Educators Smithsonian Education
Decoding the Past: The Work of Archaeologists
Lesson Plan 1

Archaeological Thinking

  • Identify "artifacts" from a contemporary setting.
  • Describe the function of each artifact.
  • Interpret possible associations between artifacts.
Social studies, science, language arts

1. Choose four or five areas in your school with which students are familiar (e.g., your classroom, the cafeteria, and the library). Observe each location, noting what students commonly do there (e.g., study, eat,and socialize). After school hours or when the areas are clear of students, examine the trash and recycle bins and the floors for evidence of those student activities. Select artifacts (e.g., portions of candy wrappers, plastic from pen caps, and portions of student papers) that can help to tell the story of each site. Place each site's artifacts in a separately numbered bag (numbered 1 through 4 or 5).

2. At the beginning of the next class, discuss the difference betwee n historians and archaeologists by asking your students how we know that an event happened in the past. Answers may vary, but students will probably conclude that information about the past event was recorded in some form.You may wish to have your students suggest various methods of documenting past events (e.g., oral histories, written records, video and audio recordings,and digital data) and have them evaluate how each method differs from the others. Tell your students that historians use all of these recorded sources to understand the past. (Be sure to note that not all societies have kept records and that records can often be incomplete or biased.) Next, ask your students how they might learn about a past event if they could not read about it or view it on videotape. Some students may find this question difficult. Ask them to think about the work of an archaeologist—what does this type of researcher look for? Students should conclude that an archaeologist seeks physical evidence (clues) of the past.

3. Using the Introduction as a guide, tell your students that they will be learning how archaeologists use physical evidence in the form of artifacts (human-made objects) to learn about the past. Tell them to imagine that an archaeological expedition at your school has recently uncovered a number of artifacts that the class must now examine and interpret. Stress that the students were picked for this job because they were the foremost experts on the archaeological sites.

4. Divide your class into four or five groups of equal size. Give each student a copy of Worksheet 1 and provide each group with one of the numbered bags of artifacts. Direct your students to open the bags and carefully examine each object. Ask them to consider what each object is made of and how it may have been used. (Tell students to put this information on their worksheets.) Students may find some objects easier to identify than others. Walk among the groups and provide hints as necessary. After the students have identified the objects, ask them to speculate where these objects may have been found. (Tell students to put this information on their worksheets.)

5. Conclude the activity by having a representative from each group explain its interpretation of the objects. Provide explanations of the objects and their contexts as necessary. Emphasize that archaeologists are often challenged with interpreting artifacts that they cannot immediately identify or date.
Required Materials

Lesson Plan 1 (pdf)

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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Ginger Pear Crepes

I really am being a negligent blogger these days. Things are so busy between prepping for classes, trying to research and write, run a small bakery, and look after 3 kids! Anyway, this is the dessert I made for my date night with Vegan Mom on Sunday. The inspiration comes from the latest issue of Food and Drink. The original recipe has apples and I had every intention of the following/veganizing the recipe, but when I went to make it I could not find the magazine anywhere. Then I noticed that we had a bunch of pears that needed to to be eaten up. I think this recipe could benefit from a few splashes of liquor, but I am not sure what kind (any ideas, Celine?).

Makes 10 crepes
- 1/2 recipes of crepes (should make about ten 6" crepes)
- 8 ripe pears, peeled, cored and diced (I used Bartlett)
- 1/4 cup margarine
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- few splashes of water
- 1 recipe vegan cream, or soy yogurt

1. Make crepes and set aside, stacked on one another.
2. Melt margarine in a saucepan over medium heat. Add pears and cook for 3-4 mins, or until they begins to break down a bit. Add sugar and spices and bring to bubbling. Let thicken a bit adding some water if needed. Remove from heat.
3. Place 1/10 of the filling in the centre of a crepe. Fold in half, then in quarters. Press the crepe down a bit to distribute the filling. Top with cream, or yogurt, and serve.


Physics 2

Particle track detectors are used to measure the speed of particles if the lifetime of the particle is known. Particle X has a lifetime of 256.2 ps. These particles are created in an experiment inside the detector by a given reaction. The particles leave 10.6 cm long tracks on average before they decay into other particles not observable by the detector.
What is the average speed of the particles in terms of the speed of light?
The speed of the particle is the ratio of the track length and the lifetime. However the simple ratio of these two quantities gives unphysically high speed: 1.379 c. The reason is that the length of the track is measured in the resting frame of the detector. On the other hand the lifetime of the particle is its life expectancy measured in the frame moving with the particle. Either transform the length of the track to the particle's frame, or the particle's lifetime to the detector's frame. You can take the ratio of the tracklength and the lifetime only if they are from the same reference frame.

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