Discovering the Past

In my understanding, an artifact is an object made by individuals from the past and the object is made for a particular purpose. Putting this definition into the title of our class activity made since after I experienced it first hand. When Dr. Smirnova brought in three bags, I thought each bag had one object in it and we all had to put our discoveries together to figure out the relation of the items. Instead, each group had their own bag with three items in it to explore and put together. My bag consisted of a diploma for a PhD in pedagogical sciences, which is the art and science of teaching. The other two items were a photograph of Dr. Smirnova at a summer camp and a piece of Russian porcelain. Thinking about the definition of an artifact, the diploma was created in 1989 to recognize hard work and achievements. The photograph was taken when my professor was in college and honored her being a chief pioneer leader.   In 1802 the Russian porcelain was created from hand-painted clay placed into a kiln to hold caviar. The artifacts are from Moscow, Volgagrad, and Gzhel representing Dr. Smirnova's life in Russia. Participating in the artifact bag exploration gave me a real understanding of how this activity works and relates students to the time period being studied. 

The artifact bag project models an inquiry lesson plan. As stated, “…learners construct meaning during authentic interactions that enable them to negotiate, evaluate, and transform the knowledge they acquire-a more effective process than simply memorizing teacher-disseminated information” (Cambourne, 2002, p. 646). The students are thoroughly examining the clues given and analyzing the information received to form conclusions. This utilizes a hands-on, minds-on activity that allows the students to teach themselves through social interaction rather than the teacher giving students worksheets on the material taught. The students are engaging in making their own discoveries with some guidance. As the students work together, they contribute different ideas based on their individual prior knowledge. As stated by Fuhler (2006), “Students are encouraged to compare their background knowledge to the text at hand, connecting what they already know to what they are learning” (p. 647). Everyone remembers different ideas and concepts, so completing an investigation through a variety of thoughts is successful. 

Since the artifact bag investigation uses problem-based learning, my lesson plan consisted of the students being detectives and filling out their own detective forms. The artifact bag I chose for my students was navy blue with white star stickers placed all over the outside of the bag. The first artifact that the students examined was a quill pen, which I bought a very long white feather and painted the end of it using black nail polish. The second artifact I put in the artifact bag was a white and red ribbon twisted together. The third artifact represented a small portion of a very old document. It was a mix of tan and white, wrinkled, and had burnt edges. As the students discussed their ideas with one another, I listened and provided help where necessary. The students came to the right conclusion by the end of their investigation. They knew right away that the quill pen signified the signing of a document. The students were confused as to way actual ribbon was put in the bag. I wanted the students to only consider the colors of the ribbon, but realized that this may have been confusing since the object is what they were focusing on. When the students saw the worn document, they looked closely at the writing and read "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The students remembered that these are the unalienable rights given to the Americans through the Declaration of Independence. 

I chose this idea because the entire war was for the Americans to gain independence from Great Britain. This document is so important because it gave the Americans their freedom and we still live by it to this day. I specifically chose the navy blue bag with the white stars and the red and white ribbon to denote the colors of the American flag. The students know that when the Americans were both fighting and becoming their own country these were the colors characterizing them. The colors stand for whom the Declaration of Independence was written for. The quill pen was to signify the signing of the document. Pens were not created in the 1700’s, but rather feathers were used with ink. When the third artifact was opened, I thought that they would make a connection between the quill pen and the document since a quill pen is used to both write and sign a specific piece of writing. On the old document, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” was bolded. This signified what the document stated that the Americans gain. For this artifact, I wanted the students to use their prior knowledge as well as look at the details. Without reading the cursive writing, it would be very hard to know what the document was about. The students would not be able to determine between the different documents written during the American Revolution without finding out what was bolded. During the direct instruction lesson, the students learned about the unalienable rights and what they were. During a check for understanding stop, the students had to explain what the unalienable rights were. The cursive writing should ring a bell for the students. As mentioned by Fuhler (2006), “Sound teaching strategies are at work as students activate prior knowledge and use social interactions to help them pool their knowledge” (p. 650).  For this activity, the students were to connect what they already knew to the artifact.

Problem-based learning is an excellent way to get students to use their higher-level thinking skills and to be very involved in the task. The students understand a concept in a much simpler way when they have figured the idea out themselves through their own ideas on other objects that represent it. In the classroom, this is an approach that should be used to get the students to master material. 


~ Christine Brown

References

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, 646-659. doi: 10.1598/RT.59.7.4