculum: Forging connections with the past through artifacts, the best theoretical approaches to instruction using artifacts include to many traditional tools. One of the strategies begins the lesson by breaking students up-into groups to analyze small artifacts. Their task is to draw as much knowledge as they can be observing. Once this phase of the lesson is over and done with, we regress right back to research in the computer lab (Fuhler, et. al., 2006). To be blunt, education relies far too much on screens and the internet. As a future educator, I would use an artifact to inspire motivation and curiosity in my students by kicking off the unit with an artifact bag. The next phases of my lessons would be quite different by using books which is discussed in the article as an effective cross-curricular tool. My students would learn how to study history the same way real historians do. I would teach them how to look up books that may be connected to their artifact. From there, they could find other titles and sources that could lead to even more information.

I went through this process myself as I conducted my professional research for a previous blog about the German Me-262 which will soon be published in World at War Magazine later this year! I began my investigation in Washington D.C. several years ago at the National Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. There, I was able to spend time with an authentic Me-262 that was captured and brought to the U.S shortly after WWII. I read several secondary sources (books) with different historical perspectives which I cross examined for discrepancies. Within those books, I found leads that took me to primary sources written by the pilots who flew the 262. I also read a segment from the autobiography of Albert Speer who had an interesting part in my story. I learned to examine certain key details in historical photos which were enclosed with all the research I had read. This is the process I would have my students follow with few exceptions. One exception includes being able to access documents from the national archives over the internet about a particular moment in history. Another is using the resources on the Ellis Island website since they carry only original records of individuals who passed through. The only drawback to this however, is that those resources are available for a fee. Now that I think of it, the best inquiry lesson for teaching history is a family tree project. Using artifacts, photos and original documents, the students could find clues and investigate their roots. In that case, students would be using artifacts to help them fill in the ancestral gaps in their family tree. They would be given the option of a presentation, written report or flip grid video. If the student had another idea for completing the assignment, they would simply have to pitch it to the instructor for approval. Providing students with choice is a fundamental part of any lesson. I also believe that a project about family history includes and validates students from all different cultures and backgrounds.

As a future educator, I would use objects from the current times and have my students create a time capsule they could bury and excavate in the future. I believe this would be a great lesson about continuity by showing how things change over time. I would also design a project that would involve the students creating their own artifact! This is an application of the highest order of thought represented in Bloom’s taxonomy. Such a project would conclude a topical unit by having students APPLY their knowledge and to CREATE something original. To conclude, I believe that teaching with artifacts is the best approach. However, let’s try to remember that an artifact can be something original OR something that students create. That is how educators can turn on the minds of students and instill a lifelong love of learning and curiosity.

Citation

Fuhler, C. J., Farris, P. J., & Nelson, P. A. (2006). Building literacy skills across the curriculum: Forging connections with the past through artifacts. The Reading Teacher, 59(7). https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwC7OGFCEPfydmZyOVREOXNDSUE/view.