Lessons

H
eritage Educa-
tionLouisiana re-
cently partnered with
Northwestern State University
of Louisiana (NSU), the Loui-
siana Division of Archaeology,
the Caddo Nation, and the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vices Natchitoches National
Fish Hatchery to give eighth-
grade students the rare oppor-
tunity to visit an archeological
site and learn about ancient
Native American civilizations
in their area.
Heritage Education
Louisiana and its partners
structured the feld school
visit so that it could serve as a
model for archeologists and
educators across the country
who may be grappling with
the tricky issues of providing
a dynamic educational experi-
ence while preserving archeo-
logical site integrity.
Held in conjunction with
NSUs feld school, Archeolo-
gy in Action! demonstrated to
the eighth graders real-world
Heritage Lessons is a pub li ca tion of the National Center for Pres er va tion Tech nol o gy and Train ing, 645 College Ave., Nat ch i toch es, Lou i si ana, 71457.
For in for ma tion, sub mis sions, or sub scrip tion, e-mail sheila_richmond@contractor.nps.gov, phone (318) 356-7444, or fax (318)356-9119.
application of the subjects
they are learning in school.
The students really
enjoyed the feld trip, one
eighth-grade teacher said.
The presenters did a great
job of presenting the material
and relating it to math, science
and history. It was also pre-
sented in terms the kids could
understand.
Five learning stations
took students through such
topics as cultural landscapes,
map-reading, archeological
tools, soil testing, excavation,
screening, and artifact identif-
cation. Instructors emphasized
the meticulous approach nec-
essary to preserve the integrity
of an excavation site.
The Archeology in Ac-
tion! lessons resonated with
Archeology in Action!
He r i t a g e Ed u c a t i o n Lo u i s i a n a a n d P a r t n e r s Of f e r
Ra r e Cl a s s r o o m Vi s i t t o a n Ar c h e o l o g i c a l Di g
the students participating.
We learned about things you
dont see in everyday life,
one said. I think I might
like social studies a whole lot
more now. Heritage Educa-
tion Louisiana provided
teachers with an information
packet that included pre- and
post-visit curriculum-based
activities to punctuate the
experience.
Rich with Native Ameri-
can artifacts, the site is a rarity
city. Many excavations take
place in less accessible rural
areas. The sites high visibility
uting to the desire to educate
of having skilled archeologists
to care for it.
NSU Archeologist Jeff Girard explains soil layers to eighth grade students dur-
ing the Archeology in Action! event held by Heritage Education Louisiana
and its partners.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS!!
2004-2005 Mini Grants
Program for Teachers
T
he Heritage Education - Loui-
siana Mini Grants Program
is looking for creative teachers to
develop curriculum-based heritage
education lessons and activities
that use Louisianas historic struc-
tures, archeological sites, or cultural
landscapes as content. A maximum
of $2,500 is available for each proj-
ect selected.
What activities will be funded?
Activities must be curriculum-based
and use one or more specifc his-
toric sites in Louisiana as content.
Who is eligible? Any PreK-12 class-
room teacher employed full-time by
a Louisiana public or private school
system and special education
teachers, librarians, and guidance
counselors directly involved in the
instruction of children are eligible.
What is the timetable? Deadline
for receipt of application is 4:30 pm,
Friday, March 26, 2004. Selections
announced May 5; interim report
due December 1; funds expended
April 11; fnal report due May 6.
How do I apply? Electronic sub-
missions are encouraged. For more
information, visit our website:
www.heritage-ed.com
DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF AP-
PLICATION 4:30 PM Friday, March
26, 2004
I
n todays classroom, technology
has become a savvy teaching tool
as well as a students best friend for
research. Our Mini Grants teachers
are using technology to create lessons
about cultural heritage.
David Beard, a teacher at Morse
Elementary School in Acadia Parish,
has been in education for 32 years,
worked with the principal and a teach-
er of the school to develop a project
for the Heritage Education program.
They chose to teach the students how
to use a Global Positioning System
(GPS) device to pinpoint precise lo-
cations of monuments, and then the
students will use that knowledge to
gather and use data to learn about the
communitys history.
The program began in the com-
puter lab and classroom as students
were grouped, assigned jobs, and given
tasks, Beard said. Now, the cemeter-
ies are being located and plotted. Field
trips will be scheduled to clusters of
cemeteries where students will gather
data. The global address of the site will
be entered into the GPS device. The
site will be measured, photographed,
and sketched. As much data as pos-
sible will be gleaned from the head-
stones, etc. found there.
Dan Fountain, a teacher at the
Fountain said he hoped technol-
ogy would allow the students to access
materials not available in local libraries
Fountain says the students enjoyed
Sr. Debbie Walker, a teacher at
Our Lady of Prompt Succor School
in Westwego, planned a project on
the 18 historic neighborhoods of New
Orleans.
Technology was incorporated
in all aspects of the project, she said.
The students used the Internet to
research information about their par-
ticular neighborhood. They created
their presentation using Microsoft
PowerPoint and also used a digital
video camera to record video clips of
their neighborhoods and edited the
video clips with a video editing soft-
ware package.
Walker chose to use technology to
a great extent because she is a comput-
er teacher and wanted to incorporate
this project in her classes with 7
th
and
8
th
grade students
So many aspects of our life and
society revolve around technology we
wanted to expose the students to vari-
ous aspects of technology. she said.
Walker says the students enjoyed
learning about the neighborhoods of
New Orleans They loved taking the
video clips and editing them on the
computer. They did not realize how
easy it could be and yet very time con-
suming. They also learn the dif culty
of editing video to a certain time limit.
These and others of Heritage
Education Louisianas grants proj-
ects are administered by the Louisiana
Division of Archaeology.
Math, Science and the Arts undertook a video
documentary of Oakland Plantation as part of
their Mini Grants project.
Keeping the Past in Our Future
Summary Report 2000-2002
Using Technology to Teach Heritage Lessons
H
eritage Education Lousiana
has just produced a report that
provides a glimpse into the exciting
and growing world of Heritage
Education.
The report details how the
program is:
Connecting classroom teachers,
preservation and education specialists
Providing professional development for
teachers in evolving educational techniques.
Meeting the challenges of standardized
testing
Guiding teachers in developing lesson plans
using local cultural resources
Creating tools that can used by any teacher
and any school
Building important partnerships
Meeting its goal of becoming a national
model for Heritage Education
To reserve your copy,
contact Kim Bowen at kim_
bowen@contractor.nps.gov or call
318-356-7444.
Miller and Nancy Hawkins of the Louisiana Divi-
sion of Archaeology, accepts his award for a Mini
Grant Project about documenting local cemeter-
ies using GPS technology.
to flm documentaries of historic New Orleans
neighborhoods and digitally edit the video for
distribution.
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