Artifact+Strategy

NCSS CURRICULUM STRANDS ~·Y· ~ "~...~..~.w,·~ < ...., .. ~ .. , .~ .. '<." V K-2 V 3-5 V &-8 I CuLture II Time, Continuity, and Change VII Production, Distribution, and Consumption Artifacts give students access to moments of daily life from the past, thereby revealing social history. Younger students can compare objects they use today with artifacts from the past that had similar functions. They can see how things that they use connect them with common people from the past. Students can analyze techniques used to construct artifacts and the way that the manufacture of consumer goods changed the way people lived (Falk & Dierking, 2000). Students can witness these changing ideas in the construction of hand tools. Across time, hand tools that were first fashioned from wood later gave way to hand tools that were forged from metal and finally to hand tools that were created from molded polymers. Older students analyze this progression to determine the function these artifacts while sorting them by chronological period. PROCEDURAL RECOMMENDATIONS • Search through books of antiques of decorative arts, decorating magazines, or furniture catalogues for pictures of period artifacts (Monticello: http://store.yahoo.com/monticellostore; Old Sturbridge Village: http://store.yahoo.com/monticellostore; Williamsburg: http://www. williamsburgmarketplace.com; Winterthur: http://www.Winterthurgifts.com; Shaker Workshops: http://www.shakerworkshops.com;TheworkshopsofDavidT.Smith: http://www.davidtsmith.com;EldredWheeler: http://www.eldredwhee1er.com). Make color copies of the artifacts selected; mount the copies on card stock, and laminate them. • Sort the photos, place them in envelopes, label the envelopes by topic, and write directions for the activity on the envelopes. Directions should include questions typical of primary source analysis in which students describe and interpret the artifact. EXAMPLE: CURRENCY After students are given 12 copies of colonial currency, they identifY three pictures printed on the currency that stand for ideas that are important to people. Have students tell what they think each picture represents and why they think it is important. Can the images be grouped by prosperity, natural resources, or authority, or are there other categories of ideas that should be considered? Are any stereotypes visible? How do the illustrations tell what the people who created this money thought was important? Evaluate whether the money used today has ideas similar to these represented in the pictures. Are there ideas on old money that should be used on the money being used currently? EXAMPLE:' PORTRAITS Third grade students use photocopies of the following portraits: four men in wigs and different styles of clothing, a man with a child, a woman, a woman with a child, and a child with an enslaved person. Students list three observations for each picture with regard to such feature,s as facial expression, objects in the portrait, hairstyles, clothing, social relations, and portrait backgrounds. What do the objects and backgrounds in the portraits reveal about how others regarded the person featured? For example, what does the portrait of the child and enslaved man reveal about the differentiated status of the enslaved person? Even though the enslaved man is physically larger than the little boy, why is he relegated to a corner of the portrait? Why does he stand slightly behind the boy? Second gr ele students can compare American colonial artifacts to objects in their homes by examining photographs of the artifacts listed below. Some artifacts have changed little across time, \'hile others have changed radically or are replaced altogether. The students respond to this question: \Yhat can you find in your homes that replaced these artifacts? Artifact Lineage 'I.- Historical Artifact Contemporary Object .. =-= -clestick with a handle Lamp
 * -E: r pewter mug Plastic cup
 * ~:Jendale corner cupboard with glass door Kitchen cabinets

=-_=-=- Anne tea ~table Kitchen table -- -::5E filigree tea table Coffee table ~--: :- -:::ediment secretary desk Desk - _=--=~:::onnet-top chest-an-chest on frame Bedroom dresser
 * -=.-=- ~-le side dining chair Kitchen chair
 * ---::-=-:3le side dining chair with ball-and-claw legs Dining room chair

_-_:=..c,dingthe comparable objects in their homes, the students determine the similarities and - __ :~ erween these artifacts and the objects in their homes. Next, students give reasons why - ~ :.--::.:'i.:- have changed over time. Students learn that technology changes the materials used in .:;:-- - ~.::. :hat technology allows people to create new objects that meet their needs. Further, some _- =:::.:- homes have no antecedent because people use technology to create new objects for - _ -::=:. communication, or convenience. The students then create a wall mural illustrating - - - _ -- =::. .ons that seemingly have no predecessors. Textiles were expensive during the colonial period, with silk and cotton corning from the Far East and linen and wool being labor intensive when made at home. People printed toile, which has single-color patterns that include drawings of people, and multicolor fabrics by hand in factories. While they could create plaids and stripes in factories, it was more common to domestically make these. With the scarcity and relative expense of textiles, it is not surprising that when clothing was beyond mending, it was reused in quilts or rag rugs. Third grade smdents look at photos of different types of textiles from the colonial period in order to answer questions about the economy: Were textiles scarce? How did the people reuse the materials they had? Which textiles came from factories and which were produced at home? Textile Type Scarce Reuse Manufacture " Applique and candlewicking quilt No Yes Home Applique and pieced quilt No Yes Home Applique quilt No Yes Home Candlewicking No No Home Cotton fabric Yes No Factory Linen fabric No No Home Plaid fabric No No Home Pieced quilt No Yes Home Silk fabric Yes No Factory Striped fa~ric Yes No Home Toile fabric Yes No Factory Two-color block pri nt Yes No Factory Wool fabric No No Home Students find connections between textiles produced in factories and scarcity versus reuse. Smdents make connections to transportation costs, since textile factories were located in Europe and some textiles came from the Far East. As the Industrial Revolution developed in the next century, manufactured goods became less scarce and the price for them fell. Students use artifacts from a commercial kit (Ethnic Arts and Facts: http://ethnicartsnfacts.com) to learn more about life in modern Africa. Students use a wooden model of a car, a metal model of a cooking stove, a model of a mother carrying her baby, and a model of a house. Would these artifacts appear different depending on where one lived in Africa? Would these artifacts appear different depending on whether one lived in a city or in a rural area? Smdents determine first if the models are made of the same materials as the real structures. Next, students discuss how these models are similar to or different from objects in their lives. The students take picmres of their homes, cars, mothers, and stoves and then compare them to the models from Africa. They compare how all of the people in class live different lives and how people in Africa live different lives, too. How would the students' lives be different if they were Asians or Europeans living in Africa? How would the students' lives be different if their country had been colonized by Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, or Pormgal? Andrews, 1. A. (1999). 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