Education
Initiative at the Nightengale Archaeological Center, Kingsland
Problem
Statement
School-aged children in low-income areas of Austin
and Central Texas have limited, if any, opportunities for field-based learning
in social studies and science. These
students are much less likely to:
Project
Goal
The
goal of this project is to provide educational opportunities to at-risk youth
by exposing them to field-based experiential activities designed to present a
specific subject within the context of a multi-disciplinary environment. By recruiting and training college students
from similar socioeconomic and ethnic groups, concepts of agency and self will
be reinforced, both within the students and those employed to instruct
them.
The
Nightengale Archaeological Center
The
Nightengale Archaeological Center (NAC) is a 10-acre prehistoric Native
American archaeological site and educational facility located on the banks of
Lake LBJ, and owned and operated by the Lower Colorado River Authority
(LCRA). Over 1,200 students, teachers,
and parents visit the center during each school year and participate in a series
of educational activities designed to enhance their understanding of Native
American cultures as understood through the sciences of anthropology and
archaeology. These activities are
directly applicable to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
objectives in science, social studies, math, language and fine arts, which are
used as the basis for the state-mandated Texas Assessment of Knowledge and
Skills (TAKS) tests.
Educational
activities include a tour of the actual site, where units excavated by
professional archaeologists, school teachers, and students are open to
view. This provides an opportunity for
students to witness the actual materials found by the archaeologists, as well
as to make interpretations as to what these artifacts can tell us about past
human lives. Earth processes are
introduced, as these larger forces are the determining factors as to which
materials are preserved through time. A
series of interpretative signs along the wooded trail present aspects of Native
American life in Central Texas, as well as archaeological methods used to
retrieve this information. There is a
life-size, interactive replica of a prehistoric campsite, complete with hut and
activity areas. Students are able to
enter the hut and more closely visualize life as it was for these early
inhabitants.
The
center includes an onsite museum, with both actual and replicated
artifacts. The program allows the
students to handle many of these items, as well as try their hands at such
prehistoric tasks as food grinding and fire making. Students are encouraged to seat themselves within the classroom
setting of the museum and participate in a further discussion of archaeology
and prehistoric life. This is a prelude
for the second portion of the activity, where students gather around a “dig
box”, a simulated excavation activity.
Here, using instruments such as measuring tapes, compasses, and levels,
students produce two-dimensional records of three-dimensional space as they
“excavate” through three levels of replicated archaeological materials. This culminates in a sand-covered zone
containing hunting implements, a cooking area, and various food remains. This provides an opportunity for the
students to make interpretations based on their observations, as well as to
gain an appreciation for the complexity of the archaeological record.
The
third activity consists of using a device known as an atlatl to launch a spear toward a target (mammoth) painted on hay
bales. The students engage in physical
activity and receive insight into the nature of technology, especially as
utilized by persons who are immediately dependent on their environment. Concepts of energy efficiency and
evolutionary fitness are woven into this and another event – throwing weapons
(rabbit sticks) at stationary targets.
Students are once more challenged to place themselves within the context
of prehistoric Native Americans, and they come away with a greater
understanding of the depth of these early cultures.
The
NAC is approximately 60 miles from Austin,
necessitating a trip of approximately 1.5 hours in each direction. This is often not feasible, especially for
students attending schools in east and south Austin and outlying areas, as the
buses must be available for their normal rounds. In order to overcome this problem, many schools charter buses to
make the trip, thus freeing them from the time constraints imposed by the
school bus schedules. This creates
additional and substantial cost for the individual students.
Proposal
Concepts
In
order to expand the educational opportunities provided at the NAC, LCRA
proposes to use the initiative’s funding to develop a teaching module that
focuses on capturing the interests and developing the skills of marginalized
and at-risk student populations. This
module will be made freely available to educators across the state. The project will also allow LCRA to arrange
for students from economically disadvantaged areas of central Texas to visit
the center. The program will employ
college interns drawn from the same populations, who will further serve as role
models and mentors for the attending students.
This
grant funding will enable an anticipated 40 students a week to visit the Center
and participate in the educational activities during the spring 2004 semester –
a projected total of 560 students.
These students will be selected from schools that have demonstrated a
need for equity in educational opportunities such as the Austin Blueprint
Schools, and programs such as Austin Eastside Story and the Huston-Tillotson
AusPREP program. During these
activities an experienced site director will be on hand, but the bulk of the
instruction will be facilitated by paid college interns, who will be selected
based on ties to these same student populations. The interns will receive training from qualified archaeologists
and educators, who will maintain an advisory role throughout the duration of
the project.
Because
of its multidisciplinary nature, interns can be drawn from any number of fields
of study. Anthropology and archaeology
students are natural choices, but students in the natural sciences, sociology
and other social sciences, and those in education would all benefit from
involvement. These benefits include
working with young people, developing their roles as community volunteers and
mentors, and expanding their own educational horizons through becoming versed
in the methods and terminology of archaeology.
Three interns will be present during any one program, and a total of six
interns will be recruited as a rotating pool from which to draw. The interns will work within their academic
departments to arrange schedules so that they can be available for the program,
as well as to determine how best to use the experience to augment their personal
education goals.
In
order to track the immediate impact of the program, pre- and post-tests will be administered. These tests will be used to gauge knowledge
of archaeological concepts prior to the visit and compared with retained
knowledge at a period two to three weeks after the tour. This information will be used to gauge the
success of the interns in imparting the information, as well as the format in
which it is presented. This will aid in
refining the program as it continues to evolve.
Expected
Outcomes
Capturing
the attention of the designated audience is a challenge in any discipline. Archaeology, however, is remarkable in that
the subject matter is inherently fascinating to many people, triggering an
intrinsic curiosity about the shaping of human affairs. In order to more fully address the needs and
potential interests of the targeted populations, a teaching module will be
produced that explores the material and social aspects of marginalized social
groups in Texas history. As an example,
the Tonkawa, a Central Texas Native American tribe, were at one time a
disenfranchised group that was able to reinvigorate its culture through a
series of empowering events leading to reestablishment of a formal tribal
entity. Similar scenarios have played
out for African American, Hispanic, and Anglo or European groups. By presenting these stories in a formalized
setting, students can develop a direct link with their own neighborhoods,
family and ethnic backgrounds, and economic positions in society. With knowledge of the past come the tools to
better understand the present and to affect change for the future. This module will be developed through the
coordinated efforts of professional educators and archaeologists and shaped
through the input of the students, their teachers, and the paid college
interns.
This
program will also make teachers who accompany their classes to the center aware
of LCRA’s annual archaeology workshops, held every summer in June or July. These three-day workshops provide instructors
with the knowledge and tools to use archaeology in their individual classrooms
to address aspects of social studies, sciences, mathematics, language and fine
arts. The workshops have been approved
for professional development credit by the State Board for Education
Certification (SBEC), Texas Environmental Education Advisory Committee (TEEAC),
and Texas Association of Gifted and Talented (TAGT). LCRA workshop participants expand their knowledge of archaeology
and culture history, and when used in conjunction with the initiative’s
teaching module, can provide their students with ongoing instruction in local,
regional, and statewide patterns of human existence.
Conclusion
This
pilot program will be used to shape and develop a planned multi-year project to
be funded by LCRA and interested foundations.
An estimated 1100 students, teachers and interns a year would be
served. As the program develops and
evolves, this number could easily double.
The potential exists to expose over 20,000 individuals to archaeology
and preservation in the next 10 years.
This program therefore directly supports major portions of the Texas
Historical Commission’s goals as expressed in the Statewide Plan for Texas.
Staff Archaeologist
Lower Colorado River Authority
P. O. Box 220
Austin, Texas 78767
(512) 473-3333 ext. 2753
(800) 776-5272 ext.2753