Reflect on Your Practice

In this section, you will reflect on ways that you have experienced history museums or conducted hands-on history lab experiences with your students. Discuss the following questions with your colleagues or reflect on them in your journal. Use specific examples wherever possible.

1. What kinds of activities have you done with your students that allowed them to touch and/or interact with historical artifacts?
2. How did work with historical artifacts affect your students? Did the artifacts engage them in ways that history textbooks, lectures, and/or more standard (text-based) history research do not?
3. What were the challenges of using these kinds of materials with students? How did you address those challenges to make the activities successful?
4. In working with history museums (like Moundville) that focus on ancient history, how can you help students analyze primary source materials and gain information from those materials that goes beyond just the simple labels and notes offered by scholars and anthropologists in the museums?
5. How and why is it valuable to ask students to question the historical/scientific interpretations of primary source materials?
6. What can students learn when they study the choices of artifacts displayed in museums and the way those artifacts are presented?
7. In what ways does the use of material culture affect or bias the way in which history is presented? How might a museum exhibit reflect a particular interpretation or version of history?