Dalton News

5th Grade Digs into Archaeotype Program

Fifth graders concluded their comprehensive Archaeotype programming by presenting their findings and reflecting on their experiences on December 15.
For the Archaeotype unit, 5th graders take part in a digital archaeological dig using a computerized simulation designed by our amazing New Lab team, based on the actual Mesopotamian site, Mashkan-shapir. Students work together in small groups, a.k.a. archaeology teams, to uncover artifacts in one section of the dig site.

Throughout the process, the 5th graders took on jobs based on the same responsibilities archaeologists hold in the field. As they excavated, they made observations and inferences about their findings; they then used primary and secondary sources to identify the objects, as well as the purpose and significance of these objects to the people who used them. 

Next, students analyzed the objects found in their quads to determine their excavation location in the city and reflect on the site as a whole before finally presenting their findings to their classmates.

The Archaeotype project began as a collaboration between 5th Grade Teachers Elif Espinola and Rachel Pellegrini, New Lab’s John Neiers and Regis Zaleman, Art History and Museum Program faculty Michelle Marcus and Neil Goldberg, archaeologist Paul Zimmerman, and MS Social Studies Department Chair Deidre Mingey.

Check out this slideshow created by 5th Grade Teacher Rachel Pellegrini
Pellegrini House Archaeotype Slideshow
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