Artifacts bags! A new way of learning!

This week in class we investigated and learned how to use artifact bags in lessons. Artifact bags are a great tool to use in lessons because they are hands on and encourage students to learn.

Artifact bags are associated with Inquiry Lesson Plans because they require students to conduct an investigative process to figure out what and who the artifact bags are representative of. In addition, students need to figure out why these artifacts are significant. Dr. Smirnova modeled the artifact bag activity using artifacts from her own life. The students in our class were required to make meaning from the artifact bags that they were given such as photographs, diplomas, certificates, personal items etc. Many of us even had to utilize translators in order to investigate the meanings of the words since they were in Russian language. In order to further investigate, we filled out the chart with the questions of who? what? when? where? and why? (The 5E's) Finally, we all concluded who or what our artifacts symbolized. The teachers ultimately used the inquiry method to take the information they were given in their bags, to construct an investigation and to form a generalization and conclusion that could be explained with evidence.

** The presentation is attached here. **

An artifact bag is a hands-on activity that could be integrated into any grade level and any subject. A teacher can use an artifact bag for many different topics, subjects, and units within a grade. Artifact bags are great for engaging students in learning, along with the students learning through their own investigation process. In a sense, students become a historian for the day and the whole lesson is put in their hands. I have never used artifact bags and have only heard of them generally. However, from learning about artifact bags, I will definitely be using them in my own classroom! Artifact bags can be appealing to kinesthetic and hands-on learners but any learners as well. Students can feel as if they are taking a large part in their own learning because they are holding real pieces of the past and discovering their importance. As stated in the article Building Literacy Skills Across the Curriculum: Forging Connections with the Past Through Artifacts, “Using artifacts, from primary documents to items that can be held in one’s hand, is a motivational strategy that can tie readers to a variety of genres and bring a period of history to life in the process” (Fuhler, Farris & Nelson, 2006). I completely agree with this statement. I found the artifact bag activity that we completed in class to be exciting and fun. I felt like a detective trying to figure out what the clues (artifacts) could mean! In addition, this project can be cross-curricular. According to the article, students will often be intrigued and will want to learn more about the objects and the topic so they can conduct further investigation. The students can be separated into separate research groups or into literature circles to discuss (Fuhler, 2006). Students can also write diaries pretending to be the person that the artifacts bags correspond to. The students may explain each artifact in a way that relates to the person’s life. In addition, the artifact bag lesson relates to the common core standards because the students examine the interaction of human beings and their physical environment, the use of land, building of cities, and ecosystem changes in selected local regions. It also corresponds with the National Standard: Recognizing different forms of evidence used to make meaning in social studies including primary and secondary sources, such as art and photographs, artifacts, oral histories, maps and graphs.

The artifact bag project was very meaningful to teaching about Our Country’s Leaders because it focused on the first president and leader from my lesson plans. In my direct lesson plan George Washington was mentioned as an important leader. The student got a chance to get a hands-on approach with “real” artifacts of George Washington. By connecting the two the students would hopefully be intrigued to learn more about the leaders and presidents of the United States. The artifact bag project was integrated with Social Studies, English, and Science. It is very important in teaching one lesson where you include other subjects within the lesson for student to make connections. Students don't always see how all the subjects can be related and relevant to what is being taught but students should be informed so they realize that they can apply everything they learned when doing a task. In relation to doing this project, many students complete science experiments. Both of these require the use of the scientific/inquiry method. Students complete many steps in order to come to a conclusions. This process can be used upon many subject areas. This lesson also promotes social skills and face to face interaction within the classroom. The artifact bag project was value-based because it allowed students to work together and build onto knowledge they already know. They got to explore the artifact within a group and interact socially. Although this may have been challenging for some students, this artifact bag incorporated different artifacts that students could have had various perspectives on. This allows students to expand their critical-thinking skills by being historians to dig up information from the past. The students were allowed to use resources, which could have been helpful when it came to the map of Boston. The artifact bag project allowed students to become actively involved and engaged in exploring what each artifact meant.
 

For the second day of Artifact bags in class, each student was required to make their own artifact bag with 3 different artifacts in relation to our unit plan. My unit plan is based on "Choosing our country's leaders". For my artifact bag I included 4 artifacts. My first artifact was a picture of a house and on the back of the picture "Mount Vernon, Virginia" was written. My Artifact bag was based on George Washington. The picture I included was a picture of a painting of George Washington's home in Virginia. The next artifact that I used was an old paper with a letter on it which was the first page to George Washington's farewell address. My next artifact was an old surveying map created by George Washington. On the bottom of the map there is a G.W. for George Washington as a key clue. Finally, my last artifact was a baggie with white hair in it. I actually cut a piece of my dog's hair to use, but it was supposed to resemble George Washington's famous white hair. This was the last clue that my classmates were finally able to figure out who my artifact bag was based on. Using artifact bags in a classroom is a great way to engage students in learning and to excite them with wonder. I found enjoyment in learning about the person my artifact bag was based. By creating this artifact bag I had to take a further look into George Washington’s life. I learned about his life, where he lived, and personal characteristic of him. It was very exciting to investigate and collaborate with my classmates to piece together the clues to figure out what each artifact bag it was. I will definitely use this in my future classroom because it was a great hands-on activity and a great tool for an inquiry lesson plan!

Below are my Artifacts from my project that I made! Enjoy!