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History Lab: INQUIRY 2
An "Object-Inquiry" Unit

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VII. Assessment

  1. Each activity outlined in this unit requires the production of at least one product. These products will help the instructor evaluate how well the students are learning. These products include:
    1. ACTIVITY 1: The creation of an artifact-based group story and performance
    2. ACTIVITY 2: Completion of a data chart that records the results of the analysis activity
    3. ACTIVITY 3: Completion of a research organizer from which identification of an object is determined
    4. ACTIVITY 4: Creation of a two-dimensional rendering or collage depicting a scene for a movie in which the team's object is central to the story and placed in historical context
    5. ACTIVITY 5: Completion of the object/discipline chart and brainstorm activity
  2. Students will also be evaluated on how well they grasp the concepts of analysis, documentation, and contextualization. This aspect of evaluation will be determined through participation in discussions and the instructor's observation of interaction with other participants.

VIII. Resources

SELLERS OF HISTORIC REPRODUCTIONS
(suitable for classroom use)

  1. Amazon Drygoods General Catalog
    2218 E. 11th Street, Davenport, Iowa 52803
    Fax 319-322-4003
    800-798-7979 (orders)
    319-322-4138 (questions)
    Fur Trade and Victorian era costumes, tinware, glassware, books, music,and patterns
  2. Lehman's Non-Electric Catalog
    P.O. Box 41, 4779 Kidron Road
    Kidron, Ohio 44636
    216-857-5441
    19th & 20th Century farming, kitchen, heating, cooking, woodworking, and logsmithing hardware
  3. Cumberland General Store
    #1 Highway 68
    Crossville, Tennessee 38555
    800-334-4640
    19th Century cookware, baskets, lanterns, ironwork, games, handpumps, beekeeping supplies, farm implements, horse drawn carriages & harness, and books.
  4. Crazy Crow Trading Post
    P.O. Box 314
    Denison, Texas 75021
    903-463-1366
    Fur trade era beads, cookware, and costumes.
  5. Goose Bay Workshops
    990 Greenwood Road
    Crozet, Virginia 22932
    540-456-8717
    fax 540-456-6990
    17th and 18th Century handmade "historic reproductions" and "historically inspired" cookware, trunks, kitchen implements, tools, and sporting goods.
  6. The Historical Supply Catalog: Newly Manufactured Items from the Past Available Today. Alan Wellikoff. Charlotte, VT: Camden House, 1993.
    Names, contact information, and description of artifact reproduction makers and sellers of "newly manufactured items from the past."

STORY AND FILM EXAMPLES

  1. The Piano (film — underwater scene with woman and piano)
  2. The Necklace. Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893). Illustrated by Gary Kelley. Mankato, MN: Creative Editions, 1993.
  3. "The One That Got Away." Nick Howe. Yankee, (May 1997): 152.
  4. Jefferson in Paris (film — clip of copying machine)

ARTICLES AND BOOKS FOR APPLYING THE METHODS

Brody, J.J. "Meanings of Things." Museum News (November/December 1991): 58-64.

cover Deetz, James, In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life, 2nd ed. (New York: Doubleday, 1996).

 

coverDewey, John. The School and Society and The Child and the Curriculum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990 (originally published 1900)..

 

Dow, Peter B. "Teaching with Objects: No Fault Learning." The Social Studies, Vol. 84, No. 5 (September/October 1993): 230-231.

Field, Sherry L., Labbo, Linda D., Wilhelm, Ron W., & Garrett, Alan W. "To Touch, To Feel, To See: Artifact Inquiry in the Social Studies Classroom." Social Education, Vol. 60, No. 3 (March 1996): 141-143.

Fleming, E. McClung. "Artifact Study: A Proposed Model." Winterthur Portfolio 9 (1974): 153-174.

Hamp, Steven K. "The History of Technology & Material Culture." Historians/Artifacts/Learners: Working Papers. National Endowment for the Humanities, 1982: 43-51.

Hitchens, Christopher. "Good-bye to All That: Why Americans are not Taught History." Harper's Magazine, Vol. 56, No. 11 (November 1998): 37-47.

McCall, Ava L. "Hmong Paj Ntaub: Using Textile Arts to Teach Young Children About Cultures." Social Education Vol. 62, No. 5 (September 1998): 294-296.

Mason, Terence C. "Bead!: Exploring World Cultures at the Museum." Social Studies & the Young Learner, Vol. 10, No. 1 (September/October 1997): P6-P8.

Morris, Ronald Vaughan. "Artifacts as a Springboard to Literacy." Social Studies & the Young Learner, Vol. 10, No. 4 (March/April 1998): 14-17.

Myres, Sandra L. "The Use of Three-Dimensional Objects in the Teaching of History." Teaching History, Vol. V, No. 2 (Fall 1980): 129-133.

Norris, Patrick. "Object Lessons." Museum News, Vol. 72, No. 5 (September/October 1993): 24-26.

Prown, Jules David. "Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method." Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring 1982): 1-19.

Rule, Audry C. & Sunal, Cynthia Szymanski. "Buttoning Up a Hands-On History Lesson." Social Studies and the Young Learner, Vol. 7, No. 2 (November/December 1994): 8-11.

Sabato, George. "Touching a Moment in History." Social Studies Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Winter 1990): 27-35.

coverSchlereth, Thomas J., Ed., Material Culture Studies in America: An Anthology. (Nashville: AASLH Press, 1982).

 

Schlereth, Thomas J. "Teaching American History with American Things: Five Pastmasters." Historians/Artifacts/Learners: Working Papers. National Endowment for the Humanities, 1982: 7-16.

Schlereth, Thomas J. "Teaching History with Material Culture Evidence." International Journal of Social Education, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1986): 5-36.

Walker, Donald C. "Black Players & Baseball Cards: Exploring Racial Integration with Popular Culture Resources." Social Education, Vol. 55, No. 3 (March 1991): 169-173, 204.

 


 

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