Summer SAVY 2018: Session 1, Day 5 – Bioarchaeology (Rising 5th and 6th)
Today was all about having the students tap into their newfound bioarchaeological knowledge and take the lead on teaching activities. The students began the morning by becoming detectives and solving real-life crime scenes that they began to build yesterday, using model skeletons, leaves from outside, and hand-made “artifacts” and “clues”. In their groups, the students set up their crime scene and orchestrated a story to go with their mystery. They left clues and questions that prompted their classmates to use the skills that we have collected over the week to solve their mysteries. The students rotated spots and were able to look at their classmates’ scenes and try to find the answer to their mysteries. The activity worked so well, that we decided to keep them around to show them to the parents at open house. I hope you had a chance to get a peek!
In the afternoon, the students were assigned to stations based on the different themes of each day this week: trauma, estimating age, estimating skeletal sex, and height and bone development. Their task was to think up a way to quickly and easily teach visiting family members. They worked diligently to ensure they were giving the parents a great presentation, and created some of the most well-planned and artistically intriguing posters and study stations!
We hope your students have had a great week. It has been a pleasure to watch how they have interacted with the material, diving into tough concepts and offering up a steady stream of questions to keep up thinking and learning as teachers as well!
If your student didn’t get enough this week, here are a few great resources to continue exploring themes related to bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology, and osteology:
http://www.poweredbyosteons.org/
https://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/
https://thesebonesofmine.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/hello-world/
Dr. Keitlyn Alcantara
Getting Ready for Open House
